Abstract:

Due to its geographical features, Mush played an important role in east-west relations throughout the Middle Ages. Although it did not have a strong and large castle in the medieval period, it has been the scene of Muslim-Christian struggle in eastern Anatolia since the first Islamic conquests. Mush, which was at the center of the Seljukid-Byzantine struggle with the arrival of the Seljukid Turks in Anatolia, was considered an indispensable highland for the dominance race of the Turkish-Mongolian and then Mongolian tribes with each other, especially during the Mongolian domination of the Near East. After the collapse of the Ilkhanid state, Mush became the battleground of Mongolian tribes and Akkoyunlu-Karakoyunlu Turkmen tribes, and an indispensable area for the domination of eastern Anatolia during the Timurids period. Mush, which later became the battlefield of Akkoyunlu-Karakoyunlu, Akkoyunlu-Ottoman, Akkoyunlu-Safavid and Safavid-Ottoman, has never lost its feature of being a highland where Mongolian and Turkmen tribes who went to Mosul in winter spent the summer months. In this article, from the pre-Islamic period to the Amasya Treaty of 1555, the historical geographical features and political dominance issues of Mush and its surroundings are discussed.