Jump to content

Safavid dynasty: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
DumbBOT (talk | contribs)
removing a protection template from a non-protected page (info)
No edit summary
(One intermediate revision by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{semi-protected}}
{{Cleanup|date=June 2007}}
{{cleanup}}
[[Image:LocationSafavid.PNG|right|frame|The Safavid Empire at its [[1512]] borders.]]
[[Image:LocationSafavid.PNG|right|frame|The Safavid Empire at its [[1512]] borders.]]
{{History of Iran}}
{{History of Iran}}
The '''Safavid dynasty''' (1501-1722) was an [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]]-speaking [[Shi’a]] [[dynasty]] that ruled the [[History of Iran|Iranian empire]].<ref>[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3004a.html Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.]</ref> Originating in [[Ardabil]], a city in [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]] region in [[Iran]], they created the greatest Iranian empire<ref>Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I. B. Tauris (March 30, 2006) </ref> since the [[Islamic conquest of Persia]]. The Safavids established the Ithnāˤashari (''[[Twelvers]]'') school of [[Imamah (Shi'a twelver doctrine)|Shi'a Islam]]<ref name="savoryeiref"> R.M. Savory, ''Safavids'', [[Encyclopedia of Islam]], 2nd edition</ref> as the official [[religion]] of their empire and reasserted the [[Iranian culture|Iranian identity]] of the region<ref>''...reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties ...'' in R.M. Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), page 3</ref>, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the [[Sassanids]] to establish a united Iranian state. Despite their demise in 1722, the Safavids have left their mark down to present era by spreading and establishing Shi'a Islam in major parts of the [[Caucasus]] and West Asia, especially in Iran.
The '''Safavid dynasty''' () was dynasty that ruled the [[History of Iran|Iranian ]].<ref>[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3004a.html Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.]</ref> in [[Ardabil]], a city in [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]] region [[Iran]] created the greatest Iranian <ref>Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I. B. Tauris (March 30, 2006)</ref> since the [[Islamic conquest of Persia]] established the [[Twelvers]] of [[Imamah (Shi'a twelver doctrine)|Shi'a Islam]]<ref name="savoryeiref"> R.M. Savory, ''Safavids'', [[Encyclopedia of Islam]], 2nd edition</ref> as the official [[religion]] of their empire reasserted the [[Iranian culture|Iranian identity]] of the region<ref>''...reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties ...'' in R.M. Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), page 3</ref>, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the [[Sassanids]] to establish a united Iranian state. Despite their demise in 1722, the Safavids have left their mark down to present era by spreading and establishing Shi'a Islam in major parts of the [[Caucasus]] and West Asia, especially in Iran.


==Background==
==Background==
==Origins: The Sufi order at Ardabil==
==Origins: The Sufi order at Ardabil==

{{main|Safi al-Din}}
{{main|Safi al-Din}}


Unlike many other dynasties founded by warlords and military chiefs, one of the unique aspects of the Safavids in the post-Islamic Iran was their origin in the Islamic [[Sufi]] order called the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]]. This uniqueness makes Safavid dynasty comparable to the pre-Islamic [[Sassanid]] dynasty, which made Zoroastrianism into an official religion, and whose founders were from a priestly class. The origins of the Safavid family are shrouded in a mystery, and the contemporary lack of broad knowledge about them is compounded by the ideological distortions which took place during their political reign.


The Safavid history begins with the establishment of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh Sufi Order]] by its eponymous founder [[Safi_al-Din|Safī al-Dīn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabilī]] (1252-1334). In 700/1301, al- assumed the leadership of a local [[Sufi]] order in Gilan from his spiritual master Sheikh Zahid Gilani who was also his father-in-law. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Sheikh al-, from then on, the order was known as the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]]. was probably of Kurdish descent<ref>See Safavids in Emeri van Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference compiled from the Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, 1994, pg 381</ref><ref> [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f1/v8f1010.html R.M. Savory. Ebn Bazzaz. Encyclopedia Iranica]</ref>. Extant religious poetry from him in [[Ancient Azari language|Old Tati]]<ref name=Safi>[[Ehsan Yarshater|E. Yarshater]], [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], [http://www.iranica.com/articles/search/searchpdf.isc?ReqStrPDFPath=/home1/iranica/articles/v3_articles/azerbaijan/language_azerbaijan&OptStrLogFile=/home/iranica/public_html/logs/pdfdownload.html Book 1, p. 240]:</ref> [ . , <ref name= /> - and their .


