The Khans of Zand Dynasty and the Issue of South Caucasus

After the death of Nader Shah and the wars over his succession in which his children, cousins and some of his commanders such as Karim Khan Zand, Azad Khan Afghan and Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar were involved, the control of the central government over the Caucasus Region was reduced. The rulers of this region, observing the weakness of the government of Iran and aiming to protect their own interests, proclaimed independence and some were attracted to the newly-emerged power of north, Russia. During the reign of Zand Dynasty, except for the superficial declaration of allegiance by individuals such as Panah Khan Javanshir and Erekle – which was done solely because of the Zand army attacking Azerbaijan to confront Fat’h Ali Khan Afshar, no other efforts were made to revive Iranian control over the Caucasus region. One reason for this was that the Zand Khan was busy battling with other Naderi commanders and dealing with problems he was facing in the south of the country and therefore he did not feel ready to take any action in this regard. After the death of Karim Khan and the commencement of continual battles between the heads of the Zand tribe over his succession, the superficial dominance of Iran over this region practically ended.In this period, the Russians were successful in concluding the Georgiyevsk treaty in 1783 with Erekle II, king of Georgia, which made this country a protectorate of Russia. After signing this treaty in the final years of the Zand dynasty, the king of Georgia not only evaded the responsibility of paying taxes to Iran’s court but also paved the way for further interference of the Russians in other regions of Caucasus. This research, using a descriptive and analytic method based on library records, aims to illustrate the conditions of Caucasus during the ruling of the Zand khans over some parts of Iran and to answer the question: what position did the Caucasus region and especially the South Caucasus region have in the political disposition of Karim Khan and other khans of the Zand Dynasty?