with the province of Astrabad. At his death his government was made over to his son Kajar Nooyan, who gave his name to the whole of his tribe; and his offspring became illustrious in Persia, and in the neighbourhood of the Goorgan. After the downfall of the descendants of Genghis Khan, the Kajars united with a Turkoman chief called Hassan Beg, who took service with the Sefaveean Shahs. The mother of Shah Ismail was of the Kajar tribe, which circumstance secured to them much influence during the reign of that sovereign. Shah Tahmasp deputed a Kajar on an embassy to the Sublime Porte, who concluded a treaty between the Sultan and his master.[1]
In the Persian annals of the year of the Hejira 969, it is recorded that the provinces of Karabagh, Genja, Khorassan, Merve and Astrabad, were ruled over by the two great branches of the Kajars, called Zeeadloo and Kavanloo. Their influence seems to have rendered Shah Abbass somewhat apprehensive; and, in order to make it innocuous, he divided them into three branches. Of these, one was sent to Merve and Khorassau; another was established in Karabagh; and the third was settled at Astrabad, and on the banks of the Goorgan. In these exposed situations the Kajars soon became greatly reduced in, strength, on account of their losses in the frontier wars with Lesghis, Turks, and Turkomans.
The branch of the Kajar tribe which was settled on the Goorgan and in the province of Astrabad, became subdivided into two sections, which, from the relative position of their pasture-grounds, received the distin-
- ↑ A.H. 969: A.D. 1561.