Nevertheless, even before their ascent to political power in the 15th century, the Safavids had become Turkic-speaking and used [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani Turkish]] as a medium of communication with their followers <ref>E. Yarshater ''Iran: The Safavid period'', Encyclopedia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3001d.html]</ref>
Unlike many other dynasties founded by warlords and military chiefs, one of the unique aspects of the Safavids in the post-Islamic Iran was their origin in the Islamic [[Sufi]] order called the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]]. This uniqueness makes Safavid dynasty comparable to the pre-Islamic [[Sassanid]] dynasty, which made Zoroastrianism into an official religion, and whose founders were from a priestly class. The origins of the Safavid family are shrouded in a mystery, and the contemporary lack of broad knowledge about them is compounded by the ideological distortions which took place during their political reign.

The Safavid history begins with the establishment of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh Sufi Order]] by its eponymous founder [[Safi_al-Din|Safī al-Dīn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabilī]] (1252-1334). In 700/1301, [[Safi al-Din]] assumed the leadership of a local [[Sufi]] order in Gilan from his spiritual master Sheikh Zahid Gilani who was also his father-in-law. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Sheikh [[Safi al-Din]], from then on, the order was known as the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]]. Some sources have mentioned that Sheikh [[Safi al-Din]] was probably of Kurdish descent <ref>See Safavids in Emeri van Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference compiled from the Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, 1994, pg 381</ref><ref> [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f1/v8f1010.html R.M. Savory. Ebn Bazzaz. Encyclopedia Iranica]</ref>. Extant religious poetry from him have been recorded in [[Ancient Azari language|Old Tati]] language <ref name=Safi>[[Ehsan Yarshater|E. Yarshater]], [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], [http://www.iranica.com/articles/search/searchpdf.isc?ReqStrPDFPath=/home1/iranica/articles/v3_articles/azerbaijan/language_azerbaijan&OptStrLogFile=/home/iranica/public_html/logs/pdfdownload.html Book 1, p. 240]:</ref>, a now extinct [[Iranian languages|Northwestern Iranian language]]. Nevertheless, even before their ascent to political power in the 15th century, the Safavid family <ref name=Safi /> - had become Turkic-speaking and used [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani Turkish]] as a medium of communication with their followers <ref>E. Yarshater ''Iran: The Safavid period'' , Encyclopedia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3001d.html]</ref>


== From Sheikh Safi al-Din to Ismail I ==
== From Sheikh Safi al-Din to Ismail I ==


After [[Safi al-Din|Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili]], the leadership of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] passed onto Sheikh Sadr al-Din Musa († 794/1391-92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement which conducted religious propaganda throughout Persia, Syria and Asia Minor. Still the order most likely had maintained its Sunni Shaf’ite origin at that time. The leadership of the order passed on from Sheikh Sadr al-Din Musa to his son Khwadja Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son Ibrahim († 1429-47).
After al-, the leadership of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] passed onto Sheikh Sadr - († 794/1391-92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement which conducted religious propaganda throughout Persia, Syria and Asia Minor most likely had maintained its Sunni Shaf’ite origin at that time. The leadership of the order passed on from Sadr - to his son Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son († 1429-47).


When Sheikh Junayd, the son of Ibrahim, assumed the leadership of [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to R.M. Savory, ''"Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power"''. At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Persia were the [[Kara Koyunlu|Qara Qoyunlu]], whose ruler [[Jahan Shah]] ordered Sheikh Junayd to leave [[Ardabil]] or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city <ref name="savoryeiref" />. Junayd sought refuge with the rival of [[Kara Koyunlu|Qara Qoyunlu]] [[Jahan Shah]], the [[Ak Koyunlu|Aq Qoyunlu]] [[Khan]] [[Uzun Hassan]] and cemented his relationship by marrying Khadija Begum, the sister of [[Uzun Hassan]]. Sheikh Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the [[Shirvanshah]]s and his son Sheikh Haydar assumed the leadership of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]]. Sheikh Haydar married Martha <ref>Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29.'', (1975), Appendix II - Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond</ref>, the daughter of [[Uzun Hassan]], who gave birth to future [[Shah Ismail I]]. Martha had a Pontic Greek mother Theodora, better known as Despina Hatun <ref>Peter Charanis. "Review of Emile Janssens' ''Trébizonde en Colchide''", ''Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3,'', (Jul., 1970), p. 476</ref>, the daughter of the Grand [[Komnenos]] [[John IV of Trebizond]], whom [[Uzun Hassan]] married <ref>Anthony Bryer, ''open citation'', p. 136</ref> in exchange to protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans.
When Sheikh , the son of , assumed the leadership of Safaviyeh in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to R.M. Savory, ''"Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power"''. At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Persia the [[Kara Koyunlu|Qara Qoyunlu]], whose ruler [[Jahan Shah]] ordered to leave [[Ardabil]] or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city<ref name="savoryeiref" /> sought refuge with the rival of [[Kara Koyunlu|Qara Qoyunlu]] [[Jahan Shah]], the [[Ak Koyunlu|Aq Qoyunlu]] [[Khan]] [[Uzun Hassan]] and cemented his relationship by marrying Khadija Begum, [[Uzun Hassan]]. was killed during an incursion into the territories of the [[Shirvanshah]] and his son Sheikh Haydar assumed the leadership of the Safaviyeh. Sheikh Haydar married Martha<ref>Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29.'', (1975), Appendix II - Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond</ref>, [[Uzun Hassan]], who gave birth to [[Shah Ismail I]] mother Theodora better known as Despina <ref>Peter Charanis. "Review of Emile Janssens' ''Trébizonde en Colchide''", ''Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3,'', (Jul., 1970), p. 476</ref> the daughter of the Grand [[Komnenos]] [[John IV of Trebizond]] married <ref>Anthony Bryer, ''open citation'', p. 136</ref> in exchange to protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans.


