This left one more khanate: the so-called Golden Horde.* As we have seen, when travelers such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and William of Rubruck traversed the Mongol empire, they had found the western portion, which overlaid the Russian steppe, under the control of a regional commander, Batu. As the thirteenth century wore on, this region became an independent khanate under its own khan, who had to be a descendent of Genghis Khan through the line of his eldest son, Jochi.
