“Tevarikh-i Desht-i Kipchak” as a Source of Historical Geography of the Crimean Khanate and Adjacent Territories

Abstract

Research objectives: To conduct a comprehensive historical and geogra­phical analysis of the work of Abdullah Ibn Rizvan. Research materials: The author used the chronicle of Abdullah Ibn Rizvan as well as specialized scholarly works on the sources and history of the Crimean Khanate. Results and novelty of the research: The “Tevarikh-i Desht-i Kipchak” (Chronicles of Desht-i Kipchak) by Abdullah Ibn Rizvan is still a poorly studied historical source as it has not been translated into Russian. The work has been preserved in two manuscripts: the French National Library in Paris and the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. In 1966, Adam Zajączkowski published the “Tevarikh-i Desht-i Kipchak” in Warsaw based on the Istanbul manuscript in comparison with the Paris manuscript. A Polish orientalist added a 1737 French translation of the annals by Pierre Delaunay entitled “Abrégé de l’histoire des quatorze premiers khans”. We used this French translation from the Warsaw edition of Adam Zajączkowski. Researchers practically neglected studying the abundant information of the chronicle on the political history of the Crimean Khanate in the first third of the seventeenth century, as well as on the historical geography of the Crimean Khanate and the entire area of the Kipchak steppe. Since his father was the governor of Kefe, Abdullah knew this area well, receiving the relevant firsthand information. Based on a comprehensive historical and geographical analysis of the chronicle, we can state that despite errors in the history of the Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate the author was well acquainted with the events that took place in Crimea in 1610, as well as with the geography of the surroundings of Kefe, if not the whole Crimean peninsula. Abdullah mentioned such geographical places as Sarygol and Pasha Tepe. He described in detail two battles between Rizvan Pasha and Muhammad Giray, being a likely eyewitness to the events or basing his account on the oral information of participants including his father.

Keywords

• historical geography
• crimean khanate
• kipchak steppe
• abdullah ibn rizvan