Talysh Khanate

The Talysh khanate was one of many semi-independent principalities that existed on the territory of modern Azerbaijan Republic between 1747 and 1813. It broke away from Persia after Nadir Shah’s death in 1747 but had already been developing a degree of autonomy since 1736 under Seyid Abbas [ [http://lankaran.aznet.org/lankaran/history_eng.htm history of Lankaran ] ] .

The founder of the Talysh dynasty, Abbas's ancestors were minor members of Safavid nobility, who had moved into the Talish region during the 1720s during a turbulent period in Iranian history. When Seyyid Abbas died in 1747 [ [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Azerbaijan.html#Talysh-Mugan Azerbaijan ] ] he was succeeded by his son Jamaladdin, often remembered as "Gara Khan" (the 'Black King'). Gara Khan was pro-Russian in his foreign policy which upset the rulers of neighboring khanates notably Hidayat Khan of Gilan. In 1768 Hidayat Khan attacked the Talysh khanate. Seeing aid against the superior enemy, Gara Khan send his brother Karbalayi Sultan to Fath Ali Khan, ruler of the Quba Khanate resulting in an alliance between Quba and Lenkaran. By 1785 the territory of the Talysh khanate had formally become a dependency of that much stronger Quba Khanate together with certain other Azerbaijani khanates. However, in 1789 following Fath Ali Khan's death, the Talysh Khanate regained its independence under Mir Mustafa, the son of Gara Khan who had himself died in 1786.

In 1794-5 the Persian Shah Agha Muhammad Qajar called on the various Azeri khanates to form an alliance against Russia and mounted a military expedition against those who refused to join him. The Talysh khanate refused to do and was attacked in 1795. Mir Mustafa Khan’s disparate army was not strong enough to resist and he send his representatives to General Gudovich asking for Russian protection. However, the Russians took a long time to respond, only finally arriving in 1802 when the Talysh Khanate became a protectorate of the Russian Empire.

The khanate was to remain a pawn between the Persian and Russian empires over the subsequent two decades. In 1809 as a part of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), Iranian troops took the city of Lenkaran and expelled the Russian-leaning khan. In 1812, with Napoleon attacking Moscow, the Russians were also battling again in the Caucasus. After a brief siege led by Pyotr Kotlyarevsky on January 1, 1813 2,000 Russian troops managed to retake the citadel of Lenkaran from the Persian army. There were heavy losses on both sides, but strategic capture of Lankaran led inexorably to the September 12, 1813 Treaty of Gulistan. This forced defeated Persia to cede many of the formerly independent khanates to Russia. In 1814 Mir Mustafa khan died and his son Mir Hasan Khan succeeded him but only in name.

With Russia busy in European wars, Persia attempted to reassert its hegemony in the area 1826-28 Russo-Persian war but the results were disastrous and the war ended up with the even more humiliating Treaty of Turkmenchay which definitively gave the Talysh Khanate to Russia. Mir Hasan khan had died in 1826 and the khanate was abolished.

The Talysh Khans proved a stimulating subject for famed Azeri poet-playwright Mirza Fatali Akhundov (Mirza Fatali Akhundzade), nicknamed the "Muslim Molière". A 1938 production of his "Sərgüzəşti Vəziri-Xani Lənkəran" ('The Adventures of the Lankaran Khan's Visier'), stared the future president Heydar Aliyev, then just a teenager [ [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/74_folder/74.articles/74_aliyev1.html 7.4 Azerbaijan's President, Heydar Aliyev Interview in Azerbaijan International ] ]

Rulers [ [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Azerbaijan.html#Talysh-Mugan Azerbaijan ] ]

1747 (founder) Sa`id `Abbas

1747-1786 (1785-6 under Quba Khanate) Jamaladdin (Gara Khan)

1786-1814 (1786-9 under Quba Khanate) Mir Mustafa Khan

1814-1826 (under Russia) Mir Hasan Khan

ee also

*Khanates of the Caucasus

Sources

* [http://lankaran.aznet.org/lankaran/history_eng.htm Lankaran.aznet.org]

References