Province of Azerbaijan استان آذربایجان
1501–1736
Status	Province ofSafavid Iran
Capital	Tabriz
Common languages	Persian,Azerbaijani,Kurdish,Armenian,Syriac
Succeeded by Afsharid Iran
Today part of	Iran Azerbaijan Armenia

Theprovince of Azerbaijan (Persian:استان آذربایجان,romanized: ostān-e āzarbāyjān) was a province in the northwestern part ofSafavid Iran, serving as one of its principal administrative areas. The city ofTabriz was the provincial capital, as well as the capital of the Safavids until 1555. TheOttoman Empire occupied Tabriz and a large portion of Azerbaijan from 1588 to 1603; as a result, the authority of the governor-general of Azerbaijan was mainly restricted to Ardabil.^[1]

The Azerbaijan province was created in the first half of the 16th century. It included such regions asMaragheh,Urmia,Mahabad,Khoy,Salmas,Marand,Talish (between 1592 and 1610), Arasbar,Sultaniya,Zanjan, etc. Agriculture, cattle breeding, and handicrafts were developed in the Azerbaijan. Despite the transfer of the capital ofSafavid Iran toQazvin (1555), and later to Isfahan (1598), Azerbaijan, being from a strategic and socio-economic point of view one of the richest and most important regions of Iran, played a large role in the political and economic life of the country. One fifth of the personnel of the Safavid army (about 11 to 12 thousand people out of 60 000) accounted for Azerbaijan. The most influentialQizilbash emirs (mainly the heads of the Tekkelu and Turkman tribes) were appointed governors of Azerbaijan.^[2][3]

In 1531, Ulameh Soltan Tekkelu was the governor. The Tekkelu tribe, whose head was Ulameh Soltan Tekkelu, was a branch of theTurkoman Tekkelu tribe and moved toAzerbaijan fromAsia Minor.^[4] Later, the management of Azerbaijan passed to the emirs from other Turkman dynasties.^[5] In 1583/84, at the insistence of the emirs from the Shamlu and Ustajlu clan, the head of the Turkman tribe, Emir Khan, was removed from running the province. This became the cause of bloody clashes between the Qizilbash. The Emir Khan was also supported by the Tekkelu. These events put Iran in a difficult position, which was at war with the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the control of Azerbaijan again passed to the Turkmans. In 1590–1605, the territory of Azerbaijan was under the control of theOttoman Empire (with the exception of Talish,Karadagh andArdabil). During the reign ofShah Abbas I (1587–1629 years of rule), after the reconquest of Azerbaijan, in 1605, the control again passed to the Turkman emir, Pir Budaq Khan Pornak.^[3]

The Province of Azerbaijan consisted of the districts of:Astara,Maragheh theAfshar tribe,Qaraja-Dagh,Chors, Gavrud,Qapanat, Adarba tribe,Hashtarud, Muk,Lahijan,Dunbuli tribe,Ujarud, Abdallu (a subdivision of theShamlu tribe),Sarab,Shaqaqi tribe,Zunuz,Mishkin,Mughanat,Pishk,Lak tribe of Salmas,Qara-Aghaj,Inallu tribe.

Sultaniyah andZanjan were, properly speaking, laid outside of the province of Azerbaijan, but Father Sanson, who made an account of Safavid Iran, placed Zanjan in the administration of Tabriz.^[6]

This is a list of the known figures who governed Azerbaijan or parts of it.^[7]Beglerbegi,hakem andvali were all administrative titles designating the governor.^[8]

• List of Safavid governors of Erivan

• "Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia". National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. 1986.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
• Петрушевский, И. П. (1949). "Очерки по истории феодальных отношений в Азербайджане и Армении в XVI - начале XIX вв".{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
• Floor, Willem (2008).Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Mage Publishers.ISBN 978-1933823232.

• Provinces of the Safavid dynasty
• History of Tabriz
• History of West Azerbaijan province
• History of East Azerbaijan province

• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Persian-language text
• CS1 errors: missing periodical
• Azerbaijan articles missing geocoordinate data
• Iran articles missing geocoordinate data
• All articles needing coordinates
• Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata