Claim: Ilkhanate was founded as a political entity governed by a Khan or Khagan.

The Ilkhanate , also spelled Il-khanate -LRB- ایلخانان , Ilkhānān ; Хүлэгийн улс , Hulagu-yn Ulus -RRB- , was established as a khanate that formed the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire , ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu . It was founded in the 13th century and was based primarily in Iran as well as neighboring territories , such as present-day Azerbaijan and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey . The Ilkhanate was originally based on the campaigns of Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219 -- 24 and was founded by Hulagu Khan , a grandson of Genghis Khan . With the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate . At its greatest extent , the state expanded into territories that today comprise most of Iran , Iraq , Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , Turkmenistan , Turkey , western Afghanistan , and southwestern Pakistan . Later Ilkhanate rulers , beginning with Ghazan in 1295 , would convert to Islam .