User:LouisAragon/sandbox/Dagh

353, the Qazi Qomuq branch

The province of Daghestan was a velayat (province) of the Safavid Empire, centred on the territory of the present-day Republic of Dagestan (North Caucasus, Russia). Numerous high-ranking Safavid figures originally hailed from the province.

Background and assessment
Safavid control could roughly be divided into two areas. The areas in southernmost Daghestan, amongst which Darband (Derbent), were governed by officials who directly hailed from the Safavid ranks. This southernmost part was usually an administrative jurisdiction of the Shirvan province. The areas more to the north and west, where various Daghestani principalities and feudal territories existed, were governed by various local dynasts under Safavid suzerainty. These Daghestani rulers were appointed and recognized as governors by the Safavids. The most important of these were the Shamkhal of Daghestan at the Terek River, and the ruler of the Kara Qaytaq styled with the hereditary title of Utsmi, located on the Caspian littoral. The small kingdom of Enderi, located south of the Terek, formed somewhat of a "buffer state" towards the north. In contemporary sources, the people to the north of Darband were commonly referred to as "Lezgis" or "Cherkes".

The Safavid king (shah) appointed the Shamkhal himself, but the candidate always had to be from the local princes. According to Engelbert Kaempfer, the Shamkhal also possessed the title of vali (i.e. viceroy), but "only as a honorific". Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani, a member of the family of the Shamkhal of Daghestan, rose to become one of the most powerful individuals in the Safavid state.

Though the Shamkhal and the Utsmi attempted at playing the Safavids, Ottomans, and Russians against each other, they were, most of the time, subject rulers of the Safavids. From 1606 till 1719, the Utsmi paid tribute to their Safavid overlords, whereas the Shamkhals did so from 1636 till 1719.

The two most important Daghestani vassals, were the Shamkhal and the Utsmi. They both enjoyed a high-ranking position in the Safavid administrative hierarchy. The dastur ol-moluk, a contemporary source (amongst others), illustrate this fact. The Shamkhal and Utsmi are both singled out in a special treatment by one of the highest governmental officials, the qurchi-bashi; "[The right of] presenting requests of the Shamkhal, who is the governor of Daghestan, as well as of the Usmi, which is also an office in Daghestan, also belongs to the qurchi-bashis. When representatives and associates [of the Shamkhal and Usmi] come to the Exalted Court, the qurchi-bashi assigned a host (mehmandar) to them, presented their requests to H.M., saw to the implementation of the decisions and decrees issued as a result, received the grants presents for them from the khassah ('crown') and sent these to them."

The Shamkhal and the Utsmi controlled the trade route between Russia and the province of Shirvan. Though they were willing to protect travellers (after payments), they were also involved in high-way robbery. Other than herding and cultivation, the local people in Safavid Daghestan were actively involved in robbery and slave raiding. Therefore, these lands which were under Safavid suzerainty had an awful reputation.

Shamkhals
The Shamkhals were the lords of the Qazi-Qomuqs, today known as the Laks. In 1575, Shamkhal Chubin died; the lands that he was allowed to rule, were divided among his sons. This led to the break-up of his Shamkhal Chubin's realm. First, control was lost over the area between the Terek and the Sulak rivers. Then, control was lost over the Dargins and the Qazi-Qomuqs. In 1640, the Qazi-Qomuqs became completely independent of the ruling Shamkhal dynasty. After Shamkhal Sorkhey Mirza died (in 1630-1640), the area under Shamkhal hegemony only included the coastal region from Buynaq to Tarku, and Tarku became the new official seat of the Safavid Shamkhals of Daghestan. The Shamkhal's local palace was situated the in the most elevated part of Tarku.

Due to the main splits in the Shamkhal line as well as intense disputes between male members of his family, in the start of the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the Shamkhal subjects of Safavid Iran had also sworn allegiance to Russia. Other than that, during the Ottoman invasions of the Iranian possessions (i.e., in the 1580s and 1720s), the Shamkhals had sided with the Ottomans. The Shamkhals were therefore, at times, pretty unreliable subjects to the Iranians, as they had history of switching allegiance based on the situation.

Endirey, Buynak, Aq Su, Kostak and Bammutalah were recognized as possessions of the Shamkhal; each one of these were governed/ruled by members of the family of the Shamkhal.

The Shamkhal had long enjoyed a favourite status at the Safavid court; nevertheless, he was forced to rely on a large army in order to maintain his will in the area he governed. Apart from the revenues of the Daghestan province itself, he also relied on his salary from the central government, as governor of Daghestan; this salary increased from 700 tomans in 1687, to 1,700 around 1715, and "up to" 4,000 in 1722. The Shamkhals provided the central Safavid government with troops when needed. To ensure loyalty, the Shakhal, like the Utsmi, other than receiving salary, had to send hostages to the Safavid court.

16th century
Sometime prior to 1548, Safavid king Tahmasp I ((r. undefined – undefined) 1524-1576) married a daughter of the Shamkhal, named Sultan-Agha Khanum. Illustrative of the friendly relations between the Shamkhal and the Safavids, prior to the 1550s, the Safavids were not yet recognized as suzerains by the Shamkhal.

In the latter part of the 16th century, a son of Chuban I Shamkhal known as Shamkhal Sultan Cherkes was a key player in Safavid domestic politics.

