Orda (organization)

An orda (also ordu, ordo, or ordon) or horde was a historical sociopolitical and military structure found on the Eurasian Steppe, usually associated with the Turkic and Mongol peoples. This form of entity can be seen as the regional equivalent of a clan or a tribe of nomads. Some successful ordas gave rise to khanates. The original term did not carry the meaning of a large khanate such as the Golden Horde. These structures were contemporarily referred to as ulus ("nation" or "tribe").

Etymologically, the word ordu ultimately comes from the Turkic ordu which means "army" in Turkic and Mongolian languages, as well as "seat of power" or "royal court". In English, it was directly or indirectly borrowed from Latin orda, or from Polish horda.

Within the Liao Empire of the Khitans, the word ordo was used to refer to a nobleman's personal entourage or court, which included servants, retainers, and bodyguards. Emperors, empresses, and high ranking princes all had ordos of their own, which they were free to manage in practically any way they chose.

In modern times the term is also used to denote Kazakh tribal groupings, known as zhuz. The primary ones are the Younger Horde (junior zhuz) in western Kazakhstan, the Middle Horde (middle zhuz) in central Kazakhstan and the Older Horde (senior zhuz) in southeastern Kazakhstan.

'Urdu', the name of a language spoken in the Indian subcontinent, is also a cognate of this Turkic word.

In 16th-century Russian sources, the term Golden Horde is applied to the western khanate that succeeded the Mongol Empire; the term is now used retrospectively in modern scholarship. The term golden may have been used to refer to the riches of the khanate, or simply the yellow tents used by Mongol commanders. Previously, the Russians had used the term orda to denote the seat of the khan.

Ordu or Ordo also means the Mongolian court. In Mongolian, the Government Palace is called "Zasgiin gazriin ordon".

William of Rubruck described the Mongol mobile tent as follows: