Beyond 'Tribal Breakout': Afghans in the History of Empire, Ca. 1747–1818
Beyond 'Tribal Breakout': Afghans in the History of Empire, ca. 1747–1818 Jagjeet Lally Journal of World History, Volume 29, Number 3, September 2018, pp. 369-397 (Article) Published by University of Hawai'i Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2018.0035 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/719505 Access provided at 21 Jun 2019 10:40 GMT from University College London (UCL) Beyond ‘Tribal Breakout’: Afghans in the History of Empire, ca. 1747–1818 JAGJEET LALLY University College London N the desiccated and mountainous borderlands between Iran and India, Ithe uprising of the Hotaki (Ghilzai) tribes against Safavid rule in Qandahar in 1717 set in motion a chain reaction that had profound consequences for life across western, south, and even east Asia. Having toppled and terminated de facto Safavid rule in 1722,Hotakiruleatthe centre itself collapsed in 1729.1 Nadir Shah of the Afshar tribe—which was formerly incorporated within the Safavid political coalition—then seized the reigns of the state, subduing the last vestiges of Hotaki power at the frontier in 1738, playing the latter off against their major regional opponents, the Abdali tribes. From Kandahar, Nadir Shah and his new allies marched into Mughal India, ransacking its cities and their coffers in 1739, carrying treasure—including the peacock throne and the Koh-i- Noor diamond—worth tens of millions of rupees, and claiming de jure sovereignty over the swathe of territory from Iran to the Mughal domains. Following the execution of Nadir Shah in 1747, his former cavalry commander, Ahmad Shah Abdali, rapidly established his independent political authority.2 Adopting the sobriquet Durr-i-Durran (Pearl of 1 Rudi Matthee, Persia in Crisis.
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