The formation of the Chagatai Ulus

Genghis Khan divided the conquered lands among his sons; the Chagatai Ulus, which included Transoxiana, Zhetysu and Eastern Turkestan, was formed in 1224, and the khan’s horde stood on the Ili River. Transoxiana was governed by the Khwarazmian merchant Mahmud Yalavach from Khujand; military matters, census and tax collection were in the hands of Mongol officials, the darughachis and tamgachis. Taxes were heavy: the land tax kalan (1/10 of the harvest), the livestock tax qubchur (2.5% of the number of animals), the food tax shulen, the targhu on craftsmen and merchants (1/30 of the product or goods), and also taxes on salt, wool and silver. Local officials paid taxes in advance as a lease (barat) and then collected more from the people. In 1238 in the village of Tarab near Bukhara the sieve-maker Mahmud Tarabi raised a revolt, seized Bukhara and proclaimed himself ruler. He and Shamsuddin Mahbubi fell in a battle near Karmana, his brothers were killed in the next battle, and the revolt was crushed. That year Mahmud Yalavach was removed from the governorship and replaced by his son Mas’udbek.