Kuchum Khan

Kuchum Khan (Kuchum Khan of Sibir - Tatar: Küçüm, Күчүм, Russian: Кучум; in Siberian Tatar Köçöm is pronounced approximately as /kœtsœm/ - Көцөм; the name in English comes from the Tatar pronunciation) (died ca. 1605) was the last khan (ruled 1563–1598) of the Khanate of Sibir. |religion Islam

Kuchum Khan's attempt to spread Islam and his cross-border raids met with vigorous opposition from the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible (reigned 1547-1584), who sent a force of Cossacks to confront him head-on (ca. 1580). Kuchum is particularly noted for the vigorous resistance he offered to the Russian invaders.

Kuchum was the son of prince Mortaza from the Shayban dynasty (Şäyban). In 1554, he contested the throne of the Siberia Khanate against the incumbents brothers Yadegar (Yädegär) and Bekbulat, who were both vassals of Russia. In 1563, Yadegar was defeated and Kuchum assumed the throne. In 1573, Kuchum conducted a raid on Perm. It was this and other minor raids which prompted the Tsar of Russia to support a Cossack invasion of Siberia.

In 1582, the Siberia Khanate was attacked by the Cossack ataman Yermak, who defeated Kuchum's forces and captured the capital Qashliq. Kuchum retreated into the steppes, and over the next few years regrouped his forces. He suddenly attacked Yermak on August 6, 1584 in the dead of night, and killed Yermak and most of his army; regaining control of the now ruined Qashliq. Kuchum attempted to unite the rival factions within the khanate nobility but met with resistance. After an unsuccessful attempt on his life by Qarachi Sayet khan (Säyet), Kuchum was forced to move his horde to the steppe south of the Irtysh river. There he attempted to establish a new khanate, engaging in war against Russian governors.

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