Political Partitions and Vassals of the Mongol Empire

The Mongols built a huge empire via invasions and conquests that comprised various political divisions, vassals, and subordinate nations. It was the world's greatest contiguous land empire. However, the Toluid Civil War and ensuing battles caused the Mongol Empire to disintegrate after Möngke Khan's death. By 1294, the empire had disintegrated into four independent khanates: the Golden Horde in the northwest, the Chagatai Khanate in the centre, the Ilkhanate in the southwest, and the Yuan dynasty the east, which was located in modern-day Beijing.

In addition to appanage khanates, the early Mongol Empire's political divisions were as follows: 

• Mongolia, Southern Siberia, and Manchuria were under the Karakorum;
• North China and Tibet were under Yanjing Department; 
• Beshbalik Department includes the Khorazm, Mawarannahr, and Hami Oases;
• Amu Dar'ya Department includes Persia, Georgia, Armenia, Cilicia, and Turkey (old Seljuk controlled portions).
• The horde of the Golden. The Ulus of Jochids contained ten provinces, according to prominent Russian academics A.P.Grigorev and O.B.Frolova: 1. Khiva or Khorazm, 2. Khazaria, 3. Crimea, 4. Desht-i-Kipchak, 5. the Banks of Azov, 6. the Circassian region Bulgar, Walachia, Alania, and Russian territories round up the top ten.

Muqali (1170–1223), Genghis Khan's entrusted general, tried to construct provinces and establish branch divisions of state affairs when Genghis Khan was battling in Central Asia. But, on the advice of Yelü Chucai, a famous Confucian politician of Khitan origin, gedei abolished them and split North China into ten ways. He also split the empire into Beshbalik and Yanjing administrations, with Manchuria, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia being dealt with directly by the headquarters in the Karakorum. In addition, the Amu Darya government was created late in his tenure. These administrations were renamed Branch Departments under Möngke Khan.

The originator of the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan, made substantial changes to the existing institutions. In 1271, he had created the Yuan dynasty in China and became the first Chinese emperor. By conquering the topmost Southern Song dynasty, the Yuan troops captured South China, and Kublai became Emperor of All China, although he had essentially lost control of the western khanates. The Yuan dynasty's area was split between the Central Region (Zhongshu Sheng), administered by the Central Secretariat, and locations ruled by different Branch Secretariats or the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (Xuanzheng Yuan).

The White & the Blue Horde, also known as Batu's Ulus (district) and Orda's Ulus, are the two primary divisions of the Golden Horde (Jochid Ulus).

Mongolia, China, most or all of Russia, Ukraine, Cilicia, Anatolia, Georgia, Armenia, Persia, Iraq, Korea, and Central Asia and sections of Burma, Romania, and Pakistan were all part of the Mongol Empire at its peak. Many countries of the world became vassals or tributary states of the Mongol Empire in the meanwhile.

European Vassals

• The nominal vassal is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, Mongols commanded by Orda and Burundai, which successfully conquered southern Lithuania in 1241, and following the collapse of the Yuan in 1368, Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, officially recognized Tokhtamysh as overlord in 1382 (Later Nogai). Nevertheless, the Lithuanians were always considered subjects of the Golden Horde Mongols, and Tokhtamysh requested that the Lithuanian monarch collect taxes from Kiev (then under Jogaila and his successors) against the Timurids.
• Due to the marshlands surrounding states like Novgorod and Pskov in 1239, several Russian republics, including the Republic of Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk Batu Khan, cannot reach the northern portion of Russia. However, because of a combination of Alexander Nevsky's diplomacy, Mongol threats, and Teutonic order invasion, Novgorod and subsequently Pskov were obliged to accept the term of vassalage. As a result, the Horde of Möngke-Temür conquered the last of Russia's principalities in 1274.
• Bulgarian Empire No. 2 The Bulgarians, led by Ivan Asen II, attempted to destroy Mongol tumen during the conclusion of the Mongol invasion of Europe. On his way out of Central Europe, Kadan's incursions through Bulgaria convinced the youthful Kaliman I (Bulgaria) is to pay heed tribute and accept Mongol suzerainty. According to the letter addressed by Béla IV to the Pope in 1254, the Bulgarians were still paying homage to the Mongols at the time.
• Serbia is a sovereign country. Milutin launched an expedition in 1288 to alleviate two Bulgarian nobles in the Branicevo area of today's northeast Serbia. Still, the nobles were vassals of the Bulgarian ruler of Vidin Shishman. Shishman invaded Milutin but was beaten, and Milutin sacked his capital Vidin in retaliation. Shishman, on the other hand, was a subordinate of Nogai Khan, the Golden Horde's de facto ruler. Nogai Khan vowed to punish Milutin for his arrogance, but when the Serbian monarch brought him presents and hostages, he changed his mind. His son Stefan Deanski was one among the prisoners, and following Nogai Khan's death in 1299, he managed to return to Serbia.

