Editing Shusha (section)

===Foundation===
[[File:Shushi, Kanach zham - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Saint John the Baptist Church ([[Kanach Zham]]), built in 1818.]]
[[File:Верхняя мечеть Гевхар-аги06.jpg|thumb|[[Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque]], completed in 1885.]]Some Armenian sources identify Shusha with a fortress called Shikakar or Karaglukh, where the 9th-century Armenian prince [[Sahl Smbatean]] is said to have defeated an invading Arab army.<ref name=":32" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1982 |title=Shushi |encyclopedia=[[Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia]] |last1=Hasratyan |first1=M. |last2=Ulubabyan |first2=B. |editor-last=Hambardzumyan |editor-first=Viktor |url=https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_8.djvu/599 |location=Yerevan |volume=8 |pages=599–601 |language=hy |access-date=26 June 2022 |archive-date=15 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215195737/https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_8.djvu/599 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to several sources, a settlement called Shosh served as an ancient fortress in the Armenian principality of Varanda, and had traditionally belonged to the Melik-Shahnazarian princely dynasty.<ref name="Krunk Hayots Ashkharhi 1863. p. 14" /><ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite book|last=Цагарели |first=А. А. |url=http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/136367/4/Gramoti_Tom_%20I.pdf|title=Грамоты и другие исторические документы XVIII столетия относящиеся к Грузии : Том I|year=1891|location=Saint Petersburg|pages=434–435|trans-title=Letters and other historical documents of the 18th century regarding Georgia, Vol. 1|quote=когдажъ персицкаго шаха нестало, то сь их же стороны одинъ человекъ, закону магометанскаго и отъ народа жаванширскаго, принялъ силу; среди того правления, Хамсы, состоитъ старинная крепость, которая имъ обманомъ взята...|access-date=26 March 2021|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411184552/http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/136367/4/Gramoti_Tom_%20I.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="iarex.ru">Армяно-русские отношения в XVIII веке. Т. IV. С. 212, as cited in {{Cite book|last=Магалян|first=Артак|url=https://iarex.ru/books/book30.pdf|title=Русский Сборник Исследования По Истории России|publisher=Модест Колеров|year=2010|isbn=978-5-91150-034-4|editor-last=Айрапетов|editor-first=О. Р.|volume=VIII|pages=13–14|trans-title=Russian collection of research on the history of Russia|chapter=Арцахские меликства и возникновение Карабахского ханства|trans-chapter=The melikates of Artsakh and the emergence of the Karabakh Khanate|quote=In [Archbishop Hovsep] Argutyan's letter to General Pavel Potemkin dated January 28, 1783, we read: 'The council of Melik Adam, Melik Hovsep and Melik Esai was united, but among them was the schismatic Melik Shahnazar, who was a cunning man, faithless and unfit for good deeds, treacherous and traitorous towards his brothers. A certain tribe called Javanshir comes to Karabakh, like homeless wanderers on the land, doing robbery and wandering in tents, the leader of which was named Panah Khan. Melik Shahnazar, cunning in his evil deeds, called him to help him, obeyed him of his own free will and handed over his fortress.'|editor-last2=Йованович|editor-first2=Мирослав|editor-last3=Колеров|editor-first3=М. А.|editor-last4=Меннинг|editor-first4=Брюс|editor-last5=Чейсти|editor-first5=Пол|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119070219/http://www.iarex.ru/books/book30.pdf |archive-date=19 November 2012}}</ref> According to some sources, Shushi existed and had a functioning scriptorium in 1428.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mutafian |first=Claude |author-link=Claude Mutafian |title=Monuments and Identities in the Caucasus: Karabagh, Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan in Contemporary Geopolitical Conflict |date=2024 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-67738-8 |editor-last=Dorfmann-Lazarev |editor-first=Igor |location=Leiden |pages=21 |chapter=Survey of Historical Geography of the South Caucasus from the Middle Ages to the Present Day |editor-last2=Khatchadourian |editor-first2=Haroutioun}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkisian |first=Manvel |title= |publisher=Armianskiĭ tsentr strategicheskikh i natsionalʹnykh isledovaniĭ |year=1996 |location=Yerevan |pages=5 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Из истории градостроительства Шуши |trans-title=''From the history of the urban planning of Shushi''}}</ref> The fortress was described as a strategic stronghold in one of the Eastern Armenian military districts, called ''sghnakhs'', playing a key role in the Armenian commander [[Avan Yuzbashi]]'s campaign against Ottoman forces during their incursion into of the South Caucasus in the 1720s and 1730s.<ref>Bournoutian, George A. ''Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796: A Documentary Record''. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001, Armenian Military Activities in Karabakh and Ghapan, pages 402-413</ref> Armenian historian and Shusha native [[Ashot Hovhannisian]] wrote that the fortress walls must have been built by Avan Yuzbashi in 1724, if not earlier.<ref name="Shahen" />

