Hamida Javanshir
Encyclopedia
Hamida Ahmad bey qizi Javanshir (19 January 1873, near Agjabadi
– 6 February 1955, Baku
) was an Azerbaijan
i philanthropist and women's rights activist. Her second marriage was to writer and journalist Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
.
(1828–1903), an Azeri
historian, translator and officer of the Russian Imperial
army. She was the great-great-grandniece of Ibrahim Khalil Khan
, the last ruling khan of Karabakh
. Hamida and her younger brother were educated at home; when she was nine, a family of Russian tutor
s came to live with them to guide their education. By age 14, she was familiar with European
and Islamic literature
, and spoke Russian
and French
fluently.
In 1889 Hamida Javanshir married a Barda
-native, Lieutenant Colonel
Ibrahim bey Davatdarov. They settled in Brest-Litovsk
(in present-day Belarus
). Soon their two children, Mina and Muzaffar, were born. Javanshir took ballroom dance
lessons and studied German
and Polish
. In 1900 the family moved to Kars
, where Davatdarov was appointed commander of a military fortress. A year later he died, leaving his 28-year old wife a widow; her wish to study medicine in Moscow
seemed unrealizable.
) in order to get it printed at the Geyrat publishing house. Here, in October 1905, she met Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, who then was a columnist for the Azeri-language newspaper Sharg-i rus. In 1907 they married (Mammadguluzadeh was twice-widowed at the time) and lived in Tiflis until 1920. They had two sons, Midhat in 1908 and Anvar in 1911.
During the Karabakh
famine of 1907 Hamida Javanshir distributed flour and millet to starving villagers, and also acted as a mediator between local Armenians and Azeris after two years of mutual massacres. In 1908 she founded a coeducation
al school in her home village of Kahrizli, which became the first Azeri school where boys and girls could study in the same classroom. In 1910 Javanshir, together with female members of the city's Azeri nobility, founded the Muslim Women's Caucasian Benevolent Society. During a smallpox
epidemics in the Soviet era she bought vaccines and gave shots to the people of Kahrizli.
In 1921, after having lived in Tabriz
for a year, the family moved to Baku, where she wrote memoirs and translated her husband's works. She outlived two of her children: Mina in 1923 and Midhat in 1935. There is a museum of her life and works in Kahrizli.
Agjabadi
Aghjabadi is a rayon in central Azerbaijan with an administrative center in the town of Aghjabadi.-History of the rayon:Aghjabadi rayon was established in 1930. In 1963 it was abolished and connected to Agdam Rayon. Soon after, in 1965, it was reestablished as an independent rayon.Aghjabadi is one...
– 6 February 1955, Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
) was an Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
i philanthropist and women's rights activist. Her second marriage was to writer and journalist Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
Jalil Huseyngulu oglu Mammadguluzadeh was an Azerbaijani satirist and writer.-Life:Mammadguluzadeh was born in Nakhchivan into an Iranian Azeri merchant family from Khoy...
.
Early life
Born on her family's ancestral estate in the village of Kahrizli, Hamida Javanshir was the eldest child of Ahmad bey JavanshirAhmad bey Javanshir
Ahmad bey Jafargulu bey oglu Javanshir was an Azerbaijani historian and military personality. He was the great-grandnephew of Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the last ruling khan of Karabakh, and the father of philanthropist and feminist Hamida Javanshir.-Life:Little is known about Ahmad bey Javanshir's...
(1828–1903), an Azeri
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
historian, translator and officer of the Russian Imperial
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
army. She was the great-great-grandniece of Ibrahim Khalil Khan
Ibrahim Khalil Khan
Ibrahim Khalil khan Javanshir was the Azeri Turkic khan of Karabakh from the Javanshir family, who succeeded his father Panah-Ali khan Javanshir as the ruler of Karabakh khanate....
, the last ruling khan of Karabakh
Karabakh khanate
The Karabakh khanate was a semi-independent khanate on the territories of modern Azerbaijan and Armenia established in about 1750 under Persian suzerainty in Karabakh and adjacent areas. The Karabakh khanate existed until 1805, when the Russian Empire gained control over it from Persia...
. Hamida and her younger brother were educated at home; when she was nine, a family of Russian tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
s came to live with them to guide their education. By age 14, she was familiar with European
European literature
European literature refers to the literature of Europe.European literature includes literature in many languages; among the most important of the modern written works are those in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech and Russian and works by the...
and Islamic literature
Islamic literature
Islamic literature is literature written with an Islamic perspective, in any language.The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , which was a compilation of many earlier folk tales told by the Persian Queen Scheherazade...
, and spoke Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
fluently.
In 1889 Hamida Javanshir married a Barda
Barda
Barda may refer to:*Barda Rayon, a district in Azerbaijan*Barda, Azerbaijan, a town in Azerbaijan* Bârda, a village in Malovăţ Commune, Mehedinţi County, Romania*Barda, Russia, a rural locality in Perm Krai, Russia*Jean-Pierre Barda*Olaf Barda...
-native, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Ibrahim bey Davatdarov. They settled in Brest-Litovsk
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
(in present-day Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
). Soon their two children, Mina and Muzaffar, were born. Javanshir took ballroom dance
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television....
lessons and studied German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. In 1900 the family moved to Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
, where Davatdarov was appointed commander of a military fortress. A year later he died, leaving his 28-year old wife a widow; her wish to study medicine in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
seemed unrealizable.
Later life and activism
She inherited the Kahrizli estate from her father and continued his successful cotton business. In accordance with his will, she took the manuscript of his historical work On the Political Affairs of the Karabakh khanate in 1747–1805 to Tiflis (capital of present-day GeorgiaGeorgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
) in order to get it printed at the Geyrat publishing house. Here, in October 1905, she met Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, who then was a columnist for the Azeri-language newspaper Sharg-i rus. In 1907 they married (Mammadguluzadeh was twice-widowed at the time) and lived in Tiflis until 1920. They had two sons, Midhat in 1908 and Anvar in 1911.
During the Karabakh
Karabakh
The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
famine of 1907 Hamida Javanshir distributed flour and millet to starving villagers, and also acted as a mediator between local Armenians and Azeris after two years of mutual massacres. In 1908 she founded a coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al school in her home village of Kahrizli, which became the first Azeri school where boys and girls could study in the same classroom. In 1910 Javanshir, together with female members of the city's Azeri nobility, founded the Muslim Women's Caucasian Benevolent Society. During a smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemics in the Soviet era she bought vaccines and gave shots to the people of Kahrizli.
In 1921, after having lived in Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
for a year, the family moved to Baku, where she wrote memoirs and translated her husband's works. She outlived two of her children: Mina in 1923 and Midhat in 1935. There is a museum of her life and works in Kahrizli.