Mengli Girei

Crimean khan from 1468 to 1515; from the Girei dynasty. Son of Khadzhi Girei, the founder of the Crimean khanate.

Mengli Girei moved the capital of the khanate from Solkhat (now Staryi Krym) to Bakhchisarai. In 1443 the Crimean khanate separated from the Golden Horde. However, the khanate became a vassal state of Turkey in 1475. Mengli Girei waged a long struggle against the khan of the Great Horde, Ahmad, and his sons. With the aid of the Turkish sultan and thanks to good relations with his ally, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasil’evich, he won a victory over the Great Horde in 1502. Mengli Girei waged wars against Poland and Moldavia, and in the last years of his reign his sons led several campaigns against the Russian state.