Andrew Andersen
Late
Medieval Abkhazia and the Surrounding Area: 1236 – 1500
In the
early 20s of the 13th century, the South Caucasus and |
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Click
on the left map to see major Mongol
campaigns in Central/West Asia Source: Westermanns
Atlas zur Weltgeschichte,
3 vols. [1953] Click
on the below map to see |
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In
1243, Queen Rusudana of Georgia signed a peace
treaty with the Mongols in accordance with which Georgia was losing all her
client-states, ceded western Shirvan, Naxcivan and some other territories and agreed to pay
tribute to the Mongols as well as to let them occupy and de-facto rule more
than half of the remaining territory (see the map below). Although Mongol-occupied In
addition to all the above hardships, even the part of the kingdom that remained
free of the Mongols started disintegrating: The Crown started losing control
over the warlords of Samtskhe (southern provinces
of In fact
, the only remaining free Click on the map for
better resolution: |
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The
period between 1259 and 1330 was marked by the struggle of the Georgians
against the Mongol Ilkhan Empire for the full
independence. The
first anti-Mongol uprising started in 1259 under the leadership of King David
Narine who in fact waged his war for almost thirty
years. The Anti-Mongol strife went on under the Kings Demeter II (1270 -
1289) and David VIII (1293 - 1311). Together with the rest of western |
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Finally,
it was King George V the Magnificent (1314 - 1346) who managed to play on the
decline of the Ilkhan Empire, stopped paying
tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-1220 state borders of The
year of 1337 saw the collapse of the whole “Pax Mongolica”
in the |
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In
1386-1403 the |
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To the right: Tamerlane in Below: click on the
map for better resolution (source: Dr.
David Niccole) |
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The
death of Tamerlane in 1405 resulted in almost
immediate fall of his empire. After that, Ottoman Turks, Egyptian Mamlyuks and other
Turcic tribes became dominant powers in the Middle
East / |
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It was
during the 15th century when the whole area changed dramatically in
all possible aspects: linguistic, cultural, political, etc. During that
period the By the
middle of the 15th century, most of New
Muslim state formations were quite aggressive and kept expanding and
bothering 1462
was the year of the fall of Click on the below
map for better resolution |
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In 1475,
the Crimean peninsula also fell to the hands of Ottoman Turks and
Tatars. The Moslem conquest of the
Crimea resulted in rapid Islamization of Adygh and Vainakh tribes in |
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The
last remaining hope for clearing communication routes with Europe could still
be connected with the Drastic
decrease of interest towards the Silk Road was accompanied by totally fading
interest towards In
order to withstand external pressure |
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In 1490
the Royal Council (Darbazi)
officially recognized the breakup of Click on the below map for better resolution |