Kehva Chelebi, an early Armenian national activist who maintained correspondence between the [[meliks]] of [[Nagorno Karabakh|Karabakh]] and the Russian authorities, in a 1725 report describes Shusha as a town and a fort:

{{Cquote|… The nearest Armenian stronghold … was Shushi. Shushi is four days' distance from Shemakhi. Armed Armenians under the command of Avan Yuzbashi guard it. After meeting with the Armenian leaders, including the Patriarch, they returned to Derbent via Shemakhi. Rocky mountains surround the town of Shushi. The number of the armed Armenians has not been determined. There are rumors that the Armenians have defeated the Turks in a number of skirmishes in Karabagh …<ref name="Bournoutian, George A 2001, page 133">{{Cite book|last=Bournoutian|first=George A.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45136635|title=Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796 : a documentary record|date=2001|publisher=Mazda Publishers|isbn=1-56859-132-2|location=Costa Mesa, Calif.|pages=133|chapter=Kekhva Chelebi's Report to the Collegium of [Russian] Foreign Affairs (17 December 1725)|oclc=45136635|access-date=26 March 2021|archive-date=7 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907165519/https://www.worldcat.org/title/armenians-and-russia-1626-1796-a-documentary-record/oclc/45136635|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

A 1769 letter by Georgian king [[Heraclius II of Georgia|Heraclius II]] to Russian diplomat [[Petr Ivanovich Panin|Count P. Panin]] states that there was "an ancient fortress in the realm of the [[Melikdoms of Karabakh|Khamsa]] [melikdoms]" which was "conquered, through deceit" by "one Muslim man from the [[Javanshir clan|Jevanshir]] tribe."<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The same information about the ancient fortress is confirmed by the Russian field marshal [[Alexander Suvorov]] in a letter to Prince [[Grigory Potemkin]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Нерсисян|first=М. Г.|url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVIII/1760-1780/Suvorov_arm/text.phtml?id=3016|title=А.В. Суворов и русско-армянские отношения в 1770-1780-х годах|publisher=Айастан|year=1981|location=Yerevan|pages=130|trans-title=A. V. Suvorov and Russian-Armenian relations in the 1770s-1780s|chapter=II. Бумаги А. В. Суворова об Армении, Закавказье и Персии - Рапорты А. В. Суворова князю Г. А. Потемкину|trans-chapter=II. A. V. Suvorov's papers about Armenia, Transcaucasian and Persia - A. V. Suvorov's reports to Prince G. A. Potemkin|quote=Мелик Шах-Назар может собрать войска близ 1000 человек; сей предатель своего отечества призвал Панахана, бывшего прежде начальником не знатной части кочующих магометан близ границ карабагских, отдал ему в руки свой крепкий замок Шушикала и учинился ему с его сигнагом покорным.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228232500/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/XVIII/1760-1780/Suvorov_arm/text.phtml?id=3016|archive-date=28 February 2009}}</ref><ref>Bournoutian, George A. ''Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796: A Documentary Record''. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001, pp. 134, 269.</ref> Suvorov writes that the Armenian prince Melik Shahnazar of Varanda surrendered his fortress Shushikala to "certain [[Panah Ali Khan|Panah]]", whom he called a chief of nomadic Muslims living near the Karabakh borders.<ref name=":0" /> When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevsky writes in his ''Historical Notes'' that Shusha fortress was a possession of the Melik-Shahnazarian clan, which was given to [[Panah Ali Khan]] in return for aid against the other Armenian [[Melikdoms of Karabakh|meliks]] of Karabakh.<ref>S.M.Bronesvskiy. [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus9/Bronevskij/frametext32.htm Historical Notes...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212205415/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus9/Bronevskij/frametext32.htm |date=2009-02-12 }} St. Petersburg,1996. Исторические выписки о сношениях России с Персиею, Грузиею и вообще с горскими народами, в Кавказе обитающими, со времён Ивана Васильевича доныне». СПб. 1996, секция "'''Карабаг'''". Bronesvskiy writes: "Мелик Шахназор призвал к себе на помощь владетеля кочующаго чавонширскаго народа Фона хана и здал ему крепость Шуши."</ref> Russian historian P. G. Butkov (1775–1857) writes that "Shushi village" was given to Panah Ali Khan by the Melik-Shahnazarian prince after they entered into an alliance, and that Panah Ali Khan fortified the village.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Бутков|first=П. Г.|title=Материалы для новой истории Кавказа с 1722 по 1803 год|year=1869|location=Saint Petersburg|pages=|chapter=}} ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ М. к стр. 236. {{cite web|title=Приложение И|url=http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/Butkov1/pril2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019084130/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Kavkaz/Butkov1/pril2.htm|archive-date=2013-10-19|access-date=2013-11-04}}</ref><ref>Also see Walker Christopher "The Armenian Presence in Mountainous Karabakh" in "Transcaucasian Boundaries" (SOAS/GRC Geopolitics) edited by John Wright, Richard Schofield, Suzanne Goldenberg, 1995 p. 93 ''"South of Khachen lay the small territory of Varanda, originally part of its southern neighbour, Dizak, and only given a separate identity in the early sixteenth century. The ruling family, confirmed in that capacity by Shah Abbas I, was that of the Melik Shahnazarians. In the territory of Varanda lies the modern town of Shushi (or Shusha)"''</ref> The missionary [[Joseph Wolff]] (1795–1862), during his mission in the Middle East, visited "Shushee, in the province of Carabagh, in Armenia Major".<ref>Joseph Wolff. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BdBzJZly7wAC&pg=PA226 Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907165529/https://books.google.com/books?id=BdBzJZly7wAC&pg=PA226 |date=7 September 2021 }}''. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1861, p. 226.</ref>

[[File:Шушинский Ханский Дворец Дочери Хана.jpg|thumb|left|The [[House of Khurshidbanu Natavan|Palace of Khurshidbanu Natavan]], the daughter of the last ruler of [[Karabakh Khanate]], late 19th-early 20th centuries]]
[[File:oudSjoesji.jpg|thumb|The Armenian quarters of Shusha – with the [[Ghazanchetsots Cathedral]] in the background – in the early 20th century, before their [[Shusha pogrom|destruction by Azerbaijani military units in 1920]]]]

Some sources, including [[Mirza Jamal Javanshir]], [[Mirza Adigozal bey]], [[Abbasgulu Bakikhanov]] and [[Mirza Yusuf Nersesov]], attest to the foundation of the town in 1750–1752 (according to other sources, 1756–1757) by Panah Ali Khan ({{reign|1748|1763}}), the founder and the first ruler of the [[Karabakh Khanate]] (1748–1822), which comprised both Lowland and [[Nagorno-Karabakh|Highland Karabakh]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-129462/Azerbaijan|title=Azerbaijan - History, People, & Facts|website=britannica.com|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118105319/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-129462/Azerbaijan|archive-date=18 November 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Atlas">[[Robert H. Hewsen|Hewsen, Robert H.]], ''Armenia: A Historical Atlas''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 155.</ref> The mid-18th century foundation is supported by the second edition of the ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'',<ref name="Islam, Ḳarā Bāg̲h̲, p. 573"/> and the ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary''.<ref name="Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary 1890–1907"/>

According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, the author of the Persian-language text ''[[Tarikh-e Qarabagh|History of Karabakh]]'',<ref name="Bournoutian George A 1994, p. 72">Bournoutian George A. ''A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-E Qarabagh''. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1994, p. 72. The original text by Mirza Jamal Javanshir calls the village "Shoshi."</ref> one of the most significant chronicles on the history of Karabakh in 18th-19th centuries, the Karabakh nobility assembled to discuss the danger of invasion from Iran and told Panah Ali Khan, "We must build among the impassable mountains such an inviolable and inaccessible fort, so that no strong enemy could take it." Melik Shahnazar of Varanda, who was the first of the Armenian ''meliks'' (dukes) to accept the suzerainty of Panah Ali Khan and who would remain his loyal supporter, suggested a location for the new fortress. Thus, Panahabad-Shusha was founded.

According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, before Panah Ali Khan constructed the fortress there were no buildings there and it was used as cropland and pasture by the people of the nearby village of Shoshi.<ref name="Bournoutian George A 1994, p. 72"/><ref name="Mirza Jamal">{{in lang|ru}} [http://zerrspiegel.orientphil.uni-halle.de/t1154.html Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. The History of Karabakh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127171633/http://zerrspiegel.orientphil.uni-halle.de/t1154.html |date=2007-01-27 }}.</ref> Panah khan resettled to Shusha the population of Shahbulag and some nearby villages and built strong [[fortifications]].<ref name="Mirza Jamal"/>

Another account is presented by [[Raffi (novelist)|Raffi]] (1835–1888), an Armenian novelist and historian, in his work ''The Princedoms of Khamsa'', which asserts that the place where Shushi was built was desolate and uninhabited before Panah Ali Khan's arrival. He states, "[Panah-Ali Khan and Melik-Shahnazar of Varanda] soon completed the construction (1762) [of the fortress] and moved the Armenian population of the nearby village of Shosh, called also Shoshi, or Shushi into the fortress.″<ref>[[Raffi (novelist)|Raffi]]. ''[http://www.armenianhouse.org/raffi/novels-ru/khamsa/meliks1_14.html The Princedoms of Khamsa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125213914/http://www.armenianhouse.org/raffi/novels-ru/khamsa/meliks1_14.html |date=2009-11-25 }}''.</ref>