The Erivan Khanate (), also known as , was a khanate (i.e., province) that was established in Afsharid Iran in the 18th century. It covered an area of roughly 19,500 km2, and corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, the Iğdır Province and the Kars Province's Kağızman district in present-day Turkey and the Sharur and Sadarak districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of present-day Azerbaijan.
Following the death of Nader Shah in 1747, Iranian authority over the territories north of the Aras River was greatly weakened, and the Erivan Khanate became a tributary of King Heraclius II of Georgia. This arrangement persisted after Karim Khan Zand nominally restored Iranian authority in the South Caucasus. The Georgian king attacked the khanate multiple times when the khan attempted to avoid paying tribute. Like some of the other khans of the Caucasus, Mohammad Khan of Erivan sought to make contact with Russia after 1783, when Georgia became a Russian protectorate. In 1794–95, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar campaigned to restore central authority in the region and received the submission of the khan of Erivan.
The provincial capital of Erivan was a center of the Iranian defenses in the Caucasus during the Russo-Iranian Wars of the 19th century. As a result of the Iranian defeat in the last Russo-Iranian War, it was occupied by Russian troops in 1827 and then ceded to the Russian Empire in 1828 in accordance with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Immediately following this, the territories of the former Erivan Khanate and the neighboring Nakhchivan Khanate were merged to form the Armenian Oblast of the Russian Empire.
History
Administration Under Iranian rule, the kings (shahs) appointed various governors to preside over their domains, thus creating an administrative center. These governors usually carried the title of khan or beglarbeg,: "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 [emphasis added]. By the nineteenth century, there were nine such khanates in Transcaucasia (...)" as well as the title of sardar ("chief"). Prior to the establishment of the khanate (i.e., province),. "During the eighteenth century, Persian Armenia was composed of the provincial boundaries or Khanates (subdivided into Mahals) of Erevan and Nakhchivan (...)" the Iranians had used the Erivan Province (also known as ) to govern roughly the same area. Both the Safavid-era province and the administrative entity of the Zand and Qajar eras were alternatively known by the name of .
The khans of Erivan enjoyed greater powers during their period of semi-independence from 1747 to 1795. Nominally, the khans were confirmed in their position by the Georgian king, to whom they paid tribute (see below), although in fact the office of khan had become hereditary. According to historian V. R. Grigoryan, in the second half of the 18th century the khans of Erivan "had almost royal powers", having taken control of all of the former divan lands (state lands administered by the chancery). Additonally, the tribute paid to the Georgian king was smaller than the taxes which had previously been paid to the shahs. However, another source cites the Armenian catholicos Simeon's statement made in 1765 that the khanate was obligated to pay heavy taxes both to the Zand ruler Karim Khan and to the Georgian king.
In the Qajar era, members of the royal Qajar dynasty were appointed as governors of the Erivan Khanate, until the Russian occupation in 1828.. "Iranians, in order to save the rest of eastern Armenia, heavily subsidized the region and appointed a capable governor, Hosein Qoli Khan, to administer it." The heads of the provincial government of the Erivan Khanate were thus directly related to the central ruling dynasty. Administratively, the khanate was divided into fifteen administrative districts called mahals with Persian as its official language. The local bureaucracy was modeled on that of the central government, located in Tehran.: "The Khan Hosein Qoli Khan's efficient administration soon transformed the region. He modeled his bureaucracy on that of the central government, dividing power between tribal and settled groups (...) In essence the Erevan administration, like its counterpart in Tehran, was organized into three branches (...) [emphasis added]".
Together with the Nakchivan Khanate, the area made up part of Iranian Armenia (also known as Persian Armenia). The Erivan Khanate made up the bulk of Iranian Armenia. The remaining fringes of historic Armenia under Iranian rule were part of the khanates of Karabakh and Ganja as well as the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti.
Afshar and Zand periods After recovering the Iranian territories in the Caucasus from the Ottomans in 1735, Nader Shah () organized the region into four khanates: Erivan, Nakhchivan (formerly a part of ), Karabakh, and Ganja. According to the Armenian catholicos and historian Abraham III (), at the time of Nader's coronation at the Mughan plain the khan of Erivan was Mohammad Qoli (a Muslim of Armenian origin), who had been appointed by Tahmasp II (); but Nader soon appointed Pir Mohammad Khan from Herat as Khan of Erivan. Another contemporary source says that Nader appointed a trusted captain from his own bodyguard, Mohammad Reza Beg Khorasani, as governor of Erivan.
Nader's assassination in 1747 was followed by fifteen years of disorder in the region, which allowed some of the Turkic tribes in Iranian Armenia to reassert themselves. The Qajar tribe was strengthened in Erivan, Ganja, and Nakhichevan, while the Javanshir tribe took control of Karabakh. The Georgian king Heraclius II and the Javanshir khan of Karabakh Panah Ali allied with each other and divided Iranian Armenia into their own protectorates. According to some modern Azerbaijani historians, after Nader's death a local lord named Mir Mehdi Khan took power in Erivan and, in 1748, annexed some territory from the khanate of Urmia.
