Between 1236 and 1256, before the creation of the Il-Khanate, Caucasia was placed under the military governorship of Chormaqan, and divided into 5 vilayets (provinces): Georgia (Gurjistan), Greater Armenia, Shirvan, Arran, and Mughan, with Armenian principalities becoming fragmented and essentially independent.

The "two Davids", as incumbents for the throne of Georgia, David VI and David VII, attended the enthronement ceremony of the Mongol Khan Güyük on 24 August 1246, near the Mongol capital at Karakorum, together with a large number of foreign ambassadors: the Franciscan friar and envoy of Pope Innocent IV, John of Plano Carpini and Benedict of Poland; Grand Duke Yaroslav II of Vladimir; the brother of the king of Armenia and historian, Sempad the Constable; the future Seljuk Sultan of Rum, Kilij Arslan IV; and ambassadors of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim and Ala ud din Masud of the Delhi Sultanate.

And all this great assembly came with such baggage as befitted a court; and there came also from other directions so many envoys and messengers that two thousand felt tents had been made ready for them: there came also merchants with the rare and precious things that are produced in the East and the West.The Mongols appointed David VII as ulu ("senior") ruler, while David VI was appointed narin (junior) ruler.

However, the Mongol overlords began to impose heavy taxes on the inhabitants of the Caucasus, leading to numerous popular revolts, particularly in Shirvan.

[12] In 1259, David VI, who was nicknamed Narin (meaning "junior" in Mongolian) by the Ilkhanid authorities, rebelled against his Mongol suzerain, although he did not drag his royal colleague into the rebellion.

[12] The Ilkhanate soon put an end to this revolt after a few short, bloody battles, while David VI managed to take refuge in western Georgia on a secret journey that took him through Armenia.

The Ilkhanate was preoccupied with its military campaign in Syria against certain Crusader states and Mamluk Sultanate[17] and was content to increase the tributes imposed on eastern Georgia to rectify the difference in revenue following the loss of a large portion of the taxes from some of the richest Georgian provinces.

[18] The Kingdom of Eastern Georgia was under the direct authority of the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan (r 1256–1265), founder of the Ilkhanate, and was considered as a vassal of the Īlkhānid state.

[2] Sadun Artsruni, future Atabeg for Eastern Georgia, is known to have accompanied Hulegu in his military campaigns in Syria in 1259, in the conquest of Sasun, and in the Siege of Aleppo (1260).

[31] But when in 1260 Hulegu Khan requested the presence of Georgians and Armenians for the Mongol invasions of the Levant, remembering the losses of his troops in the 1258 Siege of Baghdad, David Ulu rebelled.

[32] A large Mongol army led by General Arghun Aqa invaded Georgia from the south, inflicted a heavy defeat on David and Sargis I Jaqeli in a battle near Akhaldaba, and then brutally plundered the country.

[33] The territory of the Caucasus, and as part of it the Kingdom of Georgia itself, became the scene of war between Hulegu and the Khan of the Golden Horde Berke in the following years.

In 1270, David Ulu led Georgian and Armenian troops in support of the Mongol Abaqa against Tekuder, who had found refuge in Western Georgia.

[33] The Mongol Emir Nawrūz, son of Arghun Aqa, started to implement anti-Christian policies, in relation with the adoption of Islam by his ruler Ghazan.