User:HistoryofIran/Abaqa Khan

Abaqa Khan (also transliterated as Abaġa; Middle Mongolian:, ), was the second Mongol ruler (ilkhan) of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin. He was the grandson of Tolui and reigned from 1265 to 1282 and was succeeded by his brother Ahmed Tekuder. Much of Abaqa's reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as those between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde. Abaqa also engaged in unsuccessful attempts at military invasion of Syria, including the Second Battle of Homs.

Background
Born in the February of 1234 in Mongolia, Abaqa was the eldest son of the first ilkhan Hulagu Khan ((r. 1256 – 1265)) and his consort Yesünčin Khatun. He took part in his fathers wars in the west, but was sent to the east at the onset of the war with Berke ((r. 1257 – 1266)) of the Golden Horde in 1261/2, in order to join forces with the Chagatai ruler Alghu ((r. 1260 – 1265)). At the time of Hulagu's death in February 1265, Abaqa served as the governor of the provinces of Khorasan and Mazandaran. He subsequently left for Azerbaijan, where he was elected as the new ilkhan by the aristocracy.

Reign
Abaqa's first action as ilkhan was to reaffirm to his officers that they would keep the same ranks they had enjoyed under his father; Shiremün Noyan and his tamma would continue to stay in Georgia and watch over its frontier; Arghun Aqa kept the title of muqat’-i mamalik and remained in Khorasan; Suqunjaq Aqa was made governor of Baghdad and Fars, while Ata-Malik Juvayni was made his na’ib (assistant, deputy); Suqunjaq's brother, Tudan Ba'atur, and Elgäi Noyan's son, Tüqü Aqa, were also to retain their rank as the commander of the forces that protected the Sultanate of Rum

From his father, Abaqa had inherited ongoing conflicts with his neighbours.