When the Ottomans invaded the Safavid Empire in 1578, the Shamkhal and Utsmi switched their allegiance to side with the Ottomans.

17th century
In 1614-1615, the governor of Tabarsaran, Masum Khan, tried to prevent the construction of a Safavid fortress in Shaberan. He and his 2,000 men were defeated by the forces of the central government. King Abbas I then pardoned Masum Khan.

During the Russo-Persian War of 1651-1653, the successful Safavid offensive resulted in the destruction of the Russian fortress on the Iranian side of the Terek and its garrison being expelled. The Safavid governors of the Daghestan province, Shamkhal Sorkhab (Sorkhey) as well as Abbasqoli Khan Utsmi'(amongst others), participated in the Safavid offensive. After the issue with the Russians was dealt with, Safavid king Abbas II (r. 1642-1666) ordered the "master of the hunt" (mīr shekār-bāshi) Allahverdi Khan to build new fortresses in Daghestan in order to secure the settlement of Qizilbash warriors. However, this led to an atmosphere of uncomfort amongst the Daghestani tribes. Abbas II then tried to bring the Daghestani vassal rulers under the jurisdiction of the Safavid governor of Shirvan, Hajji Manuchehr Khan. Hajji Manuchehr Khan had also been appointed with supressing the usurpation of Ologh Beg against the Safavid-appointed Utsmi. The governors of Daghestan, Zakhur and Tabarsaran had been ordered to assist Hajji Manuchehr Khan. Now aware of the Safavid plans, intented to keep a stronger grip on the Daghestan Province, the Daghestani tribes opposed these plans of the central government instead of supporting them.

When these efforts proved to be unsuccessful, king Abbas II sent a 15,000 - 30,000 strong army in 1658-1659, which included 2,000 musketeers (tofangchis), artillery-men (tupchis), and an artillery battery (tup-khaneh) led by Aliqoli Beg the tupchi-bashi-ye jolo. This army defeated the 30,000-strong Daghestani rebel army led by Sorkhey Khan Shamkhal, Ologh Beg, Qeral Alb of Endirey and other local chiefs of Daghestan, Qeytaq, and Endirey. The Shamkhal apologized for his actions and asked for forgiveness, which the Safavid king granted. Nevertheless, however, the overal result of the matter was "status quo ante". The Safavid rulers allowed their subject, the Shamkhal, to regain his post as local ruler whereas the Shamkhal sent a son, Gol-Mehr Beg (also known as Gol Mohammad Khan) as hostage to the Safavid capital Isfahan. Gol-Mehr Beg arrived in the Safavid capital with his sword around his neck. The Safavid king pardoned him as well, gave him a robe of honor, and sent him back to Daghestan.

In 1668, the province was attacked by the Cossack Stenka Razin and his men.

18th century
By the late 1710s, the Safavid Empire was in a state of heavy decline, with high-profile issues on its border regions. Amongst these, was the issue related to the Shamkhal of Tarki. For years, the Safavids had not paid his customary subsidy. When the Shamkhal of Tarki then requested government troops against Russian aggrssion, the Safavid king promised him "a token sum of 1,000 tomans". As a result of this neglectance, the Shamkhal of Tarki submitted to Russian authority in 1717, facilitating the Russian invasion of Iran of several years later. In 1719, the Utsmi of the Kara Qaytaq and the Shamkhal rebelled against the Safavid overlordship. In the same year the Lezgis were already considered a threat to the northwestern regions. The Safavid government then decided to send the Safavid commander-in-chief (sepahsalar) Hosaynqoli Khan (Vakhtang VI) to Daghestan in order to deal with the issue. Assisted by the governors of Kakheti and Shirvan, the commander-in-chief made significant progress in putting a halt to the Lezgins. However, the initially successful counter-campaign was abandoned by the central government at a critical moment in 1721. The order, which came after the fall of grand vizier Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani, was made at the instigation of the eunuch faction within the royal court, who had persuaded the shah that a successful end of the campaign would do the Safavid realm more harm than good. In their view, it would enable Hosaynqoli Khan, the Safavid vali, to form an alliance with Russia with an eye to conquering Iran. With the threat then left unchecked, Shamakhi, the capital of the Shirvan province, was taken by 15,000 Lezgin tribesmen aided by Shamkhal Sorkhay Khan, its Shia population massacred, and the city ransacked.

In 1722, the Russian Empire capitalized on the eruption of chaos and instability, and annexed the maritime areas of the province, including Derbent, from the Safavids.

After the Safavids were restored in 1729 by Nader Qoli Beg (later known as Nader Shah), Nader also re-established the former's hegemony over the area. In 1734, he re-subdued the Lezgis; the Daghestani chiefs then sent 700 men to the Safavid rulers as a gesture of submission, while in turn, per usual practise, Nader gave them 7,000 tomans. In 1735, Nader concluded the Treaty of Ganja with the Russians, whereby they were forced to give back the territories in Daghestan back that had been taken by Peter the Great in 1722-1723. In 1736, Nader's military campaigns in Daghestan resulted in the re-subjection of the Daghestani tribes, and the defeat of Shamkhal Sorkhay Khan, who had rebelled earlier against the Safavid hegemony. Another Daghestani chief, Ahmad Khan, sent Nader two of his daughters and his son, as a gesture of submission.