User:Revolution Saga/sandbox/Melikdoms of Karabakh
Armenian feudal entities / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Five Melikdoms of Karabakh, also known as Khamsa Melikdoms (Armenian: Խամսայի մելիքություններ, romanized: Khamsayi melikutyunner), were five Armenian autonomous Armenian principalities ruled by princes called meliks on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring lands. These principalities emerged in the mid-fifteenth century from the remnants of the Principality of Khachen. Their rights and autonomy were officially recognized by Shah Abbas I of Safavid Iran in 1603. From the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, the five melikdoms—Gulistan, Jraberd, Khachen, Varanda and Dizak—formed a league against their external enemies, although they also competed with each other. They played an especially prominent role in Armenian politics Armenian political life from 1678 until the Russian annexation of Eastern Armenia in 1828
Khamsa Melikdoms Խամսայի մելիքություններ | |||||||||
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1603–1822 | |||||||||
Status | Principality | ||||||||
Common languages | Armenian | ||||||||
Religion | Armenian Apostolic | ||||||||
Government | Principality (Melikdom) | ||||||||
Historical era | Iranian Armenia | ||||||||
• Established | 1603 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1822 | ||||||||
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Today part of |
Under Iranian suzerainty, the five melikdoms of Karabakh enjoyed wide-ranging autonomy and held executive, legislative, judicial, military, and fiscal authority over their territories. The meliks each had their troops and military fortifications known as sghnakhs. They ruled on legal disputes within their territory and collected tax. The meliks saw themselves as the last bastion of Armenian independence in the region. After the conquest of Eastern Armenia by the Russian Empire, the melikdoms were abolished and their ruling families were reduced to untitled nobles. Many members of the melikal families rose to high positions in the military and bureaucracy of the Russian Empire.