ABSTRACT
The small players of the Great Game included many local principalities and amirdoms of Eastern Iran, the khanats of Central Asia, and local dynasties such as the Abdalis of Afghanistan and the Khozeimehs of Khorasan and Sistan. The Abdalis of Afghanistan played a substantial role in the politics of the Persian Empire, especially in the last days of the Safavid dynasty when Abdali leaders like Mahmud and Ashraf brought the dynasty to its end in an internal Iranian uprising. They and the khanats of Central Asia became very active in the process of the Great Game, using the existing circumstances in Central Asia and Afghanistan to their advantage in trying to establish their independent kingdoms. The khanats of Central Asia are well introduced in other works of historical and geographical studies of Greater Khorasan (Central Asia and Afghanistan). The other local dynasty that played a substantial role as one of the small players in the Great Game with consequential impact on the formation of the political geography of the entire region, namely, the Khozeimeh dynasty of Khorasan and Sistan, will be discussed in two chapters. I introduce the amirs of Khozeimeh dynasty in this chapter, whereas their foreign relations will be discussed in Chapter 3.
