Quba Khanate

The Quba Khanate (also spelled Qobbeh; fa, خانات قبه, Khānāt-e Qobbeh) was one of the most significant semi-independent khanates that existed from 1747 to 1806, under Iranian suzerainty. It bordered Caspian sea to the east, Derbent Khanate to the north, Shaki Khanate to the west, and Baku and Shirvan Khanates to the south. In 1755 the khanate conquered Salyan from the Karabakh Khanate.

History

The khans of Quba were from the Qeytaq tribe, which was divided into two branches, the Majales and the Yengikend. The origin of the tribe is obscure. First attested in the 9th-century, only their chieftain and his family were Muslims, according to the historian al-Masudi (died 956). The chieftain bore the Turkic title of ''Salifan'', as well as the title of ''Kheydaqan-shah''. According to the 17th-century Ottoman historian, Evliya Çelebi (died 1682), the Qeytaq spoke Mongolian, but this was dismissed as a "hoax" by the Iranologist Vladimir Minorsky (died 1966), who demonstrated that Çelebi copied the alleged Mongolian speech of the Qeytab from the texts of Hamdallah Mustawfi (died after 1339/40). The German historian and orientalist, Josef Markwart (died 1930), quoting from a earlier source, refers to the chieftain as Adharnarse. The khans of Quba were descended from Hosein Khan of the Majales branch, who was given the governorship of Saleyan and Quba by Shah Soleiman () in the second half of the 1680s.

The khanate achieved its greatest prominence under Fath-Ali Khan, whose governorship lasted from 1758 to 1789. He seized Derbent, and divided Shirvan with Hosein Khan of Shaki.

After Fath Ali Khan's death, the khanate's influence declined. As a result of Mohammad Khan Qajar's conquests and the devastation it had brought, the Alliance of Northern khanates disintegrated. The khanate was conquered by Russia in 1806, and was fully incorporated into newly created Shamakha Governorate by 1846.Literature: Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin. Travels through Northern Persia 1770-1774 translated and annotated by Willem Floor (Washington DC, MAGE, 2007); Bakikhanov, The Heavenly Rose-Garden. A History of Shirvan & Daghestan translated and annotated by Willem Floor & Hasan Javadi(Washington DC: MAGE, 2010); Willem Floor, “Who are the Shamkhal and the Usmi?” ZDMG 160/2 (2010), pp. 341–81

Population

The Quba Khanate was mainly populated by Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis) and Tats. It was also populated by Armenians, Lezgins and Mountain Jews.

Khans

The khans of the Quba khanate were the following;
* 1747 – 1758 - Hossein-Ali Khan
* 1758 – 1789 - Fath-Ali Khan
* 1789 – 1791 - Ahmad Khan
* 1791 – 1806 - Shaykh Ali Khan

See also

*Khanates of the Caucasus
*Russian conquest of the Caucasus

References

Sources

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States and territories established in 1747
States and territories disestablished in 1806
History of Tats

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