khaganate

A khaganate is a political entity ruled by a khagan, a title meaning “khan of khans” in Turkic and Mongolic languages. The term is used by historians to describe states where the supreme ruler claimed the prerogatives of a khagan. A khaganate differs from a khanate, in which the ruler is simply a khan; the khagan holds higher authority, often presiding over a confederation of tribes or a multiethnic realm.

Historically, khaganates appeared across the Eurasian steppe and Central Asia. The Xiongnu and later the Göktürk Khaganate (the Turkic Khaganate) established dominant polities in the region from late antiquity into the early medieval period. The Uyghur Khaganate rose in the 8th–9th centuries in Mongolia and the Tarim Basin. In the medieval period, various Turkic and Mongol polities employed the title, including states sometimes described as khaganates in chronicles and modern scholarship. In Mongol practice, the rulers who held the title khagan were often associated with a higher imperial status within a broader empire, such as the era of the Great Khans, with subordinate realms that could function as semi-autonomous khanates.

Governance in a khaganate typically combined centralized authority with multiethnic administration and tribal or noble support networks. The khagan might claim religious legitimacy or patronage of major faiths, and imperial bureaus or appanages helped manage territory, taxation, and military obligations. The form gradually evolved as dynastic and regional powers shifted, giving way to successor states or integration into larger empires.

See also: Khanate, Great Khan, Mongol Empire, Turkic khaganate.