Ulus of Jochi (St. George's Night)

The Ulus of Jochi, or the Golden Horde, was a massive nomadic confederation that existed from the 1200s to the early 1400s. Originally established as part of the Mongol Empire, it gained independence and developed a more Turkic identity, adopting Islam. In the early 1400s, Timur the Lame attacked the Horde, badly weakening it in the process. This initiated a rapid process of disintegration, accelerated by the expansion of Muscovy. The Horde's disintegration gave rise to a number of successor states, including Gothic Crimea, the Crimean Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Nogai Horde, the Kazakh Khanate, and the Khanate of Astrakhan. Several of these rapidly fell to Muscovy or to Timurid successor states, but the Crimean Khanate established itself as a power in its own right and played a major role in the history of eastern Europe. Kazan survived until its conquest by the migrating Kalmyks in the 1600s.