Gilan is the wet lowland of the Sefid Rud delta and the coast on either side, with rice fields, mulberries for silk, forests and lagoons; Daylam is the hill country behind it, the old homeland of the Daylamite soldiers who, with the Gils of the lowland, founded the Buyid, Ziyarid and Musafirid dynasties two centuries earlier.
In 1200 no prince rules the whole. The lowland is divided among Gil chiefs, east of the river (Biya-pish, with Lahijan, Langa and Hawsam) and west of it (Biya-pas, with Fuman and Rasht); the hills are under village headmen, some following the Zaydi Alid imams who long had a seat at Hawsam, some following the Nizari imam at Alamut, whose mission found many recruits among the Daylamis. Tarum, the gorge country where the Qizil Uzun meets the Shahrud, lies between Gilan, Zanjan and Rudbar; its holder in 1200 is not pinned.
The sources read name none of the chiefs for 1200: the record is drawn as self-governing provinces.
Who rules
- Name
- not pinned: local chiefs of the Gil (lowland) and Daylami (hill) communities, none named for 1199-1200 in the sources read
- Title
- No single ruler
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None in practice.
The realm that morning
Self-governing; no outside ruler holds Gilan. The Nizaris are strongest in the hills next to Rudbar; the Eldiguzids of Ardabil and Tabriz look over the hills from the west.
Assemblies and custom
Local chiefs, village headmen and Alid families; no common assembly is recorded.
Religion
Zaydi Shi'ism (eastern Gilan and Daylam), Sunni Islam (the Hanbali saint Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, died 1166 in Baghdad, was a Gilani), Nizari Ismailis in the hills.
Relations
Nizaris: neighbours and partners (Juvaini records that Jalal al-Din Hasan, after 1210, married daughters of Gilan's chiefs). Bavandids: neighbours to the east (Ruyan). Eldiguzids: beyond the western hills.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Gilan's history between the Seljuk period and the fourteenth century is almost unrecorded; names of chiefs for 1200 are lacking.
On the map: Drawn as five provinces (Eastern Gilan, Western Gilan, Gaskar and Talysh, Daylam uplands, Tarum).
Primary sources for this realm
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
- G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chs. on Tabaristan, Gilan, Jurjan, Qumis and Quhistan
- F. Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007), ch. 6 (the Nizaris of the Alamut period)
- Juvaini, Ta'rikh-i Jahan-gusha, trans. J. A. Boyle, The History of the World-Conqueror (1958)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.