In 1749, a vassal of the Afghan warlord Azad Khan named Mohammad Khan attacked the Erivan Khanate and besieged Erivan while plundering the surrounding territory. The khan of Erivan appealed to Heraclius of Kakheti and his father King Teimuraz II, offering to become their tributary in exchange for their assistance. Heraclius and Teimuraz defeated Mohammad Khan and drove him out of the Erivan Khanate. After this, the khan of Erivan was obligated to pay a yearly tribute to the Georgian kings. (According to another version, it was after an invasion by Azad Khan himself that this agreement was made.) The khan often tried to escape this obligation, and Heraclius campaigned against the Erivan Khanate several times to exact tribute. In June 1752, Azad Khan invaded the khanate and began plundering the country. Heraclius II arrived with an army and defeated Azad's forces at the battle of Kirk-Bulagh.
Historians give differing chronologies of the khans of Erivan in this period.Compare ; ; ; . According to one study, a certain Hoseyn Khan was Khan of Erivan in 1749 (when Mohammad Khan invaded), followed by Hasan Ali Khan Qajar in 1750. Then, an appointee of Heraclius II named Abdullah Khan reigned from 1750 to 1752. Azad Khan then called Abdullah Khan to a meeting and arrested him, replacing him with Hasan Ali Khan. The same year, Hasan Ali Khan was replaced by Khalil Khan, who was put in power by Azad Khan and reigned until 1755. During this time, the Erivan Khanate seems to have been under the effective rule of Azad Khan. In 1755, Hasan Ali Khan came to power for a third time, after which the position of khan remained hereditary for about half a century. Hasan Ali reigned until he was succeeded by his brother Hoseyn Ali .
In 1753–54, the Erivan Khanate suffered greatly from raiding by Lezgi tribesman from the North Caucasus. By 1762, Karim Khan Zand had succeeded in reuniting Iran (excluding Khorasan) and reestablishing Iranian suzerainty over the khans of the Caucasus. Karim Khan took hostages from the khans' families to ensure their loyalty, but he did not meddle in Caucasian affairs. In 1765 and 1769, Heraclius II invaded the Erivan Khanate in response to Hoseyn Ali Khan's attempts to terminate payment of tribute. Both times, bloodshed was avoided through the mediation of the Armenian catholicos Simeon of Yerevan, and Heraclius accepted the restoration of the khanate's tributary status. Karim Khan's death in 1779 precipitated another power struggle in Iran, again leading to conflict between the rulers in the Caucasus. That year, Heraclius again invaded the Erivan Khanate, devastating the land and taking a large amount of booty and prisoners, although he was unable to capture Erivan Fortress.
Qajar period and cession to Russia Hoseyn Ali Khan died in 1783 and was succeeded by his son Gholam Ali, who was assassinated soon after; he was succeeded by his younger brother Mohammad Khan. Like some of the other khans of the Caucasus, Mohammad Khan sought to make contact with Russia in the aftermath of the Treaty of Georgievsk. In 1794–95, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar campaigned to restore central authority in the region. He received the submission of the khanates and forcibly subjugated Georgia. He had Mohammad Khan arrested and appointed his own brother Ali Qoli Khan to the position, although Agha Mohammad Khan's successor Fath-Ali () reinstated Mohammad Khan after taking the throne. During the Qajar period, the city of Erivan was considered to be quite prosperous. After the Russians annexed Kartli-Kakheti and initiated the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, Erivan became, "once more", a center of the Iranian defenses in the Caucasus.
In 1804, Russian general Pavel Tsitsianov attacked Erivan, but a "superior" Iranian army, under the command of crown prince Abbas Mirza, repelled the attack. In 1807, the central Iranian government of King Fath-Ali Shah Qajar appointed Hossein Khan Sardar as the new governor (khan) of Erivan, and made him the commander-in-chief (hence, sardar) of the Iranian forces to the north of the river Aras.. "ḤOSAYNQOLI KHAN SARDĀR-E IRAVĀNI; important governor in the early Qajar period (b. ca. 1742, d. 1831). (...) Requiring a strong and loyal governor to command the fortress of Erevan against the Russian advances during the first Russo-Persian War (1804-13), the shah appointed Ḥosaynqoli as the commander-in-chief (sardār) of the Persian forces north of the Araxes (Aras) River [emphasis added]." Hossein Khan Sardar was one of the most important individuals in the government of then incumbent king Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. A capable administrator, his long tenure as governor is considered to be an era of prosperity, during which he made the khanate a model province. His local bureaucracy, modeled on that of the central government in Tehran, was efficient, and restored the confidence of the local Armenians in the Iranian rule.
In 1808, the Russians, now led by general Ivan Gudovich, attacked the city once again; this attempt was repelled as well. By the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), which ended the 1804–1813 war, Iran lost most of its Caucasian territories; Erivan and Tabriz were now the main headquarters of the Iranian efforts to regain the territories lost to Russia.