Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims

north and encompassing a part of Eastern Armenia. The very concept

Azerbaijan

then embraced the whole of historic

Atropatena

toget-

her with

Talysh

and

Caspiana

areas, as well as the lands of Caucasian

Albania. (9)

With decline of the central power in Iran as of the late 17

cen-

tury, the process of gradual detachment of the Azerbaijani lands com-

menced. The emergence of

Guba Khanate (duchy)

in the early 18

century with the capital first in Khudat and then in Guba was a clear

indication of this.

Husseynali-Khan (1722-1758) is considered the founder of Guba

Khanate per se, whereas the whole dynasty of the khans (dukes) starts

from Husseyn I originating from the stock of the

Kaytag Uzmis (ru-

lers of Kaytag)

. Rescued during the blood feud in-between the two

branches of the Kaytag tribes, and taken away to Isfahan afterwards,

Husseyn I married the daughter of a rich nobleman from Gajar family.

Their son Ahmad was the grandfather of Fatali-Khan the famous ruler

of Guba Khanate in the years to come. Due to his valor and personal

merits, Husseyn I was appointed the khan of Guba by Shah Suleyman-

Khan from the Safavi Dynasty. Upon his arrival in Guba, Husseyn I ini-

tiated construction of a fort in Khudat and laid out orchards around.

There he placed his residence and was running the area since 1680

until 1689. At that time, Guba was a tiny medieval town with residents

mainly engaged in crafts and trades.

In 1735, under Husseyn Khan, the khanate’s capital moved to

Guba since Khudat had lost its value as an administrative center. Ma-

jority of Khudat’s population moved to Guba too. The khanate (duchy)

encompassed hundreds of tiny villages making their living through

agriculture, horticulture and livestock farming. (10)

As of mid-18

century, a new and very important period of Azer-

baijan’s history started with the country’s actual independence, “even

though it did not appear as a centralized state due to being split into

a number of independent or semi-independent

khanates

”. (11) That

being the case, these several decades (in fact, above half a century)

may be viewed as the period of real existence of the Azerbaijani khanates

(principalities), such as Garabagh, Guba, Shemakha, Baku, Nakhchi-

van, Ganja, Sheki, Derbend, Tabriz, Sarab, Ardabil, Khoy, Urmiyye, Ga-

radagh, Talysh, Maragha, Maku. Smaller states included Gutgashen,

Gabala, Aresh, Gazakh, Shamshadil and Ilisu Sultanates. Jaro-Balakan