Abstract
After Mohammad Hasan Khan was killed in 1759, his eldest son, Aqa Mohammad Khan, was kept in Shiraz under the control of Karim Khan Zand. When his younger brother, Hosein Qoli Khan, came from Qazvin to Shiraz to meet his brother, Karim Khan appointed him the ruler of Damghan and sent him there in 1769. Damghan was not so far from his father's former domain of Astarabad and Mazandaran. These two districts were now governed by the persons responsible for his father's death, so he began to take actions against them.
According to the sources written in the Zand period, Hosein Qoli Khan's field of activity was restricted to Mazandaran only, but we cannot agree with them for several reasons. Qajar sources relate his conquests of the Astarabad districts in detail, so it is reasonable to consider that his conquest extended to both the Astarabad and Mazandaran districts according to these sources. His conquest went smoothly in spite of several Zand expeditions, but he was assassinated in 1777.
In Shiraz, Karim Khan intensified his observation of Aqa Mohammad Khan after Hosein Qoli Khan rose in revolt. So, Aqa Mohammad Khan escaped from Shiraz to Astarabad immediately after the Karim Khan's death in 1779. After his return to Astarabad, Aqa Mohammad Khan inherited Hosein Qoli Khan's former sphere of influence and pushed forward the establishment of the Qajar dynasty. It is thereby possible to estimate that Hosein Qoli Khan's revolt played an important role in the establishment of the Qajar dynasty.
