lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Place · historical region

Moghulistan

What the sources say here: 4 passages

Daily lifeMoghulistanlate 15th century

No true Muslims until they settle in towns

Editorial contextAt the start of Yunus Khan's reign, the Moghuls still lived in the old way, shunning towns and farmland, and were Muslims in name only; neighbours even sold them as slaves like unbelievers. Yunus decided that they would never be good Muslims until they settled, and led them to Tashkent, though some rebelled and stayed on the steppe. Elsewhere (p. 58) Mirza Haidar records that an earlier khan had a horseshoe nail driven into the head of any Moghul who refused to wear a turban.

At the beginning of the reign of Yunus Khan, all the Moghuls dwelt, according to their old custom, in Moghulistan ; they avoided all towns and cultivated countries [and regarded them] with great repugnance. They were Musulmans in nothing but the name

Mirza Haidar Dughlat (translated by E. Denison Ross, 1895)
See the original page (p. 156)

About Moghuls under Yunus Khan

Continue in this sourceThe Tarikh-i-Rashidi: a Moghul prince's history of Central Asia1466 to 1566 · 12 passages
CitiesMoghulistan (Semirechye)first half of the 14th century

Turkistan after the Tatars: nothing but ruins

Editorial contextThe editor quotes the fourteenth-century Arab geographer Shihab al-Din (al-Umari), who was told by a traveller that the land had been ruined 'by the arms of the Tatars'. From a distance a village looks well built, but up close its houses are empty, and the people are now all herders. Elias adds that the towns had been built by earlier settled peoples such as the Uighurs and Kara-Khitai, before the Mongol nomads made it their home.

Since the region has been devastated by the arms of the Tatars," he writes, "it is inhabited only by a scanty population. According to what I have been assured by a man who has travelled through the country, there is nothing to be seen in Turkistan but ruins, and more or less obliterated remains.

Shihab al-Din (al-Umari), Masalik al-Absar, quoted in Ney Elias's introduction (1895)
See the original page (p. 57 (introduction))

About Tatars (Mongols) and the nomads who followed them

Keep in mind

Hearsay at two removes, quoted from Quatremère's French translation.

Continue in this sourceThe Tarikh-i-Rashidi: a Moghul prince's history of Central Asia1466 to 1566 · 12 passages
Daily lifeMoghulistanMid-1400s

A khan raised up on a white felt

Editorial contextBabur tells how his Mongol grandfather Yunis Khan was made khan: a leading beg seated him and his new wife on a white felt and proclaimed him, according to the ancient Mongol rules (tore). Erskine's footnote links it to the felt on which Genghis Khan was said to have been proclaimed.

Shir Haji Beg having seated the Khan and Ais-doulet Begum on a white felt, according to the Tureh, or ancient Institutions of the Moghuls, they proclaimed him Khan.

Babur (translated by John Leyden and William Erskine, 1826)
See the original page (p. 12)

About Chaghatai Mongols

Keep in mind

Family history from before Babur's birth.

Continue in this sourceThe memoirs of Babur, Timurid prince and founder of Mughal India1466 to 1533 · 16 passages
Daily lifeMoghulistanabout 1400

The first kumiss of spring, and a cup that fell

Editorial contextMirza Haidar's father told him of a spring feast held, by old Moghul custom, when the new kumiss (fermented mare's milk) came in. Just as the amir offered the khan a cup, news came of an envoy from Timur demanding tribute, and the cup fell from the khan's hands. The amir consoled him with verses about not grieving over tomorrow.

I have frequently heard my father (upon whom rest the mercy of God) relate that in the beginning of the spring the new kimiz had come in, and on that day, according to an ancient Moghul custom, a great feast had been prepared.

Mirza Haidar Dughlat (translated by E. Denison Ross, 1895)
See the original page (p. 53)

About Moghuls under Khizir Khwaja Khan

Continue in this sourceThe Tarikh-i-Rashidi: a Moghul prince's history of Central Asia1466 to 1566 · 12 passages

On the old maps

Maps that name Moghulistan.

Map: Gran Tartaria divisa nelle sue parti principali ... conforme le relazioni che s'hanno…, Cantelli, 16831683CantelliGran Tartaria divisa nelle sue parti principali ... conforme le…

10 sources and maps name this place

  1. c. 1340–1349approximate
    Routes of Insight into the Realms of the Metropolises
    Wal-Umariinformant testimonyW206
  2. 1401–1404a range
    Book of Victory
    WNizam al-Din Shamiofficial or contemporary recordW187
  3. 1413–1414a range
    Selected Histories for Mu'in al-Din
    WMu'in al-Din NatanzicompilationW189
  4. 1420swithin a decade
    Cream of Histories
    WHafiz-i AbrumixedW188
  5. c. 1467–1471approximate
    Rising of the Two Auspicious Stars and Junction of the Two Seas
    WAbd al-Razzaq SamarqandimixedW195
  6. c. 1546–1547approximate
    The Tarikh-i-Rashidi
    WMirza Muhammad Haidar DughlatmixedW045
  7. 1634–1641a range
    Sea of Secrets concerning the Virtues of the Good
    WMahmud ibn Wali of BalkhmixedW190
  8. c. 1676–1680approximate
    Chronicle: history of the Moghul khans of Kashgaria continuing the Tarikh-i Rashidi, critical Persian text…
    WShah Mahmud ChurasmixedW194
  9. 1683exact year
    Gran Tartaria divisa nelle sue parti principali ... conforme le relazioni che s'hanno dagl'itinerarij de PP.…
    MGiacomo Cantelli da VignolacompilationM054
  10. 1700–1733within a century
    History of Kashgar
    WAnonymouscompilationW193