Kuchum

Kuchum khan (Tatar: "Küçüm, Күчүм", Russian: "Кучум"; in Siberian dialect "Küçüm" is pronounced as /kytsym/ - "Күцүм", English name comes from standard Tatar pronunciation) (? - c.1605) was the last khan of Siberia Khanate (1563-1598).

Küçüm Khan's attempt to impose Islam on his subjects and his cross border raids were vigorously opposed by the Russian Tsar who sent a force of Cossacks to confront him head on. Küçüm is particularly noted for the vigorous resistance he gave to the Russians invaders.

Background

Kuchum was the son of prince Mortaza from the Shayban dynasty (Şäyban). In 1554, he contested the throne of the Siberia Khanate against his rivals Yadegar (Yädegär) and Bekbulat, who were both vassals of Russia. In 1563, Yadegar was defeated and Kuchum assumed the throne. In 1573, Kuchum conducted a raid on Perm. It was this and other minor raids which prompted the Tsar of Russia to support a Cossack invasion of Siberia.

War with Russia

In 1582, the Siberia Khanate was attacked by the Cossack ataman Yermak, who defeated Kuchum's forces and captured the capital Qashliq. Kuchum retreated into the steppes, and over the next few years regrouped his forces. He suddenly attacked Yermak on August 6, 1584 in the dead of night, and killed Yermak and most of his army; regaining control of the now ruined Qashliq. Kuchum attempted to unite the rival factions within the khanate nobility but met with resistance. After an unsuccessful attempt on his life by Qarachi Sayet khan (Säyet), Kuchum was forced to move his horde to the steppe south of the Irtysh river. There he attempted to establish a new khanate, engaging in war against Russian governors.

In 1586 he was again attacked and driven back. After many skirmishes, he was finally defeated in August 1598 at the Battle of Urmin on the banks of the River Ob by governor Andrey Voyeykov. Kuchum escaped to the lands of the Nogay Horde, but Voyeykov captured Kuchum's family and took them as hostages to Moscow. The Tsar invited Kuchum to join his family in Moscow and "comfort himself" in the Tsar's service. Kuchum opted to spend the rest of his life in exile rather than become the servant of the Tsar. He is believed to have died c. 1605 in Bukhara.

Kuchum is portrayed in numerous Tatar and Russian songs and legends. His descendants remained in Muscovy, eventually assuming the title of Sibirsky.

In 1591, the son of Kuchum, Abul Khayir was the first of his dynasty to convert to Christianity. His conversion was followed by the conversion of his entire family who eventually assimilated into the Russian nobility. For instance, although his son was known as Vasily Abulgairovich, his grandson's name, Roman Vasilyevich, could no longer be distinguished from a native Russian name.

In 1686, the tsar decreed that the dynasties of the ruler of Imertia in the Caucasus along with the princes of Siberia and Kasimov were to be into the Genealogical Book of the Russian nobility. Michael Khodarkovsky, "Russia's Steppe Frontier", Indiana University Press, 2002, ISBN 0253217709, [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ioOA0i2588cC&pg=PA265&lpg=PA265&dq=In+1591,+Abul-Khayir,+the+son+of+the+Siberian+&source=web&ots=avh9upuzhg&sig=n8YOdZbz7qV8gzm4WLbbU0xrSTc&hl=en, M1 Google Print, p. 265] .]

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