Quba Khanate

Quba Khanate
خانات قبه
1700–1806
Map of Quba Khanate in 1806 (according to a 1902 Russian map)
Map of Quba Khanate in 1806 (according to a 1902 Russian map)
StatusKhanate under Iranian suzerainty
CapitalKhudat (1700-1720)
Quba (1747)
Common languagesPersian (official)
Lezgian
Azerbaijani
Tat
History 
• Established
1700
• Disestablished
1806
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Safavid Iran
Russian Empire

The Quba Khanate (also spelled Qobbeh; Persian: خانات قبه, romanized: Khānāt-e Qobbeh) was one of the most significant semi-independent khanates that existed from 1747 to 1806, under Iranian suzerainty. It bordered the Caspian Sea to the east, Derbent Khanate to the north, Shaki Khanate to the west, and Baku and Shirvan Khanates to the south. In 1755 it captured Salyan from the Karabakh Khanate.

History

Although the Quba Khanate officially appeared on the map in 1747, it has been noted to be existing from the 17th century within the authority of the Safavid empire, in 1718 Lopukhin traveled to the Quba Khanate and noted that unlike other polities with the Safavid sphere, the Quba Khans were appointed locally through their own dynasty, an early documentary evidence tells us that in 1710 Sultan Ahmed Khan became the Quba Khan. The center of the Quba Khans was Khudat during that period.

in 1720 a Lezgin ruler by the name Haji Davud led his campaign into Shirvan, in the Early stages of his campaign he besieged Khudat and stormed the city, killing Sultan Ahmed Khan, and many of his relatives, after this Quba came under the authority of the Lezgin Khanate up until the liberation by Nader Shah.

The Quba Khanate regained independence in 1747 from the collapsing Afsharid empire.

Lezgin Origins

The origins of the khans of Quba is highly debated, According to Ilya Nikolaevich in his works on Journey through Dagestan and Transcaucasia, the Khanate was formed by a Lezgin nobleman Lezgi-Ahmad who built the settlement of Khudat, the author listed the Quba Khanate as part of Dagestan region stating "The Quba Khanate is one of the newest in Dagestan"

Qeytag origins

Another theory suggests that they were from the Qeytaq tribe, which was divided into two branches the Majales and the Yengikend. The khans of Quba were descended from Hosein Khan of the Majales branch, who was given the governorship of Saleyan and Quba by Shah Soleiman (r. 1666–1694) in the second half of the 1680s.

Territorial peak and downfall

The khanate achieved its greatest prominence under Fath-Ali Khan, whose governorship lasted from 1758 to 1789. He seized Derbent and divided Shirvan with Hosein Khan of Shaki.

After Fath Ali Khan's death, the khanate's influence declined. As a result of Mohammad Khan Qajar's conquests and the devastation they brought, the Alliance of Northern khanates disintegrated. The khanate was conquered by Russia in 1806 and was fully incorporated into the newly created Shamakha Governorate by 1846.

Population

The Quba Khanate was mainly populated by Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis) and Lezgins. It was also populated by Armenians, Tats and Mountain Jews.

List of khans

The khans of the Quba khanate were the following:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bournoutian, George A. (2016). The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia. Gibb Memorial Trust. p. xvii. ISBN 978-1909724808. Serious historians and geographers agree that after the fall of the Safavids, and especially from the mid-eighteenth century, the territory of the South Caucasus was composed of the khanates of Ganja, Kuba, Shirvan, Baku, Talesh, Sheki, Karabagh, Nakhichivan and Yerevan, all of which were under Iranian suzerainty.
  2. ↑ Swietochowski, Tadeusz (2004). Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0521522458. (...) and Persian continued to be the official language of the judiciary and the local administration [even after the abolishment of the khanates].
  3. ↑ Pavlovich, Petrushevsky Ilya (1949). Essays on the history of feudal relations in Armenia and Azerbaijan in XVI - the beginning of XIX centuries. LSU them. Zhdanov. p. 7. (...) The language of official acts not only in Iran proper and its fully dependant Khanates, but also in those Caucasian khanates that were semi-independent until the time of their accession to the Russian Empire, and even for some time after, was New Persian. It played the role of the literary language of class feudal lords as well.
  4. ↑ "...khanates of Sheki, Karabagh, and Kuba became the most powerful" Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920 – The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community, p. 17. Cambridge University Press
  5. ↑ Bournoutian, George A. (2016). The 1820 Russian Survey of the Khanate of Shirvan: A Primary Source on the Demography and Economy of an Iranian Province prior to its Annexation by Russia. Gibb Memorial Trust. p. xvii. ISBN 978-1909724808. Serious historians and geographers agree that after the fall of the Safavids, and especially from the mid-eighteenth century, the territory of the South Caucasus was composed of the khanates of Ganja, Kuba, Shirvan, Baku, Talesh, Sheki, Karabagh, Nakhichevan and Yerevan, all of which were under Iranian suzerainty.
  6. ↑ Bournoutian, George (2020-12-29). From the Kur to the Aras: A Military History of Russia's Move into the South Caucasus and the First Russo-Iranian War, 1801-1813. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-44516-1.
  7. ↑ ИСТОРИЯ, АРХЕОЛОГИЯ И ЭТНОГРАФИЯ КАВКАЗА. Т. 15. № 2. 2019. С. 132-148.
  8. ↑ “The Origin of Quba Khans: New Version”
  9. ↑ Bakihanov
  10. ↑ Nikolaevich, Ilya. "FROM CUBA TO BAKU. IV". Traveling through Dagestan and Transcaucasus.
  11. 1 2 Bournoutian 2021, p. 259.
  12. ↑ Bournoutian 2021, p. 260.
  13. ↑ Literature: Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin. Travels through Northern Persia 1770-1774 translated and annotated by Willem Floor (Washington DC, MAGE, 2007); Bakikhanov, The Heavenly Rose-Garden. A History of Shirvan & Daghestan, translated and annotated by Willem Floor & Hasan Javadi(Washington DC: MAGE, 2010); Willem Floor, “Who are the Shamkhal and the Usmi?” ZDMG 160/2 (2010), pp. 341–81
  14. ↑ Tsutsiev 2014, p. 9–10.
  15. ↑ Bournoutian 2021, pp. 146, 259–261.

Sources