Azerbaijan Province (Safavid Iran)

Province of Safavid Iran

Province of Azerbaijan

استان آذربایجان

1501–1736
Status| Province of Safavid Iran
Capital| Tabriz
Common languages| Persian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Armenian, Syriac

| Succeeded by

|

|  | Afsharid Iran |

|

Today part of| Iran
Azerbaijan

The province of Azerbaijan (Persian: استان آذربایجان, romanized: ostān-e āzarbāyjān) was a province in the northwestern part of Safavid Iran, serving as one of its principal administrative areas. The city of Tabriz was the provincial capital, as well as the capital of the Safavids until 1555. The Ottoman Empire occupied Tabriz and a large portion of Azerbaijan from 1588 to 1603; as a result, the authority of the governor-general of Azerbaijan was mainly restricted to Ardabil.[1]

## History

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The Azerbaijan province was created in the first half of the 16th century. It included such regions as Maragheh, Urmia, Mahabad, Khoy, Salmas, Marand, Talish (between 1592 and 1610), Arasbar, Sultaniya, Zanjan, etc. Agriculture, cattle breeding, and handicrafts were developed in the Azerbaijan. Despite the transfer of the capital of Safavid Iran to Qazvin (1555), and later to Isfahan (1598), Azerbaijan, being from a strategic and socio-economic point of view one of the richest and most important regions of Iran, played a large role in the political and economic life of the country. One fifth of the personnel of the Safavid army (about 11 to 12 thousand people out of 60 000) accounted for Azerbaijan. The most influential Qizilbash emirs (mainly the heads of the Tekkelu and Turkman tribes) were appointed governors of Azerbaijan.[2] [3]

In 1531, Ulameh Soltan Tekkelu was the governor. The Tekkelu tribe, whose head was Ulameh Soltan Tekkelu, was a branch of the Turkoman Tekkelu tribe and moved to Azerbaijan from Asia Minor.[4] Later, the management of Azerbaijan passed to the emirs from other Turkman dynasties.[5] In 1583/84, at the insistence of the emirs from the Shamlu and Ustajlu clan, the head of the Turkman tribe, Emir Khan, was removed from running the province. This became the cause of bloody clashes between the Qizilbash. The Emir Khan was also supported by the Tekkelu. These events put Iran in a difficult position, which was at war with the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the control of Azerbaijan again passed to the Turkmans. In 1590–1605, the territory of Azerbaijan was under the control of the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Talish, Karadagh and Ardabil). During the reign of Shah Abbas I (1587–1629 years of rule), after the reconquest of Azerbaijan, in 1605, the control again passed to the Turkman emir, Pir Budaq Khan Pornak.[3]

## List of governors

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This is a list of the known figures who governed Azerbaijan or parts of it.[6] Beglerbegi, hakem and vali were all administrative titles designating the governor.[7]

