Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

Ḳubba

(1,025 words)

(now Ḳuba), a district in the eastern Caucasus between Bākū and Derbend [q.vv.]. The district of Ḳubba, with an area of 2,800 sq. miles, is bounded on the north by a large river, the Samūr, which flows into the Caspian, on the west by the “district” of Samūr which belongs to Dāg̲h̲istān [q.v.], on the south by the southern slopes of the Caucasian range (peaks: S̲h̲āh-Dag̲h̲, 13,951 feet high, Bābā Dag̲h̲, 11,900) which separate Ḳubba from S̲h̲amāk̲h̲a (cf. the article s̲h̲īrwān ), on the southeast by the district of Bākū and on the east by the Caspian. The area between the mountains and the flat coast land is called D̲j̲āf (Vullers, i, 499; d̲j̲āf , “ad venerationem principis destinatum nemus”). The plain between the rivers Yalama and Belbele is called Muskūr; S̲h̲ābarān lies further south (cf. s̲h̲īrwān). The other cantons are Barmak (so-called after a member of the Barmakī family, who sought refuge here in the reign of Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd), S̲h̲is̲h̲pāra, Tīp, K̲h̲inalug̲h̲, Budug̲h̲, Yuk̲h̲ari -bas̲h̲, Si rt, Anak̲h̲-dara, and (sometimes) Ḳabistān ( Akti  , iv, 650).

The population in 1896 was 175,000; 36.7% Tāt [q.v.], speaking the Iranian dialect of Tatī; 25.5% of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲āni Turks; 24% of highlanders of the Kürä group (the Kürin [q.v.]); and 8% highlanders of the group (southeastern Dāg̲h̲istān group) formed of K̲h̲inalug̲h̲ [q.v.], Ḏj̲ek. Ḳri z [q.v.] and Budug̲h̲, to whom the Udi of S̲h̲ekkī [q.v.] seem to be related. Muslims form 94% of the population (76.5% Sunnīs, and 17-5% S̲h̲īʿīs). Jews, Russians and Armenians together number several thousands. The town of Ḳubba (16,300 inhabitants), only founded in about 1750, lies on the right bank of the river Ḳudiāl; on the left bank is the Jewish quarter of the town. Near the mouth of the Ḳudiāl is the roadstead of Nisābād (called Nizovaia by the Russians) which played an important part in Russian military operations in Transcaucasia.

The history of the district of Ḳubba, which at first must have formed part of the ancient Caucasian Albania, is mixed up with that of S̲h̲īrwān ; S̲h̲ābarān (now a ruined site on the river Ḳulhan, Russian Gilk̲h̲in) had been an important centre inhabited by Christians (Muḳaddasī, 376) before S̲h̲amāk̲h̲a became the capital of S̲h̲īrwān. On the banks of the river Ḳulhan may still be seen ruins with a wall running ¶ from the sea to Bābā Dag̲h̲. Near the town of Ḳubba is the tomb of the S̲h̲īrwān-S̲h̲āh Kāwūs b. Kayḳubād (d. 774/1373).

It was only in the 18th century that Ḳubba enjoyed a period of independence. In the time of S̲h̲āh Sulaymān Ṣafawī, a member of the family of the ūsmī of Ḳaytaḳ (cf. dāg̲h̲istān ) called Ḥusayn K̲h̲ān arrived at the court of Iṣfahān. He became a S̲h̲īʿī and gained the favour of the S̲h̲āh, who appointed him K̲h̲ān of Ḳubba and of Sāliyān (at the mouth of the Kura). Ḥusayn K̲h̲ān built the castle of K̲h̲udād. His grandson Ḥusayn ʿAlī b. Aḥmad, with the help of Peter the Great, regained the ancestral estates of the ūsmī, but his position was threatened by the alliance of Surk̲h̲ay. prince of the Ḳāzī-Kumūk̲h̲, with Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Dāwūd, religious chief of Muskūr, who with the help of Turkey played a considerable part in Dāg̲h̲istān from 1712. Nādir S̲h̲āh restored Sāliyān to Ḥusayn ʿAlī. After the death of Nādir, local dynasties arose everywhere. At this time Ḥusayn ʿAlī moved his capital from K̲h̲udād to Ḳubba where he built a town and annexed S̲h̲ābarān and Ḳulhan. He died in 1171/1758. His son Fatḥ ʿAlī K̲h̲ān who succeeded him sought the help of the empress Catherine II, who in 1189/1775 sent General de Medem to Derbend, under a pretext of avenging the death of the academician Gmelin, who had died on 27 June 1774 in captivity with the ūsmī of Ḳayaḳ. With the help of the Russians, Fatḥ ʿAlī re-established his authority over what he could regard as his hereditary fief (Dāg̲h̲istān, Ḳubba, Sāliyān). He also took S̲h̲īrwān, and the K̲h̲ān of Bākū appointed him his son’s guardian. The influence of Fatḥ ʿAlī K̲h̲ān gradually extended beyond the bounds of the district. In 1193/1778 he sent 9,000 men to Gīlān to restore Hidāyat K̲h̲ān, who had been driven out by the Ḳād̲j̲ārs [q.v.]. In 1202/1788 he seized Ardabīl, whereupon the S̲h̲āh-sewān [q.v.] recognised his authority. The K̲h̲āns of Ḳara-Dag̲h̲ and of Tabrīz sought his support. Fatḥ ʿAlī is credited with ambitious designs on Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. To reconcile his plans with those of the king Irakli of Georgia, Fatḥ ʿAlī met the latter at S̲h̲amkūr (S̲h̲amk̲h̲or) but soon afterwards fell ill and died in 1203/1789.

The political and military work of Fatḥ ʿAlī K̲h̲ān crumbled away under his successors. His young son S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAlī Āg̲h̲ā (succeeded in 1791) had a very adventurous career. This young K̲h̲ān relied on the support of the Kād̲j̲ārs, but Count Zubov took Derbend on 4 May 1796, and entrusted the government to his sister Perī-D̲j̲ahān K̲h̲ānum. Taken prisoner by the Russians, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAlī Āg̲h̲ā escaped and renewed the struggle. On the accession of the emperor Paul, Russian policy suddenly changed and the Russian troops were withdrawn. S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAlī returned to Derbend. In 1801 he and the other K̲h̲āns sent a delegation to Alexander I, but by 1805 we again find S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAlī rebelling against the Russians to whom he caused continual trouble till 1226/1811. The k̲h̲ānate of Ḳubba was occupied by the Russians in 1806, and by the treaty of 1813 Persia renounced her claim to the eastern Caucasus. From its incorporation in the Russian empire, Ḳubba formed a “gouvernement” of S̲h̲īrwān (later of Bākū). Since 1919 Ḳubba has been part of the republic of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, at first independent and then a Soviet SSR.

(V. Minorsky)

Bibliography

cf. the articles dāg̲h̲istān, derbend, s̲h̲ekkī and s̲h̲īrwān. See especially the work of the local historian ʿAbbās Ḳulī Āg̲h̲ā Bāki-K̲h̲ānov (a descendant of the K̲h̲āns of Bākū, who were related to Fatḥ ʿAlī K̲h̲ān), the Gülistān-i Iram, of which a Russian version by the author ¶ himself (1794-1846) was published at Bākū in 1926 (Travaux de la société scientifique de l’Azerbaidjan, part 4). The principal documents are in the collection by A. Bergé, Tiflis 1866 ff., i-xii, index under Derbend-Ḳubba.

Cite this page

Minorsky, V., “Ḳubba”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs.

<http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4464>