People or land · Gilan and Daylam · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Daylam uplands

The high valleys between the Gilan lowland and Rudbar, the old homeland of the Daylamites who once gave Iran the Buyid dynasty.

In 1200 the hill villages are under their own headmen; some follow the Zaydi Alid imams, some the Nizari imam at Alamut, whose mission recruited heavily among the Daylamis. No chief is named for 1200 in the sources read.

Who holds it

Title
Daylami hill chiefs; Zaydi Alid and Nizari followings
Since
not pinned
Confidence
low

Overlord

None in practice; the Nizari imam at Alamut over his own followers here (extent not pinned).

What it holds

  • Daylaman and the upper valleys above Siahkal and Amlash
  • Ashkevar
  • The upper valleys of Tunakabun (Do Hezar, Se Hezar) towards Alamut (not pinned)

How things stand that morning

Self-governing hill communities; Nizari influence strongest towards Rudbar.

Wealth

Flocks, summer pastures, forest products.

Military

Daylami foot soldiers, famous since the tenth century. Numbers not in the sources.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Very thinly recorded for 1200.

On the map: Boundaries with Rudbar and the lowland are approximate.

Primary sources for Gilan and Daylam

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chs. on Tabaristan, Gilan, Jurjan, Qumis and Quhistan
  2. F. Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007), ch. 6 (the Nizaris of the Alamut period)
  3. W. Madelung, 'The minor dynasties of northern Iran', Cambridge History of Iran vol. 4 (1975) (background to Gilan and Daylam before the Seljuks)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.