IRCICA is pleased to present its joint publication with the International Science Complex “Astana” in contribution to studies on the Golden Horde, an influential power of the medieval period that ruled over a vast territory in Central Asia between 1227 and 1502. Islam was introduced to the Khanate in the 13th century and became widespread in its lands by the 14th. Despite its importance, the history of this state has not been studied thoroughly yet, mainly due to the scarcity and fragmented state of the related sources. References to the Golden Horde in Islamic historiographical literature dating from the centuries during and soon after its rule are extremely valuable in this respect, especially to throw light on the scholarly and literary activities recorded in its realm. The present work, produced by Professor Ashirbek Muminov and Mr. Selahaddin Uygur from IRCICA together with Dr. Zafar Najmiddinov (Uzbekistan), brings together four historical texts about the Golden Horde excerpted from treatises written by three Ottoman scholars – Mahmud ibn Sulayman al-Kafawi (d. 1581), Mustafa ibn Hasan al-Jannabi (d. 1590-1591) and Ḥājjī Khalīfa (d. 1657), presenting them in their original Arabic texts, adding their translations in Kazakh and Russian, as well as explanatory comments on these sources and their contents, and detailed indices.
