Empire of Quanzar

The Emirate of Great Quanzar (majatran: امارة القانزار الكبيرة, translitteration: Imārah al-Qanzar al-Kabir) called also as Empire of Quanzar (majatran: الدولة القانزار, translitteration: al-Dawlat al-Qanzar) was a large empire ruled by the Al-Qanzar Dynasty which stretched from Kalopia-Wantuni to the Sarrentina Peninsula comprising Solentia and Kafuristan, between the end of the XV sentury to the first half of the XX century.

=History=

The rise of the Qanzars
See also House of Kansar.

The origins of the Quanzar's family go back to the period during which the lands of Solentia in the 13th century fell under the rule of the Ahmadi Caliphate and majatran élite took the power all over the greatly feudal Caliphate. From Kafuristan and Badara the majatrans tribes, led by the new Ahmadi leadership, swipt westward conquering most part of the continent. Given the fact that the Ahmadi Caliphate was never a strong unitary empire, many territories and warlords became very authonomous and then begin to act indipendently. The Banu Qanzar, originary from the south Kafuristan, in 13th century moved in the eastern territories of Solentia, close to the Kafuri lands, and already at the begin of the 15th century a warlord known as Karim Ibn Bener Al Qanzar was able to extend its control on most part of the territories of eastern Solentia and southern Kafuristan and was subsequently elevated by the Caliphate to the status of Emir, a vassal title of the Ahmadi Empire. When the power of the Caliphate began to falter, the Emirs of Qanzar as many other regional powers became virtually indipendent and started to expand their influence and rule in the eastern majatran regions. In 1486 so also the Quanzar Emir declared its indipendency and founded officially the Emirate of Great Quanzar: in XVI and XVII century progressively all Solentia and Kafuristan fell under the quanzarian control and then also the northern region of the Istalian Peninsula. The Emirate in the next century reached to extend its rule also on the Kalopian territories: in 1750, in fact, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abu Hafs al-Wantuni, a descendant of a separate line of the Watuni dynasty living in exile in Solentia, raised a rebel force and, with the aid of the Quanzar Emirs, succeeded in driving out the Deltarian colonials, to the joy of much of the native populace. Celebrations of independence were short-lived, however, because Abd al-Aziz soon declared his allegiance to the Qanzar Empire, who appointed him the Wali (Governor) of its new Wilayah of Wantuni. Only the Istalian kingdoms were still resisting the growing strength of the Quanzars.

The Quanzar Empire
Despite a strong resistance and after that almost half of the peninsula was under the ahmadi rulers, during the struggles among ahmadis and hosianists in the four Istalian Kingdoms, Harun ibn Muhammad, fourteenth Emir of the Qanzar House, decided to move his armies to the south where they faced the Istalian armies which were defeated in four months. By 1771, the control of the entire peninsula was cemented by the great victory of Harun at the Battle of Reggio Ingris. The Qanzar Emirs so proclaimed their supreme sovereignity on the eastern lands of Majatran controlling a dominion which, as said, stretched by the borders with the nowday Deltaria and Jakania, on Wantuni, Solentia, Kafuristan and Istalia, even if minus the island of Alaria where ruled the Kingdom of Nicoma or Estalia which in 1772 was renamed as Kingdom of Istalia.

The Emirate of Great Quanzar reach its maximum extension and prosperity at the begining of XIX century and until the late 1800s it remained a major power in Majatra.

The penetration and interference of the more developed Artanian Powers in the continent, began in XVII century, however, increased drastically since the middle of the century, and they began to expand to include whole nations, among them the first one was Badara, and bagan eroding even more territories on the Kafuristan's shores and costline. .

The Emirate furthermore, not only found itself to face the Artanian powers, but also their allies, first of all the Deltarians to the west and the Istalians to east, and then to face the subversive nationalist movements and the frequent insurgences of the people which lived into the Empire who were discontent to be under the yoke of the Quanzars and who hoped, with the support of the foreign nations, to destabilize the Empire and retake their lands and their freedom. In Kafuristan the local majatran tribes showed minimal resistance and sometime cooperated with the artanian colonist powers.

Artanians were able to expand their influence to include whole nations and since the first years of the XX century the Quanzars progressively lost the control of most part of the Empire: first Kafuristan fell under the control of the Artanian Powers, which include it into the Badara Protectorate, then Kalopia-Wantuni and Solentia respectively in 1930 and 1934 also became independent. The flight of the Emir in Istalia definitively outlined the end of the Empire of the Great Quanzar and of the Empire.

In the Peninsula the Dynasty maintained its power for other some century, began to built an even more centralized and stable dominion and the nation itself, as part of a heavy majatranization pursued by the ahmadi élites, was baptized as Quanzar and this was the name of Istalia for almost other two century.