Öz Beg Khan

Öz Beg (1282–1341), whose Muslim name was Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, ruled the Golden Horde from 1313, longer than any other khan, at its zenith. His father Toghrilcha was executed by Toqta, who exiled the boy; a Bukharan sheikh is said to have converted him to Islam there. When Toqta died in 1313 he took the throne with his vizier's help.

He divided the realm into seventy tumens and abolished the baskak system, leaving princes to collect the tribute. He built New Sarai, whose bazaars and broad streets Ibn Battuta later praised. He repeatedly attacked Ilkhanid Azerbaijan and favoured Moscow in the princes' quarrels.

In 1331 he made Ivan I Kalita grand prince. A Russian proverb, ‘Near the tsar, near death,’ is thought to date from his reign. He died in 1341, and his sons Tini Beg and then Jani Beg followed him.