The “Uzbek Factor” in the Jochi Ulus: analysis and comparison of western interpretations

Abstract

The article examines the 'Uzbek factor' in the structure and evolution of the Jochi Ulus through the lens of Western historiography, comparing competing interpretations of the origins and roles of the Uzbek groupings – the Shibanids, the Tuqay-Timurids, and the 'Siberian Uzbeks' – in the politics, economy, and cultural transformation of postGolden Horde Transoxiana. The article asks how different scholarly traditions position the Uzbeks within the Chinggisid legacy, and how these positions depend on the sources used, the theoretical frameworks adopted, and the political and cultural context of the research. Methodologically, the study employs a combination of approaches, including a comparative analysis of historiographical narratives (Spuler-Kissling, Rossabi, Jackson, Holzwarth, etc.), a source-critical examination involving the correlation of chronicles, administrative acts, epigraphic material, and travel accounts, as well as interdisciplinary triangulation with data from historical demography, linguistics, and spatial analysis (mapping oasis economies, caravan routes, and nodes of power). While Western studies broadly converge in recognizing the Uzbeks as a key agent in the de facto restoration of Chinggisid power in Transoxiana around 1500–1507, they diverge in their assessment of the pace of sedentarisation, the internal reproduction of the 'warrior stratum', and the balance between tribal institutions, Sufi networks, and urban administration (the divan, judicial practices, and fiscal regimes). Particular attention is devoted to debates concerning the origin of the ethnonym 'Uzbek', the 'Kazakh–Uzbek' crossroads (migrations, patterns of political clientage and dynastic ties), and the role of the Sart/Persian-speaking element in mediating the integration of the steppe elite into oasis economies and Persian-speaking urban culture. A separate section analyses approaches that interpret the 'Uzbek factor' as either a continuation or a rupture with the Golden Horde model of rule, thereby revealing hidden ideological and methodological premises and embedding these interpretations in wider debates on 'Oriental despotism', colonialism and modernization. Consequently, the role of the 'Uzbek factor' in the post-Golden Horde political landscape becomes clearer: it is a mechanism that synchronizes a nomadic mobilization model with urban governance institutions, drives fiscal stabilization and administrative consolidation, and explains divergences in Western interpretations of legitimacy, confessional policy, and city-steppe dynamics. The article's originality lies in its systematic comparison of these interpretations with Russian language and Central Asian works that are rarely used in Western historiography, as well as in its shift in focus from genealogical and chronological disputes to the analysis of political practices, regimes of power, and regimes of memory. Thus, the article provides a more nuanced interpretation of the Uzbeks' role in the history of the Jochi Ulus, as well as offering insights into the construction of narratives concerning steppe and sedentary societies in Western scholarship.