Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Armenia, Caucasus and Central Asia
Chapter | Reading Nineteenth-Century Persian Histories from the Caucasus
Reading Nineteenth-Century Persian Histories from the Caucasus
Abstract
This essay examines six Persian-language historical works that were produced in the Caucasus during the nineteenth century. These works have conventionally gone unnoticed due to the language of composition and the predominant approach to the region as a Russian imperial province. Interestingly, these texts bear the mark of the Afsharid period, and demonstrate a marked interest in the figure of Nader Shah. They demonstrate that the Safavid collapse and the subsequent developments of the eighteenth century had an important impact on conceptions of political legitimacy in the Caucasus. They also suggest that the birth of new local Persianate historiographical traditions in the region should not only be viewed through the lens of Russian imperial modernity and instead be better situated in their local and historical context.
Submitted: May 18, 2021 | Accepted: June 30, 2021 | Published Dec. 21, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Azerbaijan • Historiography • Nader Shah • Shirvan • Karabagh • Dagestan • Caucasus
Copyright © 2021 Ali Karamustafa. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-550-6/005
