The Ganja khanate

Khanate

Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...

was a Muslim principality

Principality

A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....

 mostly under the dominion of Persia that existed in the territory of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 in 1747-1805. The principality was ruled by the dynasty of Ziyadoglu (Ziyadkhanov), which had ruled Ganja

Ganja, Azerbaijan

Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city with a population of around 313,300. It was named Yelizavetpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name—Ganja—from 1920–1935 during the first part of its incorporation into the Soviet Union. However, its name was changed again and...

 as governors under Nadir Shah and was of Qajar extraction. Shahverdi Khan (1740–1761) became the khan

Khan (title)

Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...

 of Ganja in 1747.

In 1781-84, Ganja was ruled by the Karabakh khan Ibrahim-Khalil khan Javanshir. During the government of Javad Khan

Javad Khan

Javad khan Ziyad oghlu Qajar a member of the royal Qajar family, the khan of Ganja khanate. During the first Russo-Persian War , Ganja was considered by Russians as a town of foremost importance. General Pavel Tsitsianov approached Javad khan several times asking him to submit to Russian rule,...

 (1785–1804), Ganja khanate grew in economic and political importance and carried out an independent foreign policy, sometimes contrary to the Persian one. The khans had their own mint in Ganja.

During the first Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)

Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)

The 1804-1813 Russo-Persian War, one of the many wars between the Persian Empire and Imperial Russia, began like many wars as a territorial dispute. The Persian king, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, wanted to consolidate the northernmost reaches of his Qajar dynasty by securing land near the Caspian Sea's...

 Ganja was considered by Russians

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 as a town of foremost importance. General Pavel Tsitsianov

Pavel Tsitsianov

Pavel Dmitriyevich Tsitsianov was the Georgian Imperial Russian military commander and infantry general from 1804. A member of the noble Georgian family Tsitsishvili , Tsitsianov participated in suppression of the Kościuszko Uprising and in the Russo-Persian War...

 several times approached Javad khan asking him to submit to Russian rule, but each time was refused. On November 20, 1803, the Russian army moved from Tiflis and in December, Tsitsianov started the siege preparations. After heavy artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 bombardment, on January 3, 1804 at 5 o'clock in the morning, Tsitsianov gave the order to attack the fortress. After fierce fighting the Russians were able to capture the fortress. Javad khan was killed, together with his sons. According to a major study of the military events in the Caucasus by John F. Baddeley:
Ganja was renamed Elisabethpol in honour of Alexander's wife Elisabeth

Louise of Baden

Elizabeth Alexeievna was the wife of Emperor Alexander I of Russia.-Princess of Baden:...

. In 1805 the imperial government officially abolished the khanate and the military district of Elisabethpol was created.

Rulers

- Ziyad oghlu Qajar dynasty -

1747 -1761 Shah Wardi Khan

1761 -1781 Muhammad Hasan Khan

- Jawanshir dynasty -

1781 -1784 Ibrahim Khalil Khan

- Ziyad oghlu Qajar dynasty -
1784 - 1786 Hajji Beg

1786 -3 Jan 1804 Javad Khan