Ahmed, Khublai Khan’s Finance Minister, and His Reforms

Abstract

Genghis Khan’s grandson, Khublai Khan, founded the Khublai Khanate (Yuan Dynasty) in China in 1260, and this khanate dominated his successors until 1368. In this process, the Mongols, as a nomadic and foreign tribe, united the country by dominating both Northern China and Southern China during the medieval period. One of the important reasons for this is closely related to the Mongols ability to establish a systematic structure in administrative, military and financial aspects of state administration. Especially, one of the important factors in the survival and development of a state is the systematic functioning of the financial structure during the Khublai Khanate period. For this purpose, Khublai Khan appointed financially competent people. During the reign of Khublai Khan (1260-1294), three important finance ministers, Ahmed (Ahema 阿合馬; ?-1282), Lu Shirong 盧世榮 (?-1285) and Sanga (Sang Ge 桑哥; ?-1291), who implemented important reforms in the development of the country, the increase of state revenues and the systematization of finance were appointed.

In this study, we evaluated the biography of Ahmed, the first of Khublai Khan’s finance ministers, by using research works in different languages, especially Chinese such as Yuanshi, Xin Yuanshi, and Rashīd al-Dīn’s Persian work called Jāmiʽ al-Tawārīkh. Ahmed’s appointment as minister of finance, the financial reforms and consequences he put forward in this process, his abuse of office, the tragic outcome of his life, as well as Khublai Khan’s pragmatic view on employment are within the scope of our study. In addition, this study provides information about the finances of the Khublai Khan period and also contains important information about the financial structure and the functioning of this structure.