page_title: Karabakh Khanate
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Karabakh Khanate / History
caption_attribution_description: Carpet belong Karabakh khans, Azerbaijan History Museum
context_page_description: The Karabakh Khanate was a semi-independent Turkic khanate on the territories of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan established in about 1748 under Iranian suzerainty in Karabakh and adjacent areas. The Karabakh khanate existed until 1806, when the Russian Empire gained control over it from Iran. The Russian annexation of Karabakh was not formalized until the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, when, as a result of Russo-Persian War, Fath-Ali Shah of Iran officially ceded Karabakh to Tsar Alexander I of Russia. The khanate was abolished in 1822, after a few years of Russian tolerance towards its Muslim rulers, and a province, with a military administration, was formed.
  On May 14, 1805 amidst the still ongoing Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, Ibrahim Khalil Khan and the Russian general Pavel Tsitsianov signed an agreement transferring the Karabakh khanate under Russian dominion. However, the agreement was of little value, as the borders were changing constantly up to the end of the war in 1813.
context_section_description: The precursor of the Karabakh khanate, the Safavid province of Karabagh, was one of the provinces established in the northern part of the Safavid Empire. The Safavid shah of Iran Tahmasp I (r. 1524-1576) granted the governance of the province to a branch of the Qajars, the Ziyadoglu, in 1540. It was initially founded in the lowland part of Karabakh ("Karabakh Steppe"), away from the lands currently known as Nagorno-Karabakh. According to a prominent historian who hailed from the Karabakh Khanate - Mirza Adigozal Bey; "The power of the Karabakh beylerbeylik covered a vast territory – from the Georgian border near “Sinig Korpu” Bridge (currently “red Bridge”) to Khudafarin Bridge on the Araz river. However, following the collapse of Safavid Empire and the death of Nader Shah Afshar in 1747, the Safavid domain split into several khanates with various forms of autonomy. During this period, Panah-Ali khan Javanshir of Karabakh consolidated his local power by establishing a de facto independent khanate and subordinating the five Armenian meliks (princes) in the region, which were referred to as Khamsa ("five" in Arabic), with support of the Armenian prince Melik Shahnazar II Shahnazarian of Varanda, who first accepted Panah-Ali Khan's suzerainty.
  The capital of the khanate was first the castle of "Bayat" in 1748, in the Karabakh Steppe, followed by the newly built town of Panahabad in 1750–1752. During the reign of Ibrahim-Khalil khan, son of Panah-Ali khan, Panahabad became a large town and was renamed to Shusha, apparently after the name of a nearby Armenian village Shushi, known also as Shushikent, Shoshi or Shosh. Later, Panah Ali khan expanded the territory of Karabakh khanate subjugating territory of Karabakh, Meghri, Tatev, Karakilise, Kafan in Zangezur, and Nakchivan Khanate.
  In less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh khanate was attacked by Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar, one of the major claimants to the Iranian throne. During the Safavid rule, Karabakh was for almost two centuries governed by the Turkic-speaking clan of Qajar, as they were appointed governors of the Ganja-Karabakh province. It was due to that, that Mohammed Hasan Khan Qajar considered Karabakh his hereditary estate.
  Mohammad Hasan Khan besieged Panahabad, but soon had to retreat because of the attack on his own domain by one of his major opponents to the Iranian throne, Karim Khan Zand. His retreat was so hasty that he even left his cannons under the walls of Shusha fortress. Panah Ali khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Mohammad Hasan Khan and even briefly took Ardabil across the Aras River in Azerbaijan.
  In 1759, the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack from Fath-Ali Khan Afshar, ruler of Urmia. With his 30,000-strong army Fatali khan also managed to gain support from the meliks (feudal vassals) of Jraberd and Talysh (Gulistan), however melik Shahnazarian of Varanda continued to support Panah Ali Khan. The siege of Shusha lasted for six months and Fatali khan eventually had to retreat.
  In 1761, Karim Khan Zand allied with Panah Ali Khan of Karabakh to defeat Fat'h Ali Khan Afshar of Urmia, who earlier subordinated the khanates of Karabakh, Marageh, and Tabriz.
  In 1762, during his war with Kazem Khan of Qaradagh, Panah Khan submitted to Karim Khan Zand, who was consolidating different Khans under his Rule and was bout to besiege Urmia. After the fall of the city, Karim took Panah Khan among the hostages to Shiraz, where he soon died. Panah-Ali Khan's son Ibrahim-Khalil Khan was sent back to Karabakh as governor.
  Under Ibrahim-Khalil khan Javanshir, the Karabakh khanate became one of the strongest entities of the South Caucasus and Shusha turned into a big town. According to travelers who visited Shusha at the end of 18th-early 19th centuries the town had about 2,000 houses and an approximate population of 10,000.
  In the summer of 1795, Shusha underwent a major attack by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, son of Mohammad Hasan khan who attacked Shusha in 1752. Aga Mohammad Khan Qajar's goal was to end with the feudal fragmentation and
caption: Carpet, which belonged to Karabakh khans (Azerbaijan State Museum of History).
exif: {"Image Make": "Nokia", "Image Model": "6120c", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:24 19:08:32", "Image ExifOffset": "122", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "616", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5549", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:10:24 14:38:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:10:24 14:38:59", "EXIF ApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "49/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "26/25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Night", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1600"}