# Azerbaijan province (Safavid Iran)

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.

## History

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.
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. Later, the management of Azerbaijan passed to the emirs from other Turkman dynasties. 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.

## Subdivisions

The Province of Azerbaijan consisted of the districts of: Astara, Maragheh the Afshar tribe, Qaraja-Dagh, Chors, Gavrud, Qapanat, Adarba tribe, Hashtarud, Muk, Lahijan, Dunbuli tribe, Ujarud, Abdallu (a subdivision of the Shamlu tribe), Sarab, Shaqaqi tribe, Zunuz, Mishkin, Mughanat, Pishk, Lak tribe of Salmas, Qara-Aghaj, Inallu tribe.
Sultaniyah and Zanjan were, properly speaking, laid outside of the province of Azerbaijan, but Father Sanson, who made an account of Safavid Iran, placed Zanjan in the administration of Tabriz.

## List of governors

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