After [[Uzun Hassan]]'s death, his son Yaqub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Yaqub allied himself with the [[Shirvanshah]] and killed Shaykh Haydar in 1488. By this time the bulk of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] followers were Turkish-speaking clans from Asia Minor and [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]], collectively known as [[Qizilbash]] (''"Red Heads"'') for their distinct red headgear. The [[Qizilbash]] were warriors, spiritual followers of Sheikh Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the spiritual followers of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] gathered around his son Ali, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Yaqub. According to the official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali designated Ismail, his brother and the son of Shaykh Haydar as the spiritual leader of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safavid Order]] <ref name="savoryeiref" />.
After Uzun Hassan's death, his son felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. allied himself with the and killed Shaykh Haydar in 1488. By this time the bulk of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]] followers were Turkish-speaking clans from Asia Minor and [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]], collectively known as [[Qizilbash]] (''"Red Heads"'') their distinct red headgear. The were warriors, spiritual followers of Sheikh Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the spiritual followers of the Safaviyeh gathered around his son Ali, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by . According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali designated brother as the spiritual leader of the Safavid Order<ref name="savoryeiref" />.


==Founding of the dynasty by Shah Ismail I==
==Founding of the dynasty by I==
{{main|Ismail I}}
{{main|Ismail I}}
The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by [[Shah Ismail I]] <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica">[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f6/v8f665.html Encyclopedia Iranica. ''ٍIsmail Safavi'']</ref>. An ethnic [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]], Ismail was of mixed [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]], and [[Pontic Greeks|Pontik Greek]] descent <ref>[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3004a.html Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.]</ref>, and was a direct descendant of [[Safi al-Din|Sheikh Safi al-Din]]. As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the [[Safaviya (sufi order)|Safaviyeh]], prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismail was a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his [[Shi’a]] faith, and believed himself to be of divine descent. Practically worshipped by his [[Qizilbash]] tribal followers, Ismail invaded Shirvan and avenged the death of his father. Afterwards he went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shah of Azerbaijan <ref>Richard Tapper. "Shahsevan in Safavid Persia", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1974, p. 324</ref><ref>Lawrence Davidson, Arthur Goldschmid, "A Concise History of the Middle East", Westview Press, 2006, p. 153</ref> and proclaimed Shi’ism the official religion of his domain <ref name="savoryeiref" />. Although initially, being the masters of only Azerbaijan, the Safavids had, in fact, won the struggle for power in Persia which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in [[Tabriz]], Ismail proclaimed most of Persia as his domain <ref name="savoryeiref" />, and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it, showing extraordinary valor in battle. Ismail continued to expand his territory adding [[Hamadan]] in 1503, [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]] and [[Kerman]] in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in [[1507]], Van in 1508, [[Baghdad]] in 1509, [[Khorasan]] and [[Herat]] in 1510. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east were driven across the [[Oxus River]] where they continued to attack the Safavids. His decisive victory over the Uzbeks, which had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran’s eastern borders and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond Afghanistan. Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids to Khorasan, the Safavid empire throughout their whole reign was able to keep them at bay. In 1507 Portuguese invaded the Persian Gulf and captured the island of Hormuz. It became a Portuguese naval base and trade outpost, which lasted more than a hundred years until the reign of Shah Abbas I. The Iranian state lacked a navy at the time of Ismail I and thus had to endure this European presence.
The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by [[Shah Ismail I]]<ref name="ismailsafaviiranica">[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v8f6/v8f665.html Encyclopedia Iranica. ''ٍIsmail Safavi