“Do not become sedentary, for sovereignty resides in those who practice the nomadic Türkmen way of life.” These are the reported words of Qara Uthman Yülük (d. 1435), the founder of the Aqqoyunlu Türkmen state in Eastern Anatolia.1 The similarity with the recommendations made seven centuries earlier in Mongolia to the Türk ruler Bilge Qaghan (d. 734) not to live in “permanent habitation places”, is striking.2 This invites us to consider the kind of relationship that could or should exist between the exercise of power and the way of life—a question that is particularly relevant with regard to the various dynasties of Turkic and Mongol origin that ruled large parts of Eurasia during the pre-modern period.By dealing with the issue of the location of rule in a context of Turkic and Mongol domination, this volume is at the intersection of four lines of research that have produced an extensive literature: first, studies on the topography of power, largely derived from the works of the German historical school on Raumordnung;3 second, urban studies, since the city is the presumed locus of power in the history of Eurasia;4 third, Inner Asian