Iranian Empire and Caucasian Borderlands 11or Iranians. Even before the rapid worsening of its fortunes in the
last years of the century, Georgia was not strong economically and
was thinly populated by perhaps 60,000 families.^1
The rest of the east Caucasian principalities were under Muslim
rule and occupied a larger area with a larger total population than
Georgia. The population of the Muslim-ruled area may have been in
the vicinity of 80,000 families representing diverse ethnic and reli-
gious groups. Yerevan was the most populous, with well in excess of
100,000 Muslim and Armenian inhabitants, while Baku and Talesh
were the least populous. Baku's small population was related in part
to the khanate's small geographic size—it was virtually a city-state—
and Talesh was a remote area with few attractions.
2
The largest
group of east Caucasians were Muslims belonging to Turcoman tribes,
but this was not a homogeneous group. Some were semi-nomadic and
in some cases migrated across borders, like the tribes living in the
southern border districts of Georgia, who regularly crossed into Yere-
van and Ganjeh, or the larger Shahsavan tribe, who made camp at
times south of the Aras and Kura rivers, at times north. Other tribes
included sedentary farmers and town dwellers as well as nomads (as
was the case with the Javanshirs of Qarabagh). Shirvan and the four
khanates of Iranian Armenia were controlled by Turcoman tribes
(the Ziadoghlu Qajars in Yerevan and Ganjeh, the Kangerlus in Nakh-
javan, and the Khan Chopan in Shirvan), while elsewhere, including
Qobbeh and southern Georgia, Turcomans were a subject minority.
Several non-Turcoman tribes also played an important role in Cauca-
sian affairs. There were Kurds living in various places along the Aras,
including Yerevan and Qarabagh, where they were valuable allies of
the ruling Javanshirs. Tribes from the high mountains had also moved
into the adjoining khanates. Some of the Lesghis (Lakz), who were
feared for their frequent and often devastating plunder raids, lived as
nomadic pastoralists in the higher reaches of several khanates. Qobbeh
and Derbent were governed by a branch of the Qaitaqs, relatives of
the Avars, who moved in from the high mountains in the eighteenth
century and another Avar group dominated Shakki. In addition,
there were sedentary Persian speakers in several areas, particularly
Yerevan and Baku.
The nomadic tribes were neither aloof from nor wholly a part of
affairs of the khanates in which they lived. Tribes that controlled the
government of a khanate enjoyed special privileges, but other tribes
paid taxes comparable to those imposed on the sedentary population.
Since the nomads engaged in animal husbandry on a large scale and
in certain other lucrative activities (such as sericulture in Shirvan),