Iranian Empire and Caucasian Borderlands 9Fars. He gained control of most of the Iranian plateau (except for
Khorasan, which was controlled by Nader's grandson), the southern
coast of the Caspian, and southern Azerbaijan. His reign was charac-
terized as much by constructive domestic policies as by the quest
for power, but, when he died in 1779, the political turmoil resumed
with such vigor as to eclipse all other issues. Several Zands fought
among themselves, while Afshars controlled parts of Khorasan,
Mazandaran, and Azerbaijan. The Afghans also played a role in Kho-
rasani affairs. The individual who emerged victorious from this
struggle was Aqa Mohammad, who belonged to a faction of the
Qajar tribe that had unsuccessfully opposed the extension of Karim's
authority to the southeastern coast of the Caspian.
The Qajars were Turcomans who had come west with the Mongol
armies from Central Asia and settled in Syria and Anatolia. They
moved eastward to Iranian territory during Tamerlane's reign and
later joined the Qizilbash confederation of tribes, which was the
mainstay of early Safavi military strength. By Safavi times, the
Qajars had split into several factions. One, the Ziadoghlu (Ziadlu),
controlled the east Caucasian principalities of Ganjeh and Yerevan
(Iravan, Erivan). Two other factions, the often hostile Qoyunlu
(Qavanlu) and the Davalu (Devehlu), settled in various parts of north-
eastern Iran. Aqa Mohammad's father, Mohammad Hasan, was chief
of the Qoyunlu faction. His rise to power in the northeast paralleled
Karim's in the south, but he was defeated and killed in the eventual
confrontation with the Zands, in part because of opposition from
the Davalu branch. Later clashes between the Zands and both the
Qajar factions ended in the defeat of the latter and the execution of
several Qajar leaders.
Aqa Mohammad's youth was marred by the turbulence of the era.
As a child, he had been captured and castrated by an Afshar pretender
who briefly controlled Mazandaran. Aqa Mohammad later returned
to his father's camp but had to flee after his father's death. Eventual-
ly, he was made a prisoner at Karim's court, where he remained for
nearly twenty years. Here his circumstances improved. Though nomi-
nally a hostage, he in fact enjoyed Karim's favor and was frequently
employed by the khan as an adviser. This situation gave the astute
Qajar a valuable political education. In the disorders that followed
Karim's death, Aqa Mohammad returned to Mazandaran to build up
his own power, while the Zands weakened each other through inter-
necine warfare. The contest dragged on as Aqa Mohammad extended
his authority in the northern and central provinces without being
able to crush Zand opposition. During the early 1790s, a pattern be-