Gandzha Khanate

a feudal state in Azerbaijan in the 18th and early 19th century. The first khan was the hereditary owner of the lands in the Gandzha-Shakhverdi region, Khan Ziyad-oghy, who in the middle of the 18th century was at war with the Iranian ruler Nadir Shah. The Gandzha khanate was located in the Kura River valley, with its capital in the fortress city of Gandzha, now Kirovabad. There was a constant threat that the khanate would be swallowed up by the backward feudal states of Iran or Turkey. A struggle went on within the Gandzha khanate between the advocates of the pro-Iranian or pro-Turkish orientation in foreign policy and those who advocated unification with the more advanced Russian Empire. Because of hostile relations with the neighboring Karabakh khanate and the kingdom of Georgia, Dzhavad-khan of Gandzha held to a pro-Iranian orientation, and for that reason supported the Iranian invasion of 1795. In 1804 the khanate was occupied by Russian troops and eliminated as an independent state.