Donboli Emirs During the Reign of Hawshar and Zandi Dynasties

After the Safavid reign that was one of the Iranian Royalties ended, the Afsharid Turkmen who were a part of the Qezlbash tribe and they used to be the Safavid's allies, gained power, and "Nader Quli Afshar" became the first king of the Afsharid dynasty or as the "Hawshar" Kurd's suggestion he was the one who diminished the Safavid's descendants from Khorasan.

After Nader Shah put back together all the states that were taken apart from Iran during the Safavid reign, which were taken by the Ottomans from the west or the "Gawrikan" from India, he became Shah of Iran for thirty years during this time the Hawshars were in charge for ruling Iran. Later "Karim Khan Zand" shattered the Hawshars from history and after fighting all those who claimed to be the king, he could successfully establish his authority so the Zand dynasty became the ruler of Iran for thirty years.

However, Donbolis' political fame got more popular during these sixty years. Donboli's reign grew stronger during this time and one can say that they were almost as powerful as a kingdom in their geographical territory. They were also known as a strong and powerful force in other parts of Iran.

After shattering the Ottoman authority in Azerbaijan, Nader Shah Hawshar chose "Murteza Quli Khan Donboli, son of Shabaz Khan Gorin, as the ruler of their own region and named him the Emir of that region. Murteza Quli Baig even participated in Nader Shah's crowning day in 1148 Hijri or 1735 A.D. He was also the commander of a large part of Nader Shah's troops in the battle with the Caucasus.

The borders of Nader Shah's kingdom

According to "Kazem Marvi", Nader Shah's court historian, Murteza Quli Baig, was one of the great Emirs among the Hawshar noblemen; however, this relationship did not remain strong for long since Nader Shah asked for a large portion of the tax from the Donboli rulers and Murteza Baig protested to this command. He sent a letter to the Ottomans and the Donboli people revolted against Nader Shah.

Although Murteza Quli Baig attempted not to fight with the Hawshar troops despite the Ottoman's support he got killed on the battlefield. Abdulrazagh Baig the historian who was originally from the Donboli region, believed that his grandfather, Murteza Quli Baig, was sent to Khorasan by Nader Shah's command and he ordered to kill him based on the king's order. Although Abdulrazagh Baig's opinion is in accordance with what Nader Shah actually did, however, Murteza Quli Baig got killed as a result of revolting against Nader Shah during the Donboli revolution and Nader Shah regretted his decision later. Thus, he reelected Shabaz Khan Donboli, Abdulrazagh's grandfather, as the ruler of the Donboli region.

Shabaz Khan remained loyal to the Hawshar dynasty and even after Nader Shah died, he still helped "Ibrahim Khan", Nader Shah's nephew who became his uncle's successor. However, after the long-lasting conflict that happened after Nader Shah's death among "Fathali Khan" from the Hawshar dynasty, "Azad Khan Afghan", "Karim Khan Zand" and "Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar" for gaining power in Iran, Shabaz Khan supported Azad Khan and later he supported Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar while they both got defeated by Karim Khan Zand politically and finally Karim Kahn Zand won the game.

Karim Khan's method for forcing his opponents to stop protesting him was to take a member of their families as a hostage, as he did so to Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and Shabaz Khan Donboli and took them to Shiraz that was his Capital city at that time.

According to some sources, however, not only Karim Khan took Shabaz Khan as a hostage but he also took two other noblemen of the Donboli dynasty as hostages.

The borders of Karim Khan Zand's kingdom

Karim Khan gave Najaf Quli Baig authority and Azerbaijan's authority, too. Najaf Quli Baig was an experienced figure and he was a professional political man from Nader Shah's reign. As it is mentioned in the historical sources, Najaf Quli Baig was in charge of the Mirati region for forty years. After him, Ahmad Khan Donboli became the ruler of the Donboli dynasty who was the most famous ruler of the Donboli Emirs. He is still remembered in the history and memory of this region's people.

Ahmad Khan ruled this region for more than fifty years. After Lotfali Khan Zand and Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar claimed their right to be the king after Karim Khan Zand, Ahmad Khan's power grew stronger than before.

KURDŞOP
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