The khanate experienced violent internal political disorder beginning in 1359, before it briefly reunited (1381–1395) under Tokhtamysh. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak extended from Siberia and Central Asia to parts of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube in the west, and from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea in the south, while bordering the Caucasus Mountains and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate. The Horde's military power peaked during the reign of Uzbeg Khan (1312–1341), who adopted Islam. Īfter the death of Batu Khan (the founder of the Golden Horde) in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a full century, until 1359, though the intrigues of Nogai instigated a partial civil war in the late 1290s.

It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi, and replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation. With the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate. 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, lit. Shift from Mongol to Turkic occurred in the 1350s, or earlier, also used in chancery.

^ Especially the western Kipchak dialects, this language spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the Black Sea steppe who were non-Mongol Turks, and those in the Khan's army.

^ Official language since the inception of the Golden Horde, used in chancery.

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