[9] After the death of Batu Khan (the founder of the Blue Horde) in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a full century, until 1359, though the intrigues of Nogai instigated a partial civil war in the late 1290s.

These internal struggles allowed Moscow to formally rid itself of the "Tatar yoke" at the Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480, which traditionally marks the end of Mongol rule over Russia.

The existence of Arabic-Mongol and Persian-Mongol dictionaries dating from the middle of the 14th century and prepared for the use of the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate suggests that there was a practical need for such works in the chancelleries handling correspondence with the Golden Horde.

William of Rubruck and a Muslim chronicler state that Batu killed the imperial envoy, and one of his brothers murdered the Great Khan Güyük, but these claims are not completely corroborated by other major sources.

In 1259 Berke launched savage attacks on Lithuania and Poland, and demanded the submission of Béla IV, the Hungarian monarch, and the French King Louis IX in 1259 and 1260.

[48] In 1267, Mengu-Timur issued a diploma (jarliq) to exempt Russian clergy from any taxation,[49][50] and gave to the Genoese and Venice exclusive trading rights in Caffa and Azov.

[54] Mengu Timur honored his vow: when the Danes and the Livonian Knights attacked the Novgorod Republic in 1269, the Khan's great basqaq (darughachi), Amraghan, and many Mongols assisted the army assembled by the grand prince Yaroslav.

[64] He blockaded Michael Asen II inside Drăstăr in 1279, executed the rebel emperor Ivailo in 1280, and forced George Terter I to seek refuge in the Byzantine Empire in 1292.

[68] Toqta sent a punitive expedition led by his brother, Dyuden, to punish those stubborn subjects, leading to the sacking of a number of cities in 1293, including Vladimir and Moscow, finally forcing Dmitry to abdicate.

[72] After taking military support from Toqta, Bayan asked help from the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate to organize a unified attack on the Chagatai Khanate under the leadership of Kaidu and his second-in-command Duwa.

[90] Toqta decided to personally visit northern Russia to settle the conflict between the princes, but he fell ill and died while crossing the Volga in 1312, according to the writer who continued Rashid al-Din's History.

When Ibn Battuta visited Sarai in 1333, he found it to be a large and beautiful city with vast streets and fine markets where six "nations" – Mongols, Alans, Kypchaks, Circassians, Russians and Greeks – each had their own quarters.

In 1322, Mikhail's son, Dmitry, seeking revenge for his father's murder, went to Sarai and persuaded the Khan that Yury had appropriated a large portion of the tribute due to the Horde.

[105] Öz Beg summoned Ivan I, the prince of Moscow, and ordered him to lead a punitive expedition along with Alexander of Suzdal; the Muscovite and Suzdalian troops, reinforced by Mongol detachments, looted Tver and captured thousands of prisoners.

[113] After the sudden death of Yuri II, who had no heirs, a committee of Galician boyars led by Dmytro Dedko took control of the city; a detachment of Mongol troops was sent to protect Galicia and Volhynia from the Poles, who were forced to retreat but did not give up on their claims to the region.

[citation needed] Tokhtamysh attacked Mamai, who had recently suffered a loss against Moscow, and defeated him in 1381, thus briefly reestablishing the Golden Horde as a dominant regional power.

[130] Władysław II Jagiełło, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, accepted his supremacy and agreed to pay tribute in return for a grant of Russian territory.

Ulugh Muhammad fled to Lithuania, Kepek tried to raid Odoyev and Ryazan but failed to establish himself in those regions, and Dawlat took advantage of the situation to seize Crimea.

Despite the Golden Horde's greatly reduced status, both Yury of Zvenigorod and Vasily Kosoy still visited Ulugh Muhammad's court in 1432 to request a grand ducal patent.

Austrian visitors to his camp remarked that only Daniel himself dressed according to the custom in Rus', with a coat of Greek brocade with gold lace, green leather boots, a gilded saddle, and gold-encrusted sword.

In The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan, the Mongol Batu exhibited chivalric courtesy to the Russian noble Evpaty by allowing his men to carry him off the field in honor of his bravery.

[167] The historian Charles Halperin cautioned: "To analyze the Mongols' administration of Russia requires meticulous examination both of the extant sources individually and of the larger picture they present.

"[168] Although it is evident that the Mongols started collecting taxes in the principalities as early as 1245 (shortly after they subdued them during or after the invasion of 1237), this appears to have been a localised affair with baskaki (singular baskak or basqaq, a Turkic word used in early sources meaning a local Mongol official who was primarily responsible for collecting tribute and conscripting troops),[169] appointed per village, town or city, rather than a simultaneous imposition of a uniform taxation system.

[130] Władysław II Jagiełło, the grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland, accepted his supremacy and agreed to pay tribute in turn for a grant of territory.

A year later, Ulugh Muhammad was ousted and fled to the town of Belev on the upper Oka River, where he came into conflict with Vasily II of Moscow, whom he defeated twice in battle.

[180] By the beginning of the 14th century, noyans from the Sanchi'ud, Hongirat, Ongud (Arghun), Keniges, Jajirad, Besud, Oirat, and Je'ured clans held importants positions at the court or elsewhere.

[citation needed] A 2016 study analyzed the DNA of 5 skeletons in Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia dated between 1130–1250 AD, which are believed to be members of the Mongol Golden Family based on contextual evidence.

Contemporary records from the Later Tang (923–937 AD) described some male Shatuo Turks as having deep set eyes with whiskers as well as slim bodies with light complexion.

Authors suggested that the Genghis Khan’s male lineage may have had some Caucasoid-specific genetic features because of descriptions in Rashid al-Din Hamadani's "Compendium of Chronicles" written in the 14th century.

[195] These authors noted that there is a close link between the current day distribution of haplogroup R1b and the spread of the Mongol Empire, especially in the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate; and that the descendants of the Tavan Tolgoi specimens are now located mainly in West Eurasia, rather than Mongolia.