Southeast Asian Vassals

• Vietnam: The Mongol troops attacked the Trn dynasty in 1257 when the Vietnamese kidnapped Mongol envoys dispatched to inquire for a way to attack Southern China. The Mongols routed city defences and slaughtered residents of Thăng Long, the capital (Hanoi). To save his nation, King Than Tong consented to pay homage to Möngke Khan. On the other hand, the Mongols are unable to cope with the tropical heat, insects, and malaria. As a result, they withdrew after obtaining a pledge of tribute from the monarch. In 1264, the connection between the two nations deteriorated when Kublai Khan sought absolute surrender from the dynasty when Mongol darughachis had previously been favourably accepted. In 1285 and 1288, the Mongols attempted two large-scale invasions, both of which were defeated. To prevent future confrontations, the monarch of the Đại Việt or Trần dynasty finally acknowledged Mongol suzerainty.
• Champa: Although Champa's monarch Ve Indrawarman announced his intention to submit to Yuan authority in 1278, his son and followers refused. Although the Mongol forces were beaten in the interior and their leader was murdered, they could destroy Champa's soldiers in open engagements in 1283. However, by fighting guerilla warfare against the invading force, the Champa force could wear them down. Finally, the Mongols withdrew. Following the failure of the Mongol invasion in 1288, the monarch of Champa began paying tributes to avert future bloodshed.
• Khmer Empire: The Khmer king killed a Mongol ambassador in 1278. When the Yuan army besieged the citadel in Champa, another messenger was dispatched to demand capitulation. Following the arrest of the second messenger, 100 Mongol cavalries were dispatched to Cambodia. The Khmers surprised them and annihilated them. Due to his warlike neighbours and Kublai Khan's anger, the King of the Khmer Empire requested a pardon and offered tribute in 1285.
• Sukhothai Kingdom and Chiangmai or Taiyo: Thai kingdoms such as Sukhotai and Taiyo accepted Mongol authority when Kublai dispatched Mongol armies to protect his vassals in Burma. King Ramkhamhaeng and other Thai and Khmer chiefs paid many visits to the Yuan court to demonstrate their allegiance.

East and Central Asian Vassal

• The Kingdom of Goryeo: The Mongol storming of Korea were a series of wars by the Mongol Empire against Korea, which was known as Goryeo, between 1231 and 1270. Six major wars were fought across the Korean peninsula at great cost to civilian lives, culminating in Korea becoming an autonomous vassal state of the Mongol Yuan dynasty for around 80 years. The Mongol Empire & Kingdom of Goryeo were linked via marriages, with Mongol princesses marrying Korean kings and Mongol Emperors taking several Korean women as concubines. Through her marriage to Ukhaantu Khan, a Korean woman named Empress Gi became an empress, and her favourite son, Biligtü Khan of the Northern Yuan dynasty, became a Mongol Khan. King Chungnyeol of Goryeo had married a Kubilai Khan's daughter, and Mongol-Korean marriages lasted for eighty years. The Goryeo dynasty lasted under Mongolian rule until the 1350s when King Gongmin began to push Mongolian Yuan garrisons back. Because the Koreans surrendered last, Goryeo was the Mongols' lowest-ranking vassal, below the Karluks and Uighurs.
• The Kingdom of Qocho (Buddhist Uighur Kingdom): When the Korean King objected to the Mongols placing the Uighurs of the Kingdom of Qocho above the Koreans at the court, Kublai Khan, the Mongol Emperor, rebuked him, saying that the Uighur King of Qocho was processioned higher than the Karluk Kara-Khanid ruler, who was usually ranked higher than the Korean King, who was ranked last because the Uighurs surrendered.
• The Karluks.
• The Maharajah of Yunnan: The Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan enfeoffed King Duan Xingzhi of Dali as Maharaja, and the Dali Kingdom Duan royal dynasty continued to wield the title of Maharaja in Yunnan as Mongol vassals. The Hongwu Emperor dispatched the Duan royals to the Ming capital of Nanjing after the Ming dynasty captured Yunnan from the Yuan.

Middle East Vassals

• The Principality of Antioch and County of Tripoli: For long years, the little crusader state paid yearly tributes. The relationship between the Mongols & the Franks of Antioch and others was the closest approach to Frankish participation in Mongol military activities. With the Mamluk conquests of Antioch in 1268 and Tripoli in 1289, the Mongols lost their vassal and ally Franks.
• The Empire of Trebizond: In 1243, the Mongols overcame the Seljuks and the armed forces of Trebizond. Kaykhusraw II, Sultan of Iconium, was forced to pay tribute and furnish horses, hunting hounds, and jewels every year after that. Realizing that resisting the Mongols was impossible, Emperor Manuel I of Trebizond signed a hasty peace with them and became a Mongol vassal for an annual tribute. During the reign of the Ilkhans, the empire achieved its pinnacle of wealth and could export the produce of its fertile hinterland. However, when Mongol dominance waned after 1335, Trebizond became increasingly vulnerable to Turkish invasions, civil conflicts, and political intrigues.

Tributary States

• The indigenous people of Sakhalin: Beginning in 1264 and lasting until 1308, Mongol armies attacked Sakhalin on many occasions. In terms of economics, the Yuan dynasty's tribute-based economy benefited from the conquest of new peoples. The Mongols conquered the Nivkhs and the Oroks. Every year, however, the Ainu people raided Mongol posts. In 1308 the Ainus ultimately accepted Mongol rule.
• The Byzantine Empire: Sultan Baibars ordered his ally, Berke Khan, to invade the Greek Empire when Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos imprisoned an Egyptian ambassador. Nogai Khan launched a Mongol attack against Byzantine Thrace alongside his vassal Bulgaria in the winter of 1265. In 1265, he fought Michael's forces and liberated Kaykaus II, a former Seljuk ruler and ambassador. Rather than battling, the Byzantines retreated. With the help of Italian merchants, Michael was able to flee. Following this, Nogai's army plunders Thrace, and the Byzantine emperor signs a pact with Berke of the Golden Horde, marrying his daughter Euphrosyne to Nogai. Following that, Michael delivered a large amount of precious fabric to the Golden Horde as a tribute. However, following that incident, Byzantium's imperial court adopted and maintained cordial ties with both the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, which in turn allies in the face of the Mamluks of Egypt the Anatolia's Ghazi emirs.
• Small states of the Malay Peninsula: In the years 1270-1280, Kublai dispatched envoys to the neighbouring nations to demand surrender. The majority approved the demand of Indo-China and Malay states. According to Marco Polo, those subjects brought elephants, rhinoceroses, diamonds, and a Buddha's tooth to the Mongol court. In some ways, these gestures of submission, according to one renowned historian, were more ceremonial. Small Malay and Sumatran kingdoms submitted and sent envoys or captives to the Mongols during their invasion of Java in 1293. The Mongol armada was aided by native peoples in modern-day Taiwan and the Philippines, although they were never subjugated.
• The Ayyubid Sultanate: From 1244, when the Mongols conquered the Sultanate's Anatolian holdings until the monarchy fell in 1260, the Ayyubid Sultanate was nominally under Mongol suzerainty.