Hossein Qoli Khan Qajar ( fa, حسین قلی خان قاجار) was the
Qajar
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
chieftain of the Qoyunlu branch from 1759 till his death in 1777.
Biography
Background
He belonged to the Qoyunlu (also spelled Qawanlu) branch of the
Qajar
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
tribe. The tribe had several other branches, one of the most prominent ones being the Develu, which often fought against the Qoyunlu. Hossein Qoli Khan was one of the youngest sons of the chieftain of the Qoyunlu clan,
Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar, and the grandson of
Fath Ali Khan
Fath-Ali Khan Qajar ( fa, فتحعلیخان قاجار; 1686–1726), was the Qajar chieftain of the Ashaqa-bash branch. He was a renowned military commander during the rule of the Safavid shahs Husayn and Tahmasp II. He was killed on t ...
, a prominent aristocrat executed by the orders of shah
Tahmasp II
Tahmasp II ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb or ; 1704? – 11 February 1740) was one of the last Safavid rulers of Persia (Iran).
Name
"Tahmasp" ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb) is a New Persian name, ultimately derived from Old ...
(possibly at the urging of Nader Qoli Beg, who would become known as
Nader Shah
Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian h ...
after usurping the throne of Iran in 1736, marking the foundation of the
Afsharid dynasty
The Afsharid dynasty ( fa, افشاریان) was an Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan eth ...
). Hossein Qoli Khan had several half-brothers and full-brothers:
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, rul ...
,
Morteza Qoli Khan, Mostafa Qoli Khan, Reza Qoli Khan, Jafar Qoli Khan, Mahdi Qoli Khan,
Abbas Qoli Khan Qajar and Ali Qoli Khan.
When Nader Shah died in 1747, the Afsharid rule of Iran fell apart, which gave Mohammad Hasan the opportunity to try to seize Astarabad for himself, leading Nader Shah's nephew
Adil Shah
Ali-qoli Khan ( fa, علیقلیخان), commonly known by his regnal title Adel Shah (also spelled Adil; , "the Just King") was the second shah of Afsharid Iran, ruling from 1747 to 1748. He was the nephew and successor of Nader Shah (), th ...
to march from
Mashhad
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
to the city in order to capture him. Although he failed to catch Hasan, Adil Shah managed to take castrate one of his sons, Agha Mohammad Khan.
The death of Mohammad Hasan
During the following 10 years, Afsharid rule in
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
suffered heavily from war among rival chieftains and from invasions by the
Durrani
The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan (Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but ...
ruler of
Qandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...
,
Ahmad Shah Durrani
Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...
. During this period, Mohammad Hasan fought against the
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
military leader
Azad Khan Afghan
Azād Khān Afghān (Persian, ps, آزاد خان افغان), or Azād Shāh Afghān () (died 1781), was a Pashtun military commander and a major contender for supremacy in western Iran after the death of Nader Shah Afshar in 1747.Perry, J. R. ( ...
and the
Zand Zand may refer to:
* Zend, a class of exegetical commentaries on Zoroastrian scripture
* Zand District, an administrative subdivision of Iran
* Zand Boulevard, in Shiraz, Iran
* Z And, a variable star
As a tribal/clan and dynastic name
* Zand tr ...
ruler
Karim Khan
Mohammad Karim Khan Zand ( fa, محمدکریم خان زند, Mohammad Karīm Khân-e Zand; ) was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, ruling from 1751 to 1779. He ruled all of Iran (Persia) except for Khorasan. He also ruled over some of the Cau ...
for suzerainty over the western part of Nader Shah's former empire. He was, however, defeated in 1759 by a Zand army, and thereafter betrayed by his own followers and killed by his old rival, Mohammad Khan of Savadkuh. Due to Agha Mohammad Khan's castration, Hossein Qoli Khan was appointed as the new chieftain of the Qoyunlu instead. Shortly thereafter Astarabad fell under the control of Karim Khan, who appointed a Develu named Hosayn Khan Develu as its governor. Meanwhile, Hossein Qoli Khan and his brother Agha Mohammad Khan fled to the
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
. One year later, Agha Mohammad Khan made an incursion against Astarabad, but was forced to flee, chased by the city's governor. Agha Mohammad Khan managed to reach
Ashraf
Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, fr ...
, but was at last seized and was sent as a hostage to
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, where Karim Khan was. Hossein Qoli Khan was also soon captured and sent to Karim Khan.
In 1763, Hossein Qoli Khan and Agha Mohammad Khan were sent to the Zand capital,
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
, where their paternal aunt Khadijeh Begum, who was part of Karim Khan's
harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
, lived. Agha Mohammad Khan's half-brothers Morteza Qoli Khan and Mostafa Qoli Khan were granted permission to live in Astarabad, due to their mother being the sister of the governor of the city. His remaining brothers were sent to
Qazvin
Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...
, where they were treated honorably.
In February 1769, Karim Khan appointed Hossein Qoli Khan as the governor of Damghan. When Hossein Qoli Khan reached Damghan, he immediately began a fierce conflict with the Develu and other tribes to avenge his father's death. He was, however, killed ca. 1777 near
Findarisk
Galand ( fa, گلند; also known as Findarisk and Garland) is a village in Daland Rural District, in the Central District of Ramian County, Golestan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called ...
by some Turks from the Yamut tribe with whom he had clashed. He was survived by two sons—Hossein Qoli and
Baba Khan (later known as Fath-Ali Shah Qajar).
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Qajar, Hossein Qoli Khan
1750 births
1777 deaths
People from Gorgan
Hossein Qoli Khan
Zand governors of Damghan
Prisoners and detainees of the Zand dynasty