Introduction: Since the establishment of the Safavid dynasty in the South Caucasus, after the overthrow of the regional Iranian dynasty of the Shirvanshahs, silk has been a decisive factor in the conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and Iran for control of the Caucasus. After Nader Shah's assassination, Iranian authority in the region gradually declined, leading to the emergence of numerous khanates. These khanates, largely modeled on Iranian statecraft, survived for at least six decades until the 1810s, when Russia began military intervention in the South Caucasus. During this long period of autonomy, silk significantly shaped social, economic, political, and bureaucratic life in ways that have not yet been fully explored.
Research question: This article examines the position of silk in the Iranian khanates and how they strengthened their independence among three neighboring powers.
Research hypothesis: Silk and sericulture were key to the establishment and survival of the Iranian khanates in the South Caucasus.
Methodology: Using a descriptive approach, this study presents the geographical distribution of silk production centers, the quantity and value of silk produced, the taxes and duties imposed on silk, and silk's role in the Khanates' social structure.
Results and discussion: Geographically, silk production was concentrated in the western parts of the Shirvan Khanate, the eastern half, and the southernmost territories of the Shakki Khanate. Ordubad was another silk production center in the region. Other centers, such as Qubostan Mahal in Shirvan Khandom and Dizakh and the Zangzur Mahals in Gharabagh, were less important for silk production. With 107 silk-producing villages, the total value of production reached 53,893 silver rubles. It is not surprising that silk was the main source of four major taxes in the region: mal-va-zhat, daroughgi, tojih, and sursat. In addition, high production levels led to specific silk-based taxes. In the Khanate of Shakki, taxes such as Din-ipiki, Bazarlik, and Dastgahbashi were collected in this way, while in the Khanate of Shirvan, the Sha'rban was imposed. In Nakhjavan, the Kolek tax included silk, and officials taxed each mulberry tree separately.
In all khanabads, silk played a vital role in organizing the residential and agricultural landscapes; in some villages, all four components of silk production-mulberry orchards, silk embroidery workshops, silk weaving workshops, and dyeing workshops-existed simultaneously. The silk fields were cultivated by sharecroppers (landless sharecroppers) who received half of the harvest as their salary. Some fabrics were woven in villages such as Mov, Dari, and Kasan, and sometimes the Khan asked villagers to hand over silk clothes, tablecloths, or nightgowns as part of their fee. However, the quality of these fabrics could not compete with that of Yazd or Kashan.
In the silk production process, elite women were not merely tax farmers; some oversaw their own silk enterprises, including the silk production centers in the village of Al-Khas in Sedenrud, a district of the Shirvan Khanate. Different Khanates often granted silk-producing villages to their favored nobles or assigned them to nobles, mirzas, and nokars in exchange for their debts. Finally, the silk harvest season, at the end of September, was an important time in the lives of rural serfs in the Khanates. Silk in the Caucasus functioned as a time-space organizer that, alongside other aspects of life, strengthened the region's political, social, and economic life.
Conclusion: This article provides a broad overview of the importance of silk in the Iranian Khanates, based on available data. In this regard, the text begins with a brief overview of the history of silk production and trade. Then, rarely, the text maps the geographical distribution of silk production centers to help the audience visualize the discussion. As the maps show, it is not surprising that silk played a role similar to that of oil in some modern monocrop countries for the Khanate. In this context, silk was a common element in the economic and social life of the nobility and the common people in the South Caucasus. Ten of fifty taxes in the region were levied partly or entirely on silk; approximately 11% of the region’s economic volume was derived from silk; and silk, along with geographical and religious factors, was a powerful force in organizing the time-space of local communities. The silk industry often transcended gender divisions, and women's participation was not uncommon.