Coin Jani Beg - Silver Dang - 745 AH (1344 / 1345) Sarai al-Jadida

This silver dang was struck during the reign of Jani Beg in 745 AH (1344?1345). The issue is generally attributed to the mint of Sarai al-Jadida, the principal administrative and economic centre of the khanate.

Son of Özbeg Khan, Jani Beg continued the consolidation policy initiated by his father. His reign represents one of the last periods of power of the Golden Horde, characterised by relative internal stability and the reinforcement of Islam as the state religion. On the foreign front, he conducted several campaigns in the Caucasus and intervened in the affairs of the former Ilkhanate territory, then in full fragmentation. In 1356, his armies briefly occupied Tabriz, illustrating the Golden Horde's ambitions in the region.

Sarai al-Jadida was at that time one of the largest cities in western Eurasia, a commercial crossroads linking Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Islamic world. This period was also marked by the spread of the Black Death. From the mid-1340s, the epidemic struck the territories of the Golden Horde and the Genoese trading posts in Crimea, before spreading to Mediterranean Europe. The striking of this dang thus bears witness to the economic vitality of the khanate on the eve of the profound demographic and political transformations brought about by the pandemic.