Khanates of the Caucasus

Political map of the eastern part of the South Caucasus between 1795 and 1801

The khanates of the Caucasus,^[1] also known as the Azerbaijani khanates, Persian khanates. or Iranian khanates, were various provinces and principalities established by Persia (Iran) on their territories in the Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan Republic, Armenia, Georgia and Dagestan) from the late Safavid to the Qajar dynasty.^[2]

The Khanates were mostly ruled by Khans of Turkic (Azerbaijani) origin^[3][4][5] and were vassals and subjects of the Iranian Shah (English: King).^[6] The khans neither had territorial or religious unity, nor an ethnic/national identity. They were mostly interested in preserving their positions and income.^[7]

References

1. Cronin, Stephanie, ed. (2013). Iranian-Russian Encounters: Empires and Revolutions Since 1800. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-0415624336. The shah's dominions, including the khanates of the Caucasus, included only about 5 to 6 million inhabitants against Russia's 500,000-strong army and estimated 40 million population.
2. George Bournoutian. The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule: 1795-1828. (Mazda Publishers, 1992), p. xxiii; "The term khanate refers to an area that was governed by hereditary or appointed governors with the title of khan or beglerbegi who performed a military and/or administrative function for the central government. By the nineteenth century, there were nine such khanates in Transcaucasia (...)"
3. "The Azeris", World and Its Peoples: Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2006, p. 751, ISBN 0761475710, In a series of wars with Persia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Russia gained the Azeri khanates north of the Araks River, which still forms the frontier between Azerbaijan and Iran.
4. Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920 By Tadeusz Swietochowski page 272
5. Russia and Iran, 1780-1828 By Muriel Atkin, Page 16-20
6. Encyclopedia of Soviet law. Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, Gerard Pieter van den Berg, William B. Simons. p. 457.
7. Bournoutian 2016a, p. 120. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBournoutian2016a (help)