List of Kurdish states, dynasties and countries

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This is a list of Kurdish dynasties, countries and autonomous territories. By the 10th century, the term "Kurd" did not have an ethnic connotation and referred to Iranian nomads in the region between Lake Van and Lake Urmia. In Arabic medieval sources, "Kurd" referred non-Persian and non-Turkish nomads and semi-nomads.

Except for the Kurdish languages, some ethnic Kurds speak Zaza and Gorani languages.[1]

Early entities change

 
Territory of Ayyubid dynasty in 1193

1.Land of Karda

2.Guttians

3.Hurrians

4.Mittani

5.Madia-Media.Medes

  • Sadakiyans (770–827)
  • Daysam (938–955)[2][3]
  • Shaddadids (951–1199)[4][5][6][7]
  • Rawwadids (955–1071) – They were Arab origin, later Kurdicized.[7]
  • Hasanuyids (959–1014)[6]
  • Marwanids (983–1096)[8][6][7]
  • Annazids (990/991–1117)[9][6]
  • Fadlawayh (11th century–12th century)[10]
  • Hazaraspids (1115–1425)[11]
  • Ayyubids (1171–1260)[12][a]
  • Principality of Bitlis (1187–1847)
  • Vassaldom of Ardalan (14th century–1865 or 1868)
  • Emirate of Çemişgezek (13th century–1663)
  • Germiyan Beylik (1300–1429) – Mixed Turkish and Kurdish origin.[14]
  • Mukriyan (14th century–19th century)
  • Zarrinnaal Dynasty (1448–1925)
  • Emirate of Pazooka (1499–1587)
  • Safavid dynasty (1501–1736)[15]
  • Principality of Suleyman (15th century–1838)
  • Emirate of Soran (before 1514–1836)
  • Emirate of Miks (?–1846)

Remnants of the Ayyubid Dynasty (13th century–19th century) change

 
Kurdish entities circa 1835
  • Emirate of Bingöl (1231–1864)
  • Emirate of Hasankeyf (1232–1524)
  • Emirate of Kilis
  • Emirate of Şirvan (?–1840s)
  • Emirate of Hakkâri (before 1380s–1845)
  • Principality of Zirqan (1335–1835)
  • Emirate of Bahdinan (1339–1843)[16]
  • Emirate of Bohtan (?–1833)
  • Principality of Mahmudi (1406–1839)
  • Principality of Pinyaşi (1548–1823)

Buffer zones between the Ottomans and Persia (13th century–19th century) change

 
Territory of the Zand dynasty (green) in 1776 under Karim Khan
  • Emirate of Pazooka (1499–1587)
  • Emirate of Soran (before 1514–1836)
  • Principality of Suleyman (15th century–1838)
  • Emirate of Şirvan (?–1840s)
  • Principality of Baban (16th century–1850)[17]
  • Principality of Pinyaşi (1548–1823)
  • Zand dynasty (1751–1794)[18]
  • Sarab Khanate (?–1747)
  • Khoy Khanate (?–1799)
  • Tabriz Khanate (1757–1799)

20th–21st century entities change

  • Kingdom of Kurdistan (1918–1924/1925)
  • Kurdistan Uyezd (1923-1929)
  • Republic of Ararat (1927–1931)
  • Republic of Mahabad (1946)
  • Republic of Laçin (1992)
  • Islamic Emirate of Byara (2001–2003)

Present-day change

Autonomous change

There are two autonomous regions established by the Kurds. The first one is the Kurdistan Regional Government, which was established as a result of the initiatives of the Iraqi Kurds and is the only officially recognised Kurdish administration today. The second region is the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which the Syrian Kurds unilaterally declared first as autonomous cantons and then as a federation in the regions they captured during the Syrian Civil War.

Autonomy Flag Map Years Part of Area
Kurdistan Region  
 
1992 Iraq 46,862 km2
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria  
 
2013 Syria (de facto) 50,000 km2

References change

  1. Michiel Leezenberg (1993). "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?" (PDF). ILLC - Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam.
  2. Bosworth 1994, pp. 172–173.
  3. Madelung 1975, p. 232.
  4. Bosworth 1996, p. 151.
  5. Peacock 2000.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Kennedy 2016, p. 215.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Vacca 2017, p. 7.
  8. Bosworth 1996, p. 89.
  9. Aḥmad 1985, p. 97–98.
  10. Spuler 2012.
  11. Bosworth 2003, p. 93.
  12. Mazaheri & Gholami 2008.
  13. Riley-Smith 2008, p. 64: "Saladin's relative obscurity in Muslim history was understandable. He was a Kurd."
    Humphreys 1977, p. 29: "Among the free-born amirs the Kurds would seem the most dependent on Saladin's success for the progress of their own fortunes. He too was a Kurd, after all, after all, and under his aegis they might hope for broader opportunities in rank, estates, and political influence than they could otherwise expect in the predominantly Turkish dynasties of the age."
    Lewis 1950, p. 166: "A Kurdish officer called Salāh al-Dīn, better known in the West as Saladin, went to Egypt, where he served as Wazir to the Fațimids while representing the interests of Nūr al-Din. In 1171 Saladin declared the Fațimid Caliphate at an end."
  14. Magoulias 1975, p. 265.
  15. Amoretti & Matthee 2009: "Of Kurdish ancestry, the Ṣafavids started as a Sunnī mystical order (...)"
    Matthee 2005, p. 18: "The Safavids, as Iranians of Kurdish ancestry and of nontribal background, did not fit this pattern, although the stat they set up with the aid of Turkmen tribal forces of Eastern Anatolia closely resembled this division in its makeup. Yet, the Turk versus Tajik division was not impregnable."
    Matthee 2008: "As Persians of Kurdish ancestry and of a non-tribal background, the Safavids did not fit this pattern, though the state they set up with the assistance of Turkmen tribal forces of eastern Anatolia closely resembled this division in its makeup."
    Savory 2008, p. 8: "This official version contains textual changes designed to obscure the Kurdish origins of the Safavid family and to vindicate their claim to descent from the Imams."
    Hamid 2006, p. 456–474: "The Safavids originated as a hereditary lineage of Sufi shaikhs centered on Ardabil, Shafeʿite in school and probably Kurdish in origin."
    Amanat 2017, p. 40 "The Safavi house originally was among the landowning nobility of Kurdish origin, with affinity to the Ahl-e Haqq in Kurdistan (chart 1). In the twelfth century, the family settled in northeastern Azarbaijan, where Safi al-Din Ardabili (d. 1334), the patriarch of the Safavid house and Ismail's ancestor dating back six generations, was a revered Sufi leader."
    Tapper 1997, p. 39: "The Safavid Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from Sheikh Safi ad-Din of Ardabil (1252–1334). Sheikh Safi and his immediate successors were renowned as holy ascetics Sufis. Their own origins were obscure; probably of Kurdish or Iranian extraction, they later claimed descent from the Prophet."
    Manz 2021, p. 169: "The Safavid dynasty was of Iranian – probably Kurdish – extraction and had its beginnings as a Sufi order located at Ardabil near the eastern border of Azerbaijan, in a region favorable for both agriculture and pastoralism."
  16. Hassanpour 1988, p. 485.
  17. Atmaca 2012.
  18. Minorsky 2012.

Sources change

Notes change

  1. Saladin, the founder of the dynasty, was a Kurd.[13]