Buzan Khan
Born: Unknown Died: 1338 Reigned: 1334-1338 Khanate: Chagatai Khanate Title: Khan of the Chagatai Khanate
Overview
Buzan Khan came to power following the violent overthrow of Tarmashirin Khan by the eastern nomadic faction in 1334. He represented the reaction of the Mongol traditionalists against Tarmashirin's Islamic reforms, and his reign was an attempt to restore the pre-Islamic customs and practices of the Chagatai Khanate. He governed for approximately four years before being killed himself, his death a sign that the khanate was entering a period of terminal instability from which it would never recover.
Rise to Power
Buzan Khan rose to power on the wave of the anti-Tarmashirin rebellion. The eastern nomads who had killed Tarmashirin selected or supported Buzan as a representative of traditional Mongol values - a ruler who would govern according to the Yasa rather than Islamic law and who would pay proper attention to the nomadic eastern portions of the khanate that Tarmashirin had neglected.
Rule and Achievements
Buzan's four-year reign was a period of attempted restoration:
- He reversed or curtailed the Islamic policies of Tarmashirin, reasserting traditional Mongol customs at court
- He attempted to reunify the eastern and western factions of the khanate that had been polarized by Tarmashirin's reign
- He faced continued instability from multiple competing Chagatai princes who saw the succession crisis as an opportunity
- He governed both the nomadic eastern territories and the sedentary western cities, a task that had proven impossible for Tarmashirin
His death in 1338 ended the traditionalist reaction and opened another period of chaotic succession.
Legacy
Buzan Khan's reign represents the last serious attempt to maintain a unified Chagatai Khanate governed on traditional Mongol principles. After his death, the khanate effectively split into an eastern and a western half. The western portion would pass through several more rulers before being absorbed by Timur's conquests in the 1360s, while the eastern portion evolved into the separate state of Moghulistan. Buzan's brief reign was a transitional moment between the unified khanate of Kebek's era and the fragmented successor states that followed.