Toqta's reign marked a decisive reassertion of Mongol authority over the western steppe after years of internal fracture following Berke's death. The Crimean mint at this period was among the most active in the western Horde, feeding silver into Black Sea trade networks that connected Italian merchant colonies — Caffa most prominently — with the interior. Toqta famously expelled Genoese traders from Caffa in 1307, the very year of this issue, burning their quarter and temporarily severing one of the primary commercial arteries the Horde depended upon.
Toqta's reign marked a decisive reassertion of Mongol authority over the western steppe after years of internal fracture following Berke's death. The Crimean mint at this period was among the most active in the western Horde, feeding silver into Black Sea trade networks that connected Italian merchant colonies — Caffa most prominently — with the interior. Toqta famously expelled Genoese traders from Caffa in 1307, the very year of this issue, burning their quarter and temporarily severing one of the primary commercial arteries the Horde depended upon.