Date  | Governor  | Observations

|
|

1501–1503 | Elyas Beg Eyghut-oghlu Khonoslu | Hakem of Tabriz
1503–1509 | Hossein Beg Laleh Shamlu | Hakem of Tabriz
1509–1514 | Mohammad Beg Sofrechi Ustajlu | Hakem of Tabriz
1514 | Durmish Khan Shamlu (?) | Hakem of Tabriz
1514 | Montasha Soltan Ustajlu | Hakem of Azerbaijan
1524–? | Mohammad Khan Tekkelu | Hakem of Tabriz
1530 | Musa Soltan Torkaman | Hakem of Azerbaijan
1531 | Ulameh Soltan Tekkelu | Vali of Azerbaijan
1532–1534 | Musa Beg Mawsillu | Hakem of Azerbaijan and hakem or vali of Tabriz
1534–1573 | None | Occasionally part of the crown domain
?–1559–? | Amir Gheyb Beg Ustajlu | Hakem of Tabriz
1562s | Khvajeh Qasem Ali | Vizier of Azerbaijan, stayed at the court
1573 | Yusof Beg Ustajlu | Hakem of Azerbaijan
1573–? | Allahqoli Beg ibn Shahqoli Soltan | Hakem of Tabriz
1577–1584 | Amir Khan Mawsillu | Hakem or beglerbegi of Tabriz and 'vali or beglerbegi of Azerbaijan
1584 | Aliqoli Khan Ustajlu | Hakem of Tabriz and beglerbegi of Azerbaijan
1585 | Hoseynqoli Khan Ustajlu | Brother of the previous governor. Hakem of Tabriz
1586 | Mohammad Khan Tokhmaq Ustajlu | Hakem of Tabriz and beglerbegi of Azerbaijan
1588–1603 | None | Occupied by the Ottoman Empire
1589–1591 | Mehdiqoli Khan Ustajlu | Hakem of Ardabil
1590–? | Haqqverdi Soltan | Hakem of Tabriz
1593 | Farhad Khan Qaramanlu | Amir al-omara of Azerbaijan
1593–1605 | Dhu'l-Feqar Qaramanlu | Amir al-omara of Azerbaijan
1605–1616 | Pir Budaq Khan Pornak | Hakem of Tabriz and amir al-omara of the frontier zone
1616–1618 | Shahbandeh Khan Torkman | First tenure. Amir al-omara of Azerbaijan and hakem of Tabriz
1618–1620 | Qarachaqay Khan | Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan and hakem and amir al-omara of Tabriz
1620–1625 | Shahbandeh Khan Torkman | Second tenure. Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan
1625–1635 | Pir Budaq Khan Pornak Torkman | First tenure. Hakem and amir al-omara of Azerbaijan. Eqta'dar of Tabriz. He was three years old at the time of his appointment
1635–1643 | Rostam Khan | Hakem and eqta'dar of Tabriz, beglerbegi of Azerbaijan. Also sepahsalar (commander-in-chief)
1643–1650 | Pir Budaq Khan Pornak Torkman | Second tenure. Hakem of Tabriz and beglerbegi of Azerbaijan. Also sepahsalar (commander-in-chief)
1652–1654 | Aliqoli Khan Davalu | Hakem of Tabriz
1655–1664 | Mortezaqoli Khan Qajar | Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan. Also qorchi-bashi
1680 | Hajji Ali Khan | Beglerbegi of Tabriz
1694 | Rostam Khan | Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan. Also sepahsalar and tofangchi-aghasi
1695 | Ansusheh Khan | Vali of Tabriz
1696 | Mohammad Taleb Khan | Beglerbegi of Tabriz
1697 | Loft Ali Beg | Beglerbegi of Tabriz
1702 | Musa Beg | Hakem of Tabriz. Also qollar-aghasi
1711–? | Mohammad Zaman Khan | Hakem of Tabriz and Kerman. Also sepahsalar
?–1715 | Mansur Khan Shahseven Moghani | Possibly beglerbegi of Tabriz. Also sepahsalar
1715–1718 | Safiqoli Khan Ziyad-oghlu Qajar | Beglerbegi of Tabriz. Also sepahsalar
1719–1720 | Mohammad-Ali Khan | Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan
1720–1721 | Mikhri (Mehdi?) Khan | Hakem of Tabriz
1721 | Mohammad Khan Begdeli Shamlu | Beglerbegi of Azerbaijan

## See also

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* List of Safavid governors of Erivan

## References

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1. ^ Floor 2008, p. 154.
2. ^ Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia 1986, p. 232.
3. ^ a b Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia 1986, p. 231-232.
4. ^ Петрушевский 1949, p. 56.
5. ^ Петрушевский 1949, p. 49.
6. ^ Floor 2008, pp. 154–156.
7. ^ Floor 2008, p. 124.

## Sources

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* "Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia". National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. 1986. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
* Петрушевский, И. П. (1949). "Очерки по истории феодальных отношений в Азербайджане и Армении в XVI - начале XIX вв". `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
* Floor, Willem (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1933823232.

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Provinces of Safavid Iran

* Astarabad
* Azarbaijan
* Baghdad
* Daghestan
* Diyarbakr
* Erivan (Chokhur-e Sa'd)
* Fars
* Georgia
* Gilan
* Hamadan
* Herat
* Isfahan
* Kandahar
* Karabakh
* Kerman
* Khuzestan
* Kuhgiluyeh
* Kurdistan
* Lorestan
* Makran
* Mashhad
* Marv
* Mazandaran
* Shirvan
* Sistan

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