PERSIA

The Qajar Dynasty

(Ghadjar, Kadjar, Kajar, Qadjar)

BRIEF HISTORY

The Qajar Royal tribe are Turkoman in origin and claim descent from a certain Ka-An-Lo, through the daughter of Ka'an, a son of Genghis Khan. The tribe is divided into several branches of which the Devehlu (cameliers) and Quyunlu (shepherds) branches were the most important. The ruling house is descended from the latter. They came to prominence during the early 18th century, when the central authority in Persia had been weakened. Iran was a divided country with regional centres of power, ruled by different dynasties each in a state of continuous warfare with its neighbour. The Qajar chiefs switched their allegiances between the Afshars and the Zands through much of the century. Eventually they fell out with both. Tiring of playing kingmakers to others, Agha Muhammad, the head of the Quyunlu branch of the Qajar tribe, defeated and deposed the Afshar and Zand. He succeeded in wresting supreme power and united the Empire under his rule as Shahanshah. His successors ruled Persia until the coup d'etat of Reza Shah ousted Ahmed Shah and established the new Pahlavi dynasty in 1925.

STYLES & TITLES:
See separate page on TITLES - link below.

RULES OF SUCCESSION:
Male primogeniture, but restricted to those professing the Islamic (Shi'ite) faith, and born of mothers belonging to the Qajar tribe.

ORDERS & DECORATIONS:
See separate page on ORDERS & DECORATIONS - link below.

SOURCES:
Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique, Justes Perthes, Gotha, 1880-1924.
Amanat, Abbas. Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-din Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997.
Amanat, Abbas (ed.), Taj al-Saltana: Crowning Anguish. Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity. Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 1993.
Baguirov, Adil, Azerbaijan Generals, Internet 1999-2001:
Bamdad, Mahdi, Sharh-i Hal-i Rijal-i Iran dar Qarn-i 12, 13, 14 Hijri, 1968-1972.
Bierbrier, M.L. "The Descendants of Theodora Comnena of Trebizond". The Genealogist, Volume 11, No. 2, Fall 1997 to 14, No. 1, Spring 2000 (inclusive). American Society of Genealogists, Picton Press, Rockport, ME.
Brydges, Sir Harford Jones, Dynasty of the Kajars.
Burke's Royal Families of the World, Volume II Africa & the Middle East, Burke's Peerage Ltd., London 1980.
Busse, Heribert, History of Persia Under Qajar Rule: Translation of Hasan-e Fasa'i's Farsnama-ye Naseri. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1972.
Churchill, G.P. Persia: Biographical Notes, HMSO, 1909.
Churchill, G.P. Draft Manuscript to Biographical Notes, India Office Papers, 1905-1909.
Diba, Layla S. (ed.) and Ekhtiar, Maryam. Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925, I.B. Tauris Publishers, New York, 1998.
Ebrahimnejad, Hormoz, Pouvoir et succession en Iran: Les premiers Qâjâr 1726-1834. Société d'Histoire de l'Orient, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1999.
Elwell-Sutton, L.P., The Horoscope of Asadullah Mirza. A Specimen of Nineteenth Century Persian Astrology. Leiden, 1977.
Eskandari-Kadjar, Manoutchehr, Qajar Dynasty Pages, Internet 1999-2002.
Farmanfarmaian, Manucher and Roxane. Blood and Oil: Memoirs of a Persian Prince. Prion Books Limited, London, 1997.
Farmanfarmaian, Sattareh. Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Republic, 1992.
Foreign Office Prints: Persia, 1905-1913.
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India Office Files and Records, British Library, London 1860-1947.
Iran Almanach and Book of Facts, 1967.
Ladjevardi, Habib (ed.), Memoirs of Prince Hamid Kadjar, Son of the Last Qajar Crown Prince. Iranian Oral History Project, Harvard University, 1996.
Lambton, A.K.S. Qajar Persia, eleven studies. I.B. Taurus & Co. Ltd., London, 1987.
Malek Mansour, Joffrey. L'Iran sous les Kadjars. Internet Pages, 2000
Maraghi, Muhammad Hasan Khan, Al Maathir wa-l-athar. 1889.
Maraghi, Muhammad Hasan Khan, Ruznamah-i Khatirat-i Itimad us-Sultanah. 1966.
Memorandum on the Succession to the Throne of Persia. Abstract of Papers relating to the Succession to the Throne of Persia, and the Nomination of a Regent. Confidential Print, Central Asia and Persia (Cupboard "C"), 1859. India Office Files and Records, British Library, London.
Nita Dowlatshahi: Dowlatshahi Family Tree. Internet Pages, June 2002. http://nitasci.50megs.com/about.htm.
Picot, Colonel Henry Philip, Persia: Biographical Note of Members of the Royal Family, Notables, Merchants and Clergy, HMSO, 1897.
Raby, Julian. Qajar Portraits, I.B. Taurus Publishers, London, 1999.
Salur, Masud (ed.), Abd al-Samad Mirza Salur Izz ud-Daulah va Safarnamah-i u bih Uropa dar Salha-yi 1290 va 1300. 1996.
Sepahbody, Farhad, Farhad Sepahbody - Persian Diplomat. EXAM Int., August 2000.
Sipihr, Muhammad Taqi, Lisan ul-Mulk, Nasikh at-Tawarikh, 1958.
Who's Who, and Leading Personalities in Persia, 1929-1932, 1944, 1946 and 1947. Political (External) Dept. Collection, India Office Records, British Library.
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Corrections and Additions to Who's Who in Persia, Volumes I-IV. General Staff, Calcutta, India, 1924.
Yarshater, E. (ed.). Encyclopaedia Irancia, New York, 1982.

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
H.H. Shahzada Darab Mirza Qajar.
Florence Albertini.
Fereydoun Barjesteh.
Dr Morris L Bierbrier, FSA.
H.H. Prince Manoutchehr Eskandari-Kadjar.
H.H.Shahzada Ramin Mirza Etezad Mozaffar.
H.H. Shahzadi Tajdarnia Kamrani.
Farhad Sepahbody.

The following table has been prepared to speed up access. The clicking on the family names adopted by certain branches of the family during the Pahlavi regime will take you to the relevant pages more quickly. However, please note that the list of names is not exhaustive

Copyright© Christopher Buyers, August 2000 - December 2015