Aq Qoyunlu, replaced the Tatars and Mongols. Nomadic presence in Artsakh and the plains to the east of it continued in this period as well. The vast area between the rivers of Kura and Araxes received its Turkic name Karabakh (combination of "black" (Kara) in Turkic and "garden" (bakh) in Persian) with Artsakh corresponding to its mountains (Mountainous Karabakh or Nagorno-Karabakh in the Soviet tradition). The name is first mentioned in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in The Georgian Chronicles ( "Life of Kartli"), and in the geographical work of Hamdallah Mustawfi Nuzhat al-Qulub. The name became common after the 1230s when the region was conquered by the Mongols. In the beginning of the 16th century Karabakh was conquered by the Safavid Empire, which created Safavid Karabakh there, with some additional nearby territory, and centered it in the city of Ganja. In this period Karabakh nomads coalesced in the igirmi-dörd (literally, 'twenty-four' in Azerbaijani) and otuz-iki ('thirty-two') confederations that were among the key allies of the Safavids in this part of their empire. Christian Armenian denizens of Karabakh paid higher taxes. The centuries-long subjection of the local Armenians to Muslim leaders, their relations with Turkic tribal elders and frequent Turkic-Armenian-Iranian intermarriage resulted in Armenians adopting elements of Perso-Turkic Muslim culture, such as language, personal names, music, an increasingly humble position for women and, in some cases, even polygamy. Armenian melikdoms The princedom of Khachen existed until the 16th–17th century then broke up into five small principalities ("melikdoms"): Giulistan or Talish melikdom included the territory from Ganja to the River Tartar. Dzraberd or Charaberd melikdom stretched from the River Tartar to the River Khachenaget. Khachen melikdom went from the River Khachenaget to the River Karkar. Varanda melikdom included the territory from the Karkar to the south side of Mount Kirs. Dizak melikdom stretched from the southern slope of Mount Kirs to the River Arax. These melikdoms were referred to as khamsa, which means "five" in Arabic. While subordinate to Safavid Persia's Karabakh beylerbeylik, ruled by Ziyad-oglu Qajars, the Armenian meliks were granted a wide autonomy over Upper Karabakh, maintaining quasi-autonomous control over the region for four centuries, while still remaining under Persian domination. In the early 18th century, Persia's military genius and new ruler, Nadir Shah, took Karabakh away from the Ganja Khanate to retaliate for their support of the Safavids, and placed the region directly under his own control. At