Erivan Khanate
| 1604[1]–1828 | |
 "Yerevan Khanate c. 1800." | |
| Status | khanate |
| Capital | Erevan |
| History | |
• Established | 1604[1] |
• Disestablished | 1828 |
The Khanate of Erevan (Persian: خانات ایروان, Khānāt-e Īravān; [Երեւանի Խանութիւն, Yerewani Khanut'iwn] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) or Čoḵūr Saʿd[2] was an administrative territory of Persia with a high level of Armenian autonomy and self-government from the mid-17th century to 1828. Its covered an area of roughly 7,500 square miles[2] and corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey, and the Sharur and Sadarak rayons of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
As a result of the Persian defeat in the last Russo-Persian War, it was ceded to the Russian Empire in accordance with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Immediately following this, the territories of the former Khanate of Erevan and the Khanate of Nakhichevan were joined to form the Armenian oblast.
Government
During the Persian rule, the shahs appointed the various khans as beglerbegī of the territory, thus creating an administrative center. These khans from Qajar tribe,[3][4] also known as the sirdar (Pers. sardār, “chief”), governed the entire khanate, from the mid-17th century until the Russian occupation in 1828.[2]. The khanate was divided into fifteen administrative districts (mahals). Persian rule was interrupted by Ottoman occupation between 1635-1636 and 1722-1736.
Armenian Self-Rule
However, the Armenians in the territory was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Melikʿ of Erevan, of the House of Melikʿ-Ałamalean, who had the sole right to govern them with the authorization of the shah. The inception of the Melikʿdom of Erevan appears only after the end of the last Ottoman-Safavid war in 1639 and seems to have been a part of an overall administrative reorganization in Persian Armenia after a long period of wars and invasions. The first known member of the family is a certain Melikʿ Gilan but the first certain holder of the title “melikʿ of Erevan” was Melikʿ Ałamal and it may be from him that the house had taken its surname. One of his successors, Melikʿ-Yakob-Jan, attended the coronation of Nāder Shah in the Plain of Moḡān in 1736.[2]
Under the melikʿs of Erevan were a number of other melikʿs in the khanate, with each maḥall inhabited by Armenians having its own local melikʿ. The melikʿs of Erevan themselves, especially the last, Melikʿ Sahak II, were among the most important, influential and respected individuals in the khanate and both Christians and Muslims alike sought their advice, protection and intercession. Second in importance only to the khan himself, they alone among the Armenians of Erevan were allowed to wear the dress of a Persian of rank. The melikʿ of Erevan had full administrative, legislative and judicial authority over Armenians up to the sentence of the death penalty, which only the khan was allowed to impose. The melikʿ exercised a military function as well, because he or his appointee commanded the Armenian infantry contingents in the khan’s army. All the other melikʿs and village headmen (tanuters) of the khanate were subordinate to the melikʿ of Erevan and, all the Armenian villages of the khanate were required to pay him an annual tax.[2]
List of Khans
- 1736-40 Tahmasp-qulu khan
- 1740-47 Nader Shah
- 1745-48 Mekhti-khan Qasimli
- 1748-50 Hasan Ali-khan
- 1750-80 Huseyn Ali Khan
- 1752-55 Khalil Khan
- 1755-62 Hasan Ali Khan Qajar
- 1762-83 Huseyn Ali Khan
- 1783-84 Qulam Ali (son of Hasan Ali)
- 1784-1804 Muhammed Khan
- 1804-06 Mekhti-Qulu Khan
- 1806-07 Muhammed Khan Maragai
- 1807-27 Huseyn Qulu Khan Qajar
List of Meliks[2]
- Gilan (?-1653),
- Catur I (1653?-ca. 1693),
- Ałamal (ca. 1693-1716),
- Catur II (1716-19),
- Naz I (1719-21),
- Yakob-Jan (1721?- 1759),
- Naz II (1759?-1790),
- Petros? (1790?-?),
- Sahak I (?-ca. 1805),
- Abraham (ca.1805-11),
- Sahak II (1811-28, d. 1835).
Demographics
During the existence of the khanate, its population consisted primarily of Armenians, Persians (settled largely around the capital), Turkic tribes (both settled and seminomadic), Kurds (largely nomadic).[5]
Although some sources cite that Armenians formed less than 20% of the population [5] as a result of Shah Abbas I's deportation of much of the Armenian population from the Ararat valley and the surrounding region in 1605.[6], detailed examination has proven otherwise. According to George Bournoutian, while Eastern Armenia as a whole lost it's majority as a result of Shah Abbas I's deportation of much of the Armenian population from the Ararat valley and the surrounding region in 1605, the khanate itself maintained its Armenian character until the time of of Nadir Shah, and the city of Erevan retained an Armenian majority until the end of the 18th and start of 19th century [7] The ratio of Armenians at 20% of total reflects only the last census figures after the Russian conquest.
Among the Muslim population, Shia Islam was the predominate faith of the khanate (with some Kurds of the Sunni school).[5] Yazidis were also known to be numerous.[5]
After the incorporation of the khanate into the Russian Empire in 1828, many Muslims (Azerbaijani Tartars, Kurds, Lezgis and various nomadic tribes) migrated to Persia, and were replaced with tens of thousands of repatriated and resettled Armenians from Persia. Such migrations, albeit on a lesser scale, continued until the end of the 19th century.[8]
See also
- Armenians in the Persian Empire
- Azeris in Armenia
- Khanates of the Caucasus
- Islam in Armenia
- Blue Mosque, Yerevan
Citations
- ^ Большая советская энциклопедия
- ^ a b c d e f Hewsen, Bournoutian. "Erevan". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ Abbasgulu Bakikhanov. Golestan-e Eram. Period V
- ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. Hosaynqolikhan Sardār-e Iravani
- ^ a b c d Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. University of Chicago Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-226-33228-4.
- ^ von Haxthausen, Baron (2000). Transcaucasia: Sketches of the Nations and Races between the Black Sea and the Caspian. Adamant Media Corporation. p. 252. ISBN 1402183674.
- ^ Bournoutian, George A. (1992). The Khanate of Erevan under Qajar rule, 1795-1828. Mazda Publishers. p. 58. ISBN 0939214180.
- ^ Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia: A Legal Appraisal by Tim Potier. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 2001. p.2 ISBN 9041114777
Further reading
- Bournoutian, George A. (1982). Eastern Armenia in the Last Decades of Persian Rule, 1807-1828: A Political and Socioeconomic Study of the Khanate of Erevan on the Eve of the Russian Conquest. Undena Publications.
- Bournoutian, George A. (1992). The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule, 1795-1828. Mazda Publishers.
- Bournoutian, George A. "Husayn Qulī Khān Qazvīnī, Sardār of Erevan: A Portrait of a Qajar Administrator." Iranian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2/3 (Spring - Summer, 1976), pp. 163-179.
- Bournoutian, George A. ḤOSAYNQOLIKHAN SARDĀR-E IRAVĀNI. Encyclopedia Iranica.