Tokhtamysh (1342-1406) was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1378 to 1395 (succeeding Temur-Malik and Arab Shah and preceding Quyurchuq and Timur Qutluq) and Khan of Sibir from 1400 to 1406 (preceding Chekre).
Biography[]
Tokhtamysh was born to the house of Borjigin in 1342, and he spent most of his younger years fighting Urus Khan with the help of the warlord Timur. He unified the Golden Horde in 1380 and sacked Moscow that same year before invading other Russian lands from 1381 to 1382, reasserting the Tatar yoke over the Russians the same year as the Tatar defeat at the Battle of Kulikovo. However, Timur turned on Tokhtamysh in 1386 and defeated him at the Battle of the Kondurcha River on 18 June 1391. Timur reinvaded the Golden Horde in 1395, defeating Tokhtamysh at the Battle of the Terek River and forcing Tokhtamysh to flee to Boglhar. Tokhtamysh ultimately outlived Timur and reasserted his control over the southwestern Golden Horde, besieging the Genoese colony of Kaffa in 1397. He was later defeated by Timur Qutluq and exiled to Crimea, Lithuania (fighting for Grand Duke Vytautas at the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399), and finally to Sibir. There, he established a new realm, but he was murdered by Edigu in 1406; he died in a hail of darts and spears near Tyumen.