The Tartars of the Mongol khanate of the Western Kipchaks (1242–1480). The word “horde” derives from the Mongol ordo, meaning a camp, while “golden” recalls the magnificence of Batu Khan’s headquarters camp. In 1238 Batu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, invaded Russia with a Mongol-Kipchak force. He burned Moscow and in 1240 took Kiev. After a sweep through eastern Europe he established his camp at Sarai on the Lower Volga. Khan of a region extending from Central Asia to the River Dnieper, he claimed sovereignty over all Russia but, apart from demanding tribute in money and military contingents, interfered little with the Russian princes, who in general avoided trouble by cooperating. The destruction of Kiev led to the rise of a more northerly, forest-based Russian civilization, and it was from Moscow that resistance to the Horde started.

Defeat by Tamerlane in 1391 seriously weakened the Horde. Independent khanates emerged in the Crimea and Kazan. In 1480 the power of the Tartars was broken by Ivan III (the Great).