Aga Muhammad Khan
founder of the Qajar Dynasty was born in Gorgon
(Astrabad). He was Il Khan of the Qajar Turkmen Tribe.
The Qajar were Qizilbash Turkmen of the Southern Azeri
group. The Qajar were early supporters of Ismail Shah Safavi
and the senior branch of the tribe received
Gorgon/Astrabad as their feif. They received Astrabad as
a strategic move to reinforce the eastern flank of the
empire against the machinations of the Uzbek.
As a young child Agha Mohammad Khan was
tortured and castrated by Adil Shah Afshar an ally of the
Zands and his father was killed. Aga or Agha is a title
that means eunuch.
In 1795 Qajar Aga Mohammed khan moves
north intothe caucasus o resecure te form Safavid
Khanates and kingdoms. He invaded the kingdom of Khartli
(modern day Georgia) and raveges Tiblisi. He also secures
khanates of Nakhichevan, Yerevan and Talish but fails to
take Shusha.
In 1796 in responce to the invasion of Khartli a Russian
vassel state the Russian army invades Azerbaijan and Aga
Mohammed Khan withdraws to Iran. In the same year Russian
army withdrew from Azerbaijan on the death of Tsarine
Catherine II.
1797 Second invasion of Aga Mohammed khan and his
successor Baba Khan, fall of Shusha.
1797 New Russian Tsar Paul (Pavel I) decides to send
troops to Azerbaijan
Aga Mohammed Khan and the Turkmen
"But in the last years of the
century they incurred the enmity of the Persian ruler,
Aga Mohammed Khan, not, indeed, through their marauding
propensities so much as by an act of personal hostility.
Although the Turkmen
had been on sympathetic terms with Aga Mahomed and his
father, they murdered the former's brother when he fled
to them for refuge from the pursuit of Zuckee Khan, brother of the Shah
Kurrum Khan (Kerim Khan Zand,). For that act Aga
Mahomed resolved to exact the most ample reparation, and
he accordingly collected a large army at Astrabad, in the
neighborhood of which place the offending Turkmen
dwelt. His
operations were completely successful, and the Turkmen
— who were probablyKerim Khan Zand,
either Goklen
or Yomut
paid bitterly for their treachery. So severe were the
retaliatory measures adopted by Aga Mahomed, and so
resolutely did he carry out his plan of revenge, that the
Turkmen
were thoroughly cowed, and for a long time afterwards the
frontier near Astrabad was more settled than it had ever
been before since the days of Nadir Shah. Aga
Mahomed carried a large number of prisoners into
captivity, and in addition obtained hostages for the
future behaviour of the tribe."
Turkmen_by_Boulger_Part
2
The Qajars belonged to a Turkman tribe
that held ancestral lands in present-day Azerbaijan,
which was formerly part of Iran. In 1779, following the
death of the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Iran,
Agha Mohammad Khan, a Qajar leader, set out to reunify
Iran.
According to Perspolis website, Agha Mohammad Khan
established the Qajar dynasty by defeating numerous
rivals and controlling all of Iran.
By 1794, he
had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf ’Ali
Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had
reasserted Iranian sovereignty over the former Iranian
territories in Georgia and the Caucasus. In 1796 he was
formally crowned as shah and established his capital at
Tehran, a village near the ancient city of Rey (now
Shahr-e Rey).
Agha Mohammad was assassinated in 1797 and succeeded by
his nephew, Fath Ali Shah.
http://notes-on-iran.blogspot.com/2008/06/qajar-dynasty.html
These
massive gold coins formed part of the indemnity of 5 krur
or 2500000 tomans paid by Persia to the Russians under
the Treaty of Turkmanchai, in 1828, following the
disastrous war. None of these coins are believed to exist
in Iran and all the presently recorded examples have
emanated from Russia. 5 krur would have weighed just over
two metric tons and contemporary reports state that it
took some 1600 mules to carry the specie. The treaty also
ceded the Khanates of Erivan and Nakhichvan to Russia in
perpetuity as well as forbidding the Persians to have any
armed vessels in the Caspian sea.
Six coin sets similar to the present one were presented
by Czar Nicholas I to the Duchess of Anhalt-Dessau and
Frederick VI of Denmark. The only set in a British
institution is the Anhalt Dessau group, bequeathed to the
Ashmolean Museum by Sir Bernard Eckstein in 1948 and
recently displayed at the London exhibition of 'Royal
Persian Painting: The Qajar Epoch, 1795-1925' (catalogue
no. 100). It differs slightly from the present set in
that the 10 tomans of AH 1210 is from Isfahan rather than
Tehran.
On the death of Karim Khan in 1779, Agha Mohammad, Qajar
chief of Astrabad was one of the contenders for the
vacant throne. He escaped from imprisonment in Shiraz and
fled to Mazandaran to gather his supporters. He was
captured and later barbarously mutilated by Adil Shah.
Afterwards he managed to rejoin his followers and ruled
over parts of Persia until 1795 when he defeated Luft Ali
Khan, last of the Zand shahs, at Kirman. From then on he
was absolute master of the kingdom.
On the occasion of his coronation in 1796 he girded the
sword consecrated at the tomb of the founder of the
Safavid dynasty thus firmly pledging himself to uphold
the Shi'ite faith. He was murdered in 1797 by his
personal attendants - men who were under sentence of
death but allowed to be at large. He was succeeded by his
nephew Fath 'Ali Shah.
In spite of cruel and difficult times, Agha Muhammad
founded a dynasty that was to rule Persia for a century
and a quarter and he firmly established the Shi'ite faith
as the official religion.
Agha Muhammad Khan Treaty of Turkmanchai Gold Coins
1794
With Aga Muhammad Khan begins rule of Kajar
dynasty. At the
death of Lutf Ali. he is ruler over provinces of
Astrabad, Mazanderan, Ghilan, over Irak, Fare,
and Kerman. He makes Teheran his capital.
1795 Muhammad
marches against Georgia, which under Heraclius
has transferred its allegiance to Russia. He
enters Tiflis.
1796 Aha Muhammad
Khan is crowned as Muhammad Shah. In the same
year he subdues Khorasan, and tortures the blind
Shah Rukh to make him give up his concealed
jewels. Russians take Georgia, but retreat on
death of the empress Catherine, and Muhammad
makes treaty with Russia.
1797 Muhammad
is murdered, and—owing to the firmness and
good management of Hadji
Ibrahim—Muhammad’s nephew Baba Khan,
under name Fath Ali, succeeds him. Fath Ali is
not actually crowned until the following year. He
soon begins contest with Russia.
The Kajar Eunuch marched towards his prey
(Lutf Ali Khan) by Shahr-i-Bobek and Mashiz, and
constructed a fortified camp, which is still standing
some three miles to the west of the city.
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