Since 1177-78 the oasis of Shash (Chach), the plain of the Chirchik and Angren rivers round Binkath (the later Tashkent), has had its own Qarakhanid khan.
Coins name the khan of 1 January 1200 only by his titles, Jalal al-Dunya wa'l-Din Tamghach Khaqan, struck at Banakath from 1197 to 1206; his predecessor was Mu'izz al-Dunya wa'l-Din Qilich Khan (coins 1195-97). The mint's name, Banakath, may mean the town of that name on the Syr Darya at the mouth of the Angren or may be a spelling of Binkath itself: the khan's residence is not pinned between them. With Shash goes Ilaq, the Angren valley, whose silver mines feed the coinage.
He is the gurkhan's vassal, like his kinsmen at Samarkand, Uzgend and Otrar.
Who he is
- Name
- Not known by personal name; coins of 'Jalal al-Dunya wa'l-Din Tafghach Khaqan' are struck at Banakath from 1197 to 1206
- Title
- Khan of Shash (Tafghach or Tamghach Khaqan), known by the title on his coins: Jalal al-Dunya wa'l-Din
- Since
- 1197 (first coins); his predecessor Mu'izz al-Dunya wa'l-Din Qilich Khan struck coins there in 1195-97
- Born
- Not pinned
- Family
- A Qarakhanid prince; which branch is not stated in the source read. The separate khanate of the Tashkent oasis dates from 1177-78, the year Ibrahim b. Husayn moved from Ferghana to Samarkand, which suggests (not proven) a share given to a kinsman of the same Husaynid family. His title Jalal al-Dunya wa'l-Din is the one borne by Husayn b. Hasan, founder of the Ferghana line (died 1156), and by the Jalal al-Din Qadir Khan who rules Uzgend in 1210-12; whether the Shash khan is that same Qadir Khan is an open question.
- Confidence
- medium
Kochnev, Numizmaticheskaya istoriya Karakhanidskogo kaganata (2006), pp. 157, 234, as cited by Wikipedia 'History of Tashkent'.
Overlord
The gurkhan; his standing towards the khan of Samarkand is not pinned
What it holds
- Binkath (the later Tashkent) and the Chirchik oasis
- Banakath on the Syr Darya (mint)
- Ilaq: the Angren valley with Tunkath and the silver mines
- Isfijab: not pinned (see the town record)
How it was acquired
A separate khanate formed in 1177-78; the present khan from 1197.
Allies and rivals
Lord: the gurkhan. Kinsmen: the Qarakhanids of Samarkand, Uzgend and Otrar. Neighbours: the Qipchaq and Kangli of the steppe north of the Syr Darya; Tayangu at Taraz.
How things stand that morning
Ruling Shash as the gurkhan's vassal; no war recorded.
Wealth
The irrigated Chirchik and Angren valleys; the silver of Ilaq; the trade with the nomads of the steppe (horses, sheep, slaves, felt) and the road from Samarkand to Taraz and the Chu; the mint.
Military
The khan's retinue; the walled towns of Binkath, Banakath and Tunkath. No figures.
Threats
- Nomad raids from the steppe
- Family quarrels
- Khwarazm
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1206His last known coins at Banakath.Depends on: Not pinned. Stopped by: Not pinned.
- after 1210Muhammad of Khwarazm takes Shash and later empties it and the other frontier towns before Kuchlug.Depends on: Khwarazmian conquest. Stopped by: Far beyond 1200.
Places of note
- Banakath (later Shahrukhiya), mint: Town on the right bank of the Syr Darya near the mouth of the Angren, 88 km south-west of Tashkent (coordinates from Wikipedia). Its identity with the coins' mint is not certain.
Where the sources disagree
- The GM's dossier does not mention Shash's separate khan. He is coloured 'samarkand' only because the sheet has no realm id for the Shash khanate; he is a distinct prince.
Evidence: Known only from coins; no chronicle read names him.
On the map: Drawn as the two oases of Shash and Ilaq; whether Isfijab or the Syr Darya towns below Banakath were his is not pinned.
Primary sources for Khanate of Samarkand
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
- History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
- History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
- Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online
- Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.