Imam Quli Khan (1582-1633), Hyderabad, 1760-80

Imam-Quli Khan ( fa, امامقلی خان، Emāmqolī Khān) (died 1632) was an Iranian military and political leader of

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

origin who served as a governor of Fars, Lar and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

for the

shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

s Abbas I and Safi.

Biography

Imam-Quli Khan was the son of

Allahverdi Khan Allahverdi Khan ( fa, اللّه وردی خان, ka, ალავერდი-ხანი) (c. 1560 – June 3, 1613) was an Iranian general and statesman of Georgian origin who, initially a '' gholām'' ("military slave"), rose to high offic ...

(

Undiladze The Undiladze ( ka, უნდილაძე, fa, اوندیلادزه) were a Georgian noble family whose members rose in prominence in the service of Safavid Iran and dominated the Shah’s court at a certain period of the late 16th and early ...

), the celebrated Georgian general in the service of Iran’s

Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...

. Imam-Quli Khan is first mentioned as governor of Lar in Fars in 1610. He succeeded his father as governor-general (

beglarbeg ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuk ...

) of Fars in 1615, but retained his position at Lar and was granted the rank of an

amir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

of the

divan A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meanin ...

Shah Abbas I Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid Shah (king) of Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty. He was the third so ...

. In 1619-20, Imam-Quli Khan oversaw Abbas’s project to link the headwaters of the

Karun The Karun ( fa, کارون, ) is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and its only navigable river. It is long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as t ...

and Zayandarud rivers in order to enhance the water supply of his capital,

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

. Shah Abbas placed complete trust in Imam-Quli Khan who grew in influence and prestige and became one of the wealthiest

khans Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

of the Safavid empire. One day, Shah Abbas even jokingly said to Imam-Quli: "I request, Imam-Quli, that you will spend one dirham less per day, that there may exist some slight difference between the disbursements of a khan and a king!" Imam-Quli built a

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

and many palaces in

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 ...

and the still standing bridge Pol-e Khan over the Kor at

Marvdasht Marvdasht ( fa, مرودشت, also romanized as Marv Dasht) is a city and the capital of Marvdasht County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,858, in 29,134 families. Name Some historians hold that Marvdasht was o ...

.Roger M. Savory
Emāmqolī Khan
'' Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition''. Accessed on September 20, 2007. Being in charge of the Safavids' southern possessions, Imam-Quli Khan continued his father’s policy of undermining the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

positions in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

. In 1621, he persuaded the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...

to cooperate with the Persians by threatening to cancel the trading privileges that had been granted to the company by the shah in 1615. As a result, Imam-Quli Khan’s army aided by the English navy captured the strategic Portuguese fort on the island of Qeshm and laid a siege to Hormuz, which surrendered after a defence of ten weeks on 22 April 1622. The khan’s military exploits are commemorated in the works by the poet Qadri from Fars. According to the Safavid historian Fazli Khuzani, Imam-Quli Khan had 22 daughters, of which some were married to Safavid Georgian ''

gholam Ghulam ( ar, غلام, ) is an Arabic word meaning ''servant'', ''assistant'', ''boy'', or ''youth''. It is used to describe young servants in paradise. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesse ...

s'' of noble origin in 1622. In 1626, when Imam-Quli's daughter and son-in-law Anduqapar Amilakhori were captured by rebellious Georgians, Abbas I sent a large army in order to rescue them.

Fall and death

After the death of Abbas, Imam-Quli Khan found himself in disagreement with new favorites of

Shah Safi Sam Mirza ( fa, سام میرزا) (161112 May 1642), better known by his dynastic name of Shah Safi ( fa, شاه صفی), was the sixth Safavid shah (king) of Iran, ruling from 1629 to 1642. Early life Safi was given the name Sam Mirza when ...

, Abbas’s successor to the throne of Persia, and became marginalized. This circumstance lasted until he and his two sons, one of them being Safiqoli Khan, were put to death at Safi's orders in late 1632, while his vast possessions were converted into the crown domain in 1633. This formed the prelude to the massacre of the rest of his family. Only his brother, Daud Khan, survived as he had fled to Georgia. Though the Undiladze Safavid Georgian line was nearly completely eliminated after the purge, the succession of the line amongst the court elites was assured by Ja'far Qoli, a grandson of Imam-Quli Khan by a daughter. A statue to Imam-Quli Khan was erected in Qeshm in the 1990s."Iran: Qeshm islanders await a second invasion". ''MEED'' 5 July 1996

References

Sources

* *Roger M. Savory, ''EMĀMQOLĪ KHAN'',

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

, Online Edition
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imam-Quli Khan 1632 deaths Safavid generals Iranian people of Georgian descent Executed Iranian people Shia Muslims from Georgia (country) Year of birth unknown Executed people from Georgia (country) People executed by Safavid Iran Safavid governors of Fars Undiladze Safavid governors of Lar 17th-century people of Safavid Iran Safavid ghilman