Hossein Khan Sardar

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Hossein Khan Sardar, the last Iranian governor of Armenia, ruled as virtual shah of the Khanate of Erevan. In 1826-1828 he and Abbas Mirza, the Crown Prince, attempted to win back the Caucasus possessions lost to Russia during the war of 1804-1813 which had ended with the Golestan Treaty. However, using superior tactics and weapons developed since their defeat of Napoleon, the Tsar’s generals inflicted even greater losses on Iran.

In addition to ceding further territories, the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Iran to pay crippling reparations. The treaty also banned Hossein Khan and his younger brother, Hassan Khan, from ever venturing north of the Aras River, the new border.

Hossein Khan was a confidant of Fath Ali Shah, who had cemented their relationship by marrying the Sardar’s sister and giving one of his daughters, Shirin Jan Khanom, in marriage to Hossein Khan.

The Shah had been indebted to the Sardar ever since, on the death of Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar dynasty, Hossein Khan led an advance column of troops to Tehran to secure the capital and the throne for Fath Ali. Later, the Shah dispatched him to quell a rebellion in Khorasan province. In return for his loyalty, the Sardar was rewarded with the Khanate of Erevan, which he ruled until the last Russo-Persian War (1826-1828).

Hossein Khan was also granted estates encompassing some 62 villages near the city of Qazvin. Later generations of Sardars bequeathed their inheritance to religious endowments, or waqf. The ab anbar sardar, a cavernous underground water reservoir in Qazvin was named after Hossein Khan. Local legend has it that it took seven months to fill and its supply of water lasted for seven years.