Name Mahmud Kuchuk | ||
Mahmud Astrakhani (Urdu;Persian;Arabic: محمود بن کوچک) was one of Küchük Muhammad's sons and a Khan who founded the Khanate of Astrakhan in the 1460s.
After years of struggle for the throne of the Great Horde against Akhmat Khan, he escaped to the town of Hajji Tarkhan (or Xacitarxan), establishing the independent Khanate of Astrakhan there. He maintained friendly relations with his powerful neighbors - the Nogay Horde and the Great Horde and coined his own money.
His letter to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (as dispatched on April 10, 1466) is a curious example of diplomatic epistles written in the 15th-century Old Tatar language. The content is a necessity of renewal of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Astrakhan, and sending ambassadors to Istanbul.