Mahmud Astrakhani (; ) was one of Küchük Muhammad's sons and üchüa Khan who founded the Khanate of Astrakhan in the 1460s.
Life
After years of struggle for the throne of the Great Horde against Akhmat Khan, he escaped to the town of Hajji Tarkhan (or Xacitarxan), establishing the independent Khanate of Astrakhan there. Mahmud Astrakhani maintained friendly relations with his powerful neighbors—the Nogay Horde and the Great Horde and coined his own money.
His letter to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (as dispatched on April 10, 1466) is a curious example of diplomatic epistles written in Persian or in the 15th-century Old Tatar language. The content is a necessity of establishment of diplomatic relations between Ottoman Empire and Astrakhan, and sending ambassadors to Istanbul.
For uncertainties and additional information see the second part of List of Astrakhan khans.
His son Janibeg briefly ruled Crimea in the winter of 1476/77 until he was driven out by the legitimate ruler Nur Devlet.