Mahdiqoli Khan Javanshir

Mahdiqoli Khan Javanshir
Reign 1806-1822
Father Ibrahim Khalil Khan

Mahdiqoli Khan Javanshir (Persian: مهدی قلی خان جوانشیر‎, translit. Mehdiqoli Khan Javānšir‎, Azerbaijani: Mehdiqulu xan Cavanşir; 1772-1845) was the last khan of the Karabakh Khanate, functioning as its head from 1806 up to his flight in 1822.

Biography

Mahdidiqoli Khan was born into a family of Ibrahim Khalil, Khan of Karabakh,[1] and Khurshid Begum – a granddaughter of Shahverdi Khan of Ganja and daughter of Javad Khan. In July 1805, he was promoted to major-general by the order of Alexander I, after an agreement by his father and the Russians which stipulated that Russia would recognize him as the ruler of the khanate (khan), and the confirmation that his son, Mahdiqoli, would succeed his father.[1]

After the murder of his father (one of his wifes, his daughter and youngest son were also murdered) in 1806,[1] Mahdiqoli Khan was appointed as the Khan of Karabakh by General Ivan Gudovich.[1] He didn’t forgive the Russians for the crime they had committed, and was a secret ally of Iran during his reign. In November 1822, fearing Russia's punishment for the overtures he had made to the Iranian government, he escaped to Iran.[1] The Khanate was subsequently abolished and transformed into a province of the Russian Empire. In 1836, he returned to Karabakh in order to be able to claim the property of his family, and he lived the rest of his life as a Russian beneficiary.[1]

His daughter was a prominent Azerbaijani poet Khurshidbanu Natavan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bournoutian 1997, pp. 71-73.

Sources

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