Nogai Khan in the context of "Manghits"

The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus (lit. 'Great State' in Turkic), was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century, originating from the northwestern part of the Mongol Empire. After the division of the Mongol Empire in 1259, it became a functionally independent khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or the Ulus of Jochi, and replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.

It originally consisted of the lands bequeathed to Jochi (d. 1225). It greatly grew in size under Batu Khan, the founder of the Blue Horde. After Batu's death 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. The Horde's military power peaked during the reign of Özbeg Khan (1312–1341), who adopted Islam. 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 Nogai Horde was a confederation founded by the Nogais that occupied the Pontic–Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghuds constituted a core of the Nogai Horde.

From the 1250s to about 1300, the Golden Horde's kingmaker Nogai Khan (a direct descendant of Genghis Khan through Jochi) formed an army of the Manghits joined by numerous Turkic tribes. Around a century later in the 1390s, the Nogays were led by Edigu, a commander of Manghit paternal origin and Jochid maternal origin, who founded the Nogai dynasty.

The Manghud, or Manghit (Mongolian: Мангуд, romanized: Mangud; Chagatay: منقت, romanized: Manqït; Uzbek: Mangʻit) were a Mongol tribe of the Urud-Manghud federation and mainly a sub-clan of Borjigin, but later remixed with Golden Ultai, Genghis Khan Imperial Borjigin Descent like Nogai Khan, The Manghuds (also spelled Mangkits or Mangits) who moved to the Desht-i Qipchaq steppe became Turkified. They established the Nogai Horde in the 14th century and the Manghit dynasty to rule the Emirate of Bukhara in 1785. They took the Islamic title of Emir instead of the title of Khan, since they were not descendants of Genghis Khan and rather based their legitimacy as rulers on Islam. However, Persian historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani who chronicled the Mongols, claimed that many old Mongolian clans (such as Barlas, Urad, Manghud, Taichiut, Chonos, Kiyat) were founded by Borjigin members. The clan name was used for Mongol vanguards as well. Members of the clan live in several regions of Central Asia and Mongolia.

Andrey III Alexandrovich (ca. 1255 – 27 July 1304), a Rus’ prince, son of Alexander Nevsky, received from his father the town of Gorodets on the Volga. In 1276 he added Kostroma to his possessions and joined the struggle for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal.

In 1281, joining the Mongol army, Andrey expelled his elder brother Dmitri from Vladimir. After some feasting with Mongols in Vladimir, Andrey went to Novgorod, where the populace made him heartily welcome. Meanwhile, his brother allied himself with the powerful Mongol general Nogai Khan, who reinstated Dmitry as Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1283.