Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Sep 2015)
Report on the International Workshop “The Golden Horde in a Global Perspective: Imperial Strategies”, Leiden University, May 7–8, 2015 »
Abstract
This article contains a report on the international conference organized by the University of Leiden in May 2015. According to its organizers, this conference has become the first Western European symposium dedicated to the study of the long history of the Golden Horde. The conference became a fruitful meeting place of the leading Russian and Tatar historians and archaeologists with their Western colleagues from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America, Hungary, Poland, and Finland. International participants of the Leiden conference discussed the most topical issues of historiography associated with eventful history of the Golden Horde. In particular, the conference participants paid special attention to the study of the administration of the ulus of Jochi that naturally combined governmental models of the Mongol Empire of the Chingizids with local administrative elements. A separate section of the conference was devoted to the analysis of the religious policy of the Golden Horde khans, where special attention was paid to the historiographical debate on the Islamization of the ulus of Jochi. The conference participants also paid considerable attention to the consideration of the material culture of the Golden Horde known both from written sources and, above all, from the materials of archaeological findings. Also, a number of reports of the conference was devoted to foreign and domestic policies of the Golden Horde rulers, at the same time reflecting the central geopolitical role of the ulus of Jochi on the Eurasian continent and the high level of civilization of the Golden Horde. The main achievement of the Leiden conference was a statement on the need of deeper study of the Golden Horde history in order to overcome a number of stereotypes regarding misconceptions of the ulus of Jochi represented as backward and parasitic State formation. The conference participants agreed in general opinion about the necessity of similar academic symposiums to intensify international contacts between researchers of the Golden Horde history.
