Elisu Sultanate

The Elisu Sultanate (also Elisou, Ilisu, İlisu - with Turkish dotted 'İ') was one of the smaller Khanates of the Caucasus in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Located mostly on the south slope of the Caucasus Mountains in what is now northwest Azerbaijan, it extended from north of the mountain crest down to the Alazani River valley. Southeast in the lowlands was the Shirvan Khanate and northwest along the mountains were the Djaro-Belokani communities. Djaro-Belokan and Elisu were closely connected.

The mountainous north was inhabited by Tsakhurs and the low country by Azeris and Ingiloys (Georgian Muslims). The upper class was Tsakhur and Azeri.

In local usage a Sultan was below a Khan and above a Beg. The Sultanate was partly hereditary and partly elected by a Jamaat or assembly of notables. He was often confirmed by the Persian Shah. In a few cases he was imposed by whoever had a large army nearby. For a few purposes the Sultan was almost a member of the Djaro-Belokani league.

The history of the Sultanate begins north of the mountains in the upper reaches of the Samur River (Rutulsky District) with the Tsakhur people – a western branch of the Lezgians. There had been a principality here since the VII century. At some point it became the Tsakhur Khanate and paid tribute to the Gazikumukh Shamkhalate. In the XV century the Tsakhurs began moving south over the mountain crest toward the Alazani River valley. The settled in the Qakh, Tsuket and Djari 'eristavos' (Georgian dukedoms). In the XVI-XVII centuries the area was an 'ulka' of the Shirvan Khanate. The rulers were also vassals of Persia and sometimes Turkey, depending on the relative power of each. At the beginning of the XVIII century the capital moved south from the town of Tsakhur to İlisu and we now hear of the Elisu Sultanate. The Elisu Dynasty belonged to the Sunni Muslim denomination of Islam. The first ruler from was Sultan Adi Korklu Bey, who established the Elisu Sultante on March 8, 1563. He was of Turkish People.

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