''Darughachi'' (Mongol form) or ''Basqaq'' (Turkic form) were originally designated officials in the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

that were in charge of taxes and administration in a certain province. The plural form of the Mongolian word is ''

darugha ''Darugha'' ( ba, даруга, tt-Cyrl, даруга, translit=daruğa, from Mongol: ''daru-'', 'to press, to seal') was a territorial subdivision in the Mongol Empire. A ''darugha'' was ruled by a ''darughachi''. Later, the term was used for th ...

''. They were sometimes referred to as

governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. The term corresponds to ''dārugheh'' (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: داروغه ) and ''basqaq'' or ''baskak in'' Turkic or to ''dálǔhuāchì'' in

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

or ''ta lu hua ch'ih'' in

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' o ...

(

Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at ...

: 達魯花赤;

Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...

: 达鲁花赤) in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

History

This title was established under the rule of

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

from 1211. ''

The Secret History of the Mongols ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...

'' relates that after the invasion and conquest of the

Kipchaks The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Se ...

and the

Rus Rus or RUS may refer to: People and places * Rus (surname), a Romanian-language surname * East Slavic historical territories and peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus' territories *** Kievan ...

between 1237 and 1240, Ögödei placed daruγačin and tammačin to govern the peoples whose cities were Ornas, Saḳsīn,

Bolghar Bolghar ( tt-Cyrl, Болгар, cv, Пăлхар) was intermittently the capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 8th to the 15th centuries, along with Bilyar and Nur-Suvar. It was situated on the bank of the Volga River, about 30 km downstream ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

.Donald Ostrowski ''The tamma and the Dual-Administrative Structure of the Mongol Empire'' Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 61, no 2, 1998, p. 262-277 Under the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

, the title of '' Zhangguan'' replaced the former designation - there was one such official for each administrative subdivision, where functions of governor and chief of the armies were combined. This title was also given to a person at the head of a central government office. This charge usually fell to a Mongol, probably to a

Semu Semu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were ...

, thus guaranteeing the preservation of power within the Mongols. Some other populations, however, could have an administrative title with close functions. The texts of Yanghe, mentuin that he should be paid a large sum of gold and silver when the Darugha

Turfan Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015). Geonyms The original name of the cit ...

was replaced. The Turkic term ''basqaq'' does not appear in Mongolian sources. In Russian sources, the ''darughachi'' were almost always referred to as ''baskak'' (plural: ''baskaki''). They appear in the 13th-century soon after the

Mongol Conquest The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the destruction under t ...

but were withdrawn by 1328 and the

Grand Prince of Vladimir The grand duke of Vladimir was the ruler of a principality during the era of Kievan Rus' and after its collapse. It ruled territory approximately bounded by three rivers, the Volga, the Oka and the Northern Dvina. From 1157 to 1238 its capital was ...

(usually the Prince of Moscow) became the khan's tax collector and imperial son in law ('' kürgen''), entrusted with gathering the ''dan or tribute from the Rus' principalities for the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...

. In the 13th century, chiefs of Mongol ''darughas'' were stationed in

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

and

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. The Mongol Empire attempted to send darughachi to

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

in 1231, after the first (of six)

invasions An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

. According to some records, 72 darughachi were sent and the Mongol military garrisons were withdrawn. However, repeated rebellions and continued Goryeo resistance to Mongol dominion (the original darughachi that were stationed were all killed by Goryeo forces in the summer of 1232) made the stationing of darughachi difficult. While there are questions regarding the actual number of darughachi stationed, most reliable sources (including the ''

Goryeo-sa The ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is the main surviving historical record of Korea's Goryeo dynasty. It was composed nearly a century after the fall of Goryeo, during the reign of King Sejong, undergoing repeated revisions between ...

'') indicate that at least some darughachi were stationed in Goryeo for the duration of its vassaldom to the Mongol Empire. "Henthorn, W. E.
Korea: The Mongol Invasions
p. 72. Leiden, the Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1963." The extant record denoted 72 darughachi was itself a derivation of an older record that has been lost; Goryeo was too small a territory to merit so many darughachi; the names of none of the 72 darughachi remain, which is unusual considering the importance of their position. While further mention of the darughachi in Korea is scarce in extant sources; after peace was secured between Goryeo and the Mongol Empire in 1259 establishing Korea as a vassal to the Empire, the stationing of darughachi in Korea was likely a more stable proposition. After 1921 the word ''darga'' (boss) (

Khalkha The Khalkha (Mongolian script, Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongols, Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos Mongols, Ordos and Tum ...

for ''darugha'') replaced the aristocratic ''

noyan ''Noyan'' (pl. noyad), or ''Toyon'', was a Central Asian title of authority which was used to refer to civil-military leaders of noble ancestry in the Central Asian Turkic Khanates with origins in ''Noyon'', which was used as a title of autho ...

'' as the term for high-level officials in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. C.P.Atwood ''Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire'', 2004 p. 412.

References

{{Mongol Empire Mongol Empire History of Mongolia History of China Medieval Russia

History

See also

References