Geography of Jochi's campaigns in medieval Qazaqstan

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the historical geography of Jochi's military campaigns in the medieval Qazaq steppe. The eldest son of Genghis Khan, Jochi, participated in all the main military campaigns of the Mongolian troops. He led independent military campaigns against the "forest peoples" of Siberia, and together with his younger brothers led military detachments during the conquest of the cities of the Jin Empire. Nevertheless, he fully demonstrated his military talent in the war against the Kipchaks and Kangly, who settled in the modern territory of Qazaqstan. This region, called "Dasht-i Qypshaq" in medieval sources, was conquered thanks to the efforts of Jochi even before the start of the military campaign against the state of the Khorezmshahs. The article shows the process of gradual conquest of the Qazaq steppe by Jochi's troops. Several main geographical points of the conquest are highlighted, which are associated with the main river arteries of Dasht-i Qypshaq. The first stop of Jochi's troops in Qazaqstan  was the Irtysh River in Eastern Qazaqstan , where they fought the Merkit army. The defeated Merkit fled further west and united with the Qypshaqs to once again oppose Jochi. Jochi's actions in Western Qazaqstan  were concentrated on the Zhem and Yrgyz Rivers. Two battles with the Qypshaqs and the army of Khorezmshah Muhammad took place here. In 1219, Jochi's troops joined the main forces of Genghis Khan and participated in the conquest of cities on the Syr Darya and then besieged the capital of Khorezm, the city of Urgench. After the fall of Urgench, Jochi continued the war with the Qypshaqs and reached the Zhaiyk River. In 1223, he returned to the Syr Darya in Southern Qazaqstan  and from there, after hunting with his father in the area of Qulanbasi, he went to the Irtysh. Here in Eastern Qazaqstan  was the center of his new possessions, stretching from the Irtysh in the east to Zhaiyk in the west.