 The khanate is said to have been founded 1466  but did not become fully separate from the Golden Horde until the Horde's end in 1502.In 1459 the Golden Horde ruler Küchük Muhammad died and power was split between his sons Ahmed Khan bin Küchük, the man who lost Russia in 1480, and Mahmud bin Küchük who was based around Astrakhan.The khanate was founded either by Mahmud or his son Qasim I.