Marat S. Gatin, Lenar F. Abzalov, Ilias A. Mustakimov, Roman Yu. Pochekaev Organization of the Mongol Taxation Policy in the Conquered Lands: Problems and Solutions

Abstract
The article is an analysis of specific features of forming the relations between Mongol authorities, local officialdom and people of the conquered countries and regions in the field of taxation. Because of the introduction of new taxes unusual for sedentary peoples, tax collectors acted without control and collected enormous sums of payments that resulted in devastation and decay of whole regions. Only years later, after numerous complaints from the local population, Mongol rulers attempted to regulate their taxation policy by appointing special officers who had to control the process of tax collection. The article is based on the study of legal monuments and narrative sources (contemporaries’ notes and historical chronicles) containing information on the specific features of the taxation system in the Mongol Empire and its uluses during the first decades after the establishment of the power of Chinggis Khan’s descendants, including China, the Jochi Ulus (Golden Horde), Mongol Iran, and the Chagatay Ulus. The article introduces the first Russian translation and interdisciplinary analysis of medieval documents — two yarliks (edicts) on the appointment of a tax inspector and an editor of tax registers from the «Dastur al-katib fi ta’yin al-maratib» («A Scribe’s Guide to Determining Degrees»), a treatise written in the 1360s by the Persian official Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhchivani. The authors conclude that the introduction of taxation control in the Chinggisid states initially had a positive effect, but with the weakening of central authority the abuses of regional administrators and tax officials resumed.

Keywords:

Mongol Empire; Golden Horde; Yuan Empire; Chagatay Ulus; Mongol Iran; Taxes and Duties; Tax Officers

For citation:
Gatin M.S., Abzalov L.F., Mustakimov I.A., Pochekaev R.Yu. Organization of the Mongol Taxation Policy in the Conquered Lands: Problems and Solutions // The Historical Reporter. 2026. Vol. 56. P. 72–105. DOI: 10.35549/HR.2025.2026.56.003

Marat S. Gatin

C.Sc. (History), Associate Professor, Head of the Department of History of Tatarstan, Anthropology and Ethnography of the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. Associate professor of the Samarqand State University named after Sh. Rashidov. Samarqand, Uzbekistan. e-mail: marat_gata@mail.ru

ORCID: 0000-0002-7698-0450

SPIN-code: 2947-0198

AuthorID: 536190

Lenar F. Abzalov

C.Sc. (History), Associate Professor of the Department of History of Tatarstan, Anthropology and Ethnography of the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. Associate Professor of the Samarqand State University named after Sh. Rashidov. Samarqand, Uzbekistan.

e-mail: len_afzal@mail.ru

ORCID: 0000-0003-3952-6715

SPIN-code: 6261-8558

AuthorID: 526007

Ilias A. Mustakimov

C.Sc. (History), Associate Professor of the Department of History of Tatarstan, Anthropology and Ethnography of the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. Kazan, Russian Federation.

e-mail: imus2007@mail.ru

ORCID: 0000-0002-0052-5136

SPIN-code: 3684-8499

AuthorID: 504428

Roman Yu. Pochekaev

D.Sc. (History), C.Sc. (Law), Professor, Head of the Department of theory and history of law and state, HSE University. St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.

Е-mail: rpochekaev@hse.ru

ORCID: 0000-0002-4192-3528

SPIN-code: 3065-2206

AuthorID: 513962

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