Some Reflections about the Evolution of Golden Horde Towns

Abstract

The paper presents the regularities in the evolution of the Golden Horde towns. The authors proposed a scheme of periodization of emergence and existence of the Golden Horde towns, which takes into consideration the third component of the Golden Horde — sedentary rural settlements — and consists of seven stages. The 1 st stage (1240 s —1260 s) was the emergence of a large number of settlements in the steppe zone and reconstruction of the settlement structures in the regions with an already developed network of rural settlements (Volga’s Bulgaria, Trans Kuban Region, Crimea). The 2 nd stage (1260 s —1290 s) was the period of the Golden Horde towns’ creation as one of the main manifestations of the sovereignty of the new State. The 3 rd stage (1290 s —1340 s) is the period of continuous growth of towns, when the number of population and territories increased many times. Stage 4 (1340 s —1350 s): a halt in the growth of the majority of the main towns of the Golden Horde, with a few exceptions. Stage 5 (1360 s —1370 s) “Great Troubles”: gradual fading of the world of Golden Horde towns. Stage 6 (1380 s —1390 s): a weak attempt of Tokhtamysh Khan to revive economic life in the main Golden Horde towns. Stage 7 (1390 s —1420 s): final death of sedentary life in the main steppe territory of the Golden Horde. The authors see the reason for the disappearance of both the Golden Horde state itself and the phenomenon of its urbanization in the preservation of nomadic pastoralism by the ethnic groups that constituted the military and political elite of the Golden Horde, which led to irremovable contradictions and flaws in the economic and social structure of the State.