Velayat

Not to be confused with Vilayet.

For other administrative divisions in Muslim countries using variants of the word, see wilayah.

A velayat (also spelled vilayat; Persian: ولایت) was a type of administrative division within Safavid Iran, which functioned as a semi-autonomous province.^[1]

Historical map of Safavid Iran and its divisions, published in 1736

The velayats were situated in the frontier of the country, mainly in its mountainous areas. In order of ranking, the five velayats were: Arabestan, Lorestan, Georgia, Kurdistan, and Bakhtiyari lands.^[2]

A velayat was governed by a vali ("viceroy", "governor"), who was nearly an independent governor. The valis generally belonged to prominent local families, and were officially chosen by the shah as a compromise of regional autonomy. Nevertheless, they ruled in a hereditary manner.^[3][4] In rare occasions a vali was appointed to a velayat he had no connection to. This could possibly cause issues, such as in the 1680s Kurdistan, where a non-Kurdish vali chosen by Shah Soleyman (r. 1666–1694) was chased out by the locals.^[5]

In order to keep the chieftains under good behaviour, one of their family members (often a son) was kept as a hostage in Isfahan. The valis officially showed their fealty to the shah and minted coins in his name. The valis enjoyed rights that an ordinary governor did not have, which included: absolute supervision over the administration of their region, having their own budgets and militia, and handling their own vassal relations. The shah seldom involved himself in these matters.^[5]

The tributes that the valis had to pay to the shah varied based on the situation. The demands were typically small, such as in the late Safavid era, where Lorestan provided twenty Arabian horses, 200 mules and a number of valuables. During wartime, however, Lorestan was expected to provide up to 12,000 cavalrymen and the equal amount of foot-soldiers.^[5]

References

1. Matthee 2011, pp. 141, 258.
2. Matthee 2011, p. 143.
3. Matthee 2011, pp. 143–144. For the meaning of vali, see p. 258.
4. Matthee 2015, p. 443.
5. Matthee 2011, p. 144.

Sources

• Matthee, Rudi (2011). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857731814.
• Matthee, Rudi (2015). "Relations between the Center and the Periphery in Safavid Iran: The Western Borderlands v. the Eastern Frontier Zone". The Historian. 77 (3): 431–463. doi:10.1111/hisn.12068. S2CID 143393018.

Further reading

• Floor, Willem (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1933823232.
• Sanikidze, George (2021). "The Evolution of the Safavid Policy towards Eastern Georgia". In Melville, Charles (ed.). Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires: The Idea of Iran. Vol. 10. I.B. Tauris. pp. 375–404.