Origins and Under the Safavids The principality under Emir Ibrahim Donboli (d. 1320) had good relations with
Ghazan of the
Ilkhanate and supposedly saved the Ilkhanate from destruction. Nonetheless, the successor of Ibrahim Donboli, Cemşid Dunbulî (d. 1341), died fighting the Mongolians. The successor Emir Behlül Dunbulî (d. 1359) ended the wars with the Mongolians. He subsequently died in Hakkâri. The leader of the Donboli tribe before the conquest of the region by the
Aq Qoyunlu was Isa Beg. Under the administration of Aq Qoyunlu, Shaikh Ahmad Beg, a descendant of Isa Beg conquered territory around
Hakkâri. When the
Safavids captured the area, Haji Beg, the grandson of Shaikh Ahmad Beg was chosen as governor of
Sokmanabad which now included Khoy (Shah Tahmasp merged Khoy and Sokmanabad into one district). Haji Beg was also entrusted with the defence of the Safavid frontier in
Van before he was assassinated in 1548 by the Governor of Van. This event worsened the relations between the principality and
Shah Tahmasp I who sent a force to subdue the Kurds and 400 Donboli members were massacred by the
Qizilbash. The tribe consequently fled to the
Ottoman Empire where they united under Mansur Beg, nephew of Haji Beg. About 400 Donboli members were killed and the massacres were perpetrated by the
Qizilbash. The fear of growing Donboli influence in
Kurdistan was another reason for the massacre. A nephew of Haji Beg fled to
Qotur (then part of the
Ottoman Empire) where he gathered the remnants of the tribe. In the subsequent period from the late 16th century to early 17th century, Khoy was not under the rule of the Donboli. However, by the beginning of the 17th century, the principality changed their allegiance again and joined the Safavids and one Donboli, Jamshid Soltan was appointed mayor of
Marand after the Safavid
capture of Tabriz in 1603. Other Donboli appointments were Salman Soltan who was given the governorship of
Salmas and
Churs and Maqsud Soltan was given Barkosat. The city of Khoy returned to the Donbolis by the 1620s, since it was stated in a document from 1628 that the ruler of Khoy was a Salman Khan Donboli. Military assistance to the Shah was a condition for the handover. Afterwards, the descendants of Haji Beg would rule Khoy hereditarily and continuously under the title
khan until the early 19th century. When Khoy was returned to the Donboli, the city was in ruins from military conflict with the Ottomans and had to receive a certain amount of tax revenues taken from the districts of
Sharur and
Dere-Alkis 'for foods'.
Afsharids and Zands When Khoy was captured by Nader Shah from the
Ottomans in 1737, the Donboli tribe under Najaf Qoli Khan entered the service of the Shah and also accompanied him in his military campaigns to
India,
Georgia and
Dagestan. In 1743-1744, a powerful uprising took place in Khoy which received support from the local
rayah, due to increased taxes by
Nader Shah. However, the riots were ultimately suppressed by the Shah who sent in nomadic tribes from
Shirvan,
Ganja, and
Yerevan. According to British diplomat
Harford Jones-Brydges, who was in Iran in the early 19th century,
Hosayn Qoli Donboli fought and defeated the
Zand army in 1787 led by
Lotf Ali Khan near
Shiraz, imprisoning and killing about 18,000 soldiers. However, the castle of Shiraz was not taken and Ali Khan himself was unharmed. Jones-Brydges adds that
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar wished to 'reduce Azerbaijan' and therefore gave his ally Hosayn Qoli Donboli the possession of
Tabriz Khanate in 1791.
Decline and Fall In 1797
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was assassinated. As a result, revolts popped up all over the country. One of these rebels was
Sadiq Khan Shaqaqi, who revolted with a 15,000 man army. He was able to take over much of Azerbaijan and besieged Qazvin. However, he was subsequently defeated at Qazvin and kicked out of Azerbaijan by the Donboli. Later he switched alliances to the
Russian Empire and was given
Shaki Khanate in 1806. Jafar Qoli Khan had taken part in the
Siege of Erivan in 1804 on the Russian side and received a dagger as a gift which he sought to erect in Khoy. == Patronage ==