The Progressive Haven Which Lasted 300+ Years...Any Guesses?

If you've never heard of the country of Khazaria, do not panic; you’re not alone! Unfortunately, this former Central Asian country had been largely confined to obscure history books, thanks to the invasion of a ferocious warlord; the Grand Prince of Kiev. But, first things first, here’s an introduction to your new favourite country from the Middle Ages…

This once-prosperous nation lasted from c. 650-969 AD (319 years): a figure which is especially impressive when considering the volatility of this time period. Spanning the eastern half of modern-day Ukraine, the steppes of the Volga-Don region of present Russia, the entire Crimean Peninsula, and the northern Caucasus (map below), Khazaria amounted to a larger territory than the whole of modern-day Scandinavia combined! But there have been plenty of large countries throughout history, so what makes Khazaria in particular so special? Ensuring its renowned prosperity, were three prominent values found consistently in government policy and culture: trade, tolerance, and decentralization. Given this was over a thousand years ago, having such modern values is what makes Khazaria such a fascinating case study to learn from today.

credit: Research Gate

Unlike the more memorable defunct countries like Yugoslavia and the USSR, (the latter of which was described as “The Evil Empire” by Ronald Reagan), Khazaria’s end did not come about through its own wrongdoings: its values of trade, tolerance and decentralization were never going to be enough to deter its total annihilation at the hands of Rus Prince Sviatoslav, a powerful warlord aiming to remove Khazaria as a geopolitical obstacle to him subjugating Constantinople. Yet, it seemed even their invaders took inspiration from the Khazars structurally (Rus princes borrowed the Kazhar title Khagan), culturally (Khazar artefacts have been discovered at Viking gravesites across Europe), legally (the Kievan Rus patterned their legal procedures after the Khazars), sportingly (the Khazars are believed to have exported a variant of the game of chess across Europe), and linguistically (many Khazar words became part of the old East Slavic language). It seems the Khazars were determined to avoid disappearance, forging new identities during their survival in the North Caucasus.

Whilst its geographical position was ultimately its downfall, Khazaria’s policy on trade made it a blessing during its reign. After the Khazars had secured independence from a diminished Western Turkish Empire rife with infighting during the 7th century, they seized their economic destiny and built overland routes connecting to the “Silk Road”, linking Europe’s trade with Asia. Ingeniously positioning itself as a trading bridge between Europe and Asia, Khazaria was then able to trade with both continents, experience a variety of exotic goods and peoples, such as the Jewish Radhanite traders, passing through and profit from taxing the hoards of traders. But Khazaria was wise to only impose minimal taxation (10% of the value of goods, minimal when considering this bought hospitality and protection along this dangerous route) to maintain trade incentives and its status as the medieval commercial crossroads. Its success as an international trading hub had made it “a very pleasant and prosperous country with great riches”, and had seen its exports reach far beyond its borders, including Khwarazm (Northwestern Uzbekistan), and even as far away as Sweden (artefact seen below): a remarkable achievement for the time. Like any country of its time, however, Khazaria still had its faults, including its profits secured through the slave trade of Turkic nomads and Slavs. Such evil did, however, appear much less prevalent in Khazaria than its neighbours, such as the Islamic Samanid Empire. This was ironic given that Khazar means Slave in Ossetian, perhaps showing the Khazars were equally exploited in this respect.

credit: Khazaria.com

As for tolerance, Khazaria was again outperforming most at the time. As Russian historian Vasilii V. Grigoriev wrote:

"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed countries: structured government, vast and prosperous trading, and a permanent army. At the time, when great fanaticism and deep ignorance contested their dominion over Western Europe, the Khazar state was famous for its justice and tolerance. People persecuted for their faiths flocked into Khazaria from everywhere. As a glistening star it shone brightly on the gloomy horizon of Europe, and faded away without leaving any traces of existence."

So renowned for its peaceful tolerance, the Latin phrase Pax Khazarica (Khazar Peace) was coined to describe the peak of Khazaria’s control of its trade routes. This was in stark contrast to the theocratic ethnonationalist authoritarianism so common at the time. An example of this in action is the Khazar approach to religion, where, as Richard A. E. Mason explains:

“The apposition of peoples and cultures led… to a blossoming of both material and spiritual culture among the Khazars. It also formed the basis for the remarkable symbiosis of varying systems of religious belief and practice which held sway and formed so unique a characteristic of the Khazar state throughout its whole history, accompanying it right down to its tragic fall. The religious beliefs current amongst the inhabitants of the Khazar state were as many and varied as these peoples themselves.”

Even a millennium before Nazism would plague the world, antisemitism was rife, especially in Christian Europe, but Khazaria acted as a safe haven for theists of all faiths fleeing persecution, including the Jews. According to Kevin Alan Brook:

“Jews were able to flourish in Khazaria because of the tolerance of the Khazar rulers, who invited Byzantine and Persian Jewish refugees to settle in their country. Due to the influence of these refugees, the Khazars found the Jewish religion to be appealing and adopted Judaism in large numbers.”

Similarly, Raymond Scheindlin contrasted the position of Jews as second class citizens globally, with the treatment in their newfound sanctuary:

“Khazaria was the one place in the medieval world where the Jews actually were their own masters....To the oppressed Jews of the world, the Khazars were a source of pride and hope, for their existence seemed to prove that God had not completely abandoned His people.”

A country of the ‘Dark Ages’, Khazaria had arguably shown a greater spirit and foresight of the Enlightenment (an event which transpired approximately 746 years after Khazaria’s demise), than France: the country some perceive to be the original home of the Enlightenment.

Whilst monarchy might not be your stereotypical chosen institution of liberty, because of historical abuses, Khazaria still demonstrated how to disperse absolute power away from an unelected figurehead, safeguarding against the most severe infringements on individual liberty with the use of a dual-monarchy (diarchy); a Khagan and a Khagan Bek. The Khagan had limited powers, being purely a spiritual figurehead, whilst the Bek controlled administration and the military, meaning the Bek needed the Khagan for legitimacy, but the Khagan needed the Bek to enact their will. Interdependence is the perfect tool for avoiding conflict, and there is a clear separation of powers to avoid centralized, tyrannical power. Other countries, like the UK, only learnt this lesson after several more centuries of bloodshed. The more cooperative coalition politics popular in Germany today was already being used in Khazaria’s seven-member Supreme Court. Described as “a model of tolerance and peaceful coexistence”, Khazaria’s Supreme Court was purposefully composed of two Muslims, two Jews, two Christians, and one Pagan. This was in order to prevent any single religion dominating, and subverting the judiciary into a tyranny of the majority. It seems unlikely that any other country in the world at this time would be prepared to decentralize power between different faiths. In fact.was this same struggle still exists in Ireland and Middle Eastern theocracies today.

The successes of Khazaria’s decentralized system proved vastly superior to the highly centralized governance of the Incas a few hundred years later, where individual identity and freedom were stifled to prioritize the collective, innovation was absent and slavery was the bedrock of the economy. It appears we must learn from Khazaria what the Incas did not: trade, tolerance, and decentralization are musts for prosperity.

Khazaria was by no means perfect, with the power imbalances of a thriving slave trade and a monarchy, however Khazaria serves as a beacon of hope for today’s moderates, by showing the immense benefits of a comparatively tolerant, free, and outward-looking society.