The Moqaddam family (also known as the Moqaddam tribe) are a Turkic tribe/family centered in the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian town of

Maragheh Maragheh () is a city in the Central District (Maragheh County), Central District of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Maragheh is on the bank of ...

. They were created by the

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

monarch

Shah Abbas I Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers ...

() as part of his policy to redistribute land as well as the restructure provincial governmental and tribal structures. The Moqaddam were originally a clan of the Otuziki tribe of

Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...

. Ghazi Soltan, who had served Shah Abbas I during the latters time as a prince, was appointed the leader of the Moqaddam. The Iranian historian and official Fazli Isfahani Khuzani reported that the Moqaddam initially encompassed 70 families, but increased to 10,000 under Shah Abbas I due to the massive support he gave to the sons of Ghazi Soltan, Niyaz and Agha Khan Moqaddam. In 1609, Shah Abbas I installed Agha Khan Moqaddam as the governor of Maragheh, a position that the Moqaddams would mostly keep until 1925. Under the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

(1779–1925), the Moqaddam governors administrated Maragheh in a similar way as the Qajars did in Iran. For five generations the Moqaddams managed to have significant autonomy from the central government. Following the ascent of

Reza Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi born Reza Khan (15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the roughly 53 years old Pahlavi dynasty. Originally a military officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war an ...

of the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

, the provincial authority was incorporated into the national government, and thus the Moqaddams lost their status as self-governing provincial rulers. The most notable members of the Moqaddam joined the national elite, but their influence in provincial political matters began to wane. Despite this, Reza Shah's appointments in the provincial administration continued to be significantly influenced by the Moqaddams and other families of the aristocratic and commercial elite, who supported and participated in his government. The historian Mary-Jo Delvecchio Good, writing in 1977, states that "The Moqaddams who remain in Maragheh are still quite wealthy but have lost much of their prestige along with their villages and political roles."

Governors

The known Moqaddam governors of Maragheh were the following: * Agha Khan Moqaddam (1609–1625) *Ghazi Soltan (1625–1648) *Abdol-Ghaffar Khan (1694–1695) * Ahmad Khan Moqaddam (?–1830) *Hossein Pasha Khan (1830–1848) *Eskandar Khan (late 1848–late 1890s) *Samad Khan Shoja al-Dowleh (late 1890s–1911) *Eskandar Khan Sadar Nasr (1911–1925)

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Portalbar, Iran History of East Azerbaijan province Maragheh Safavid governors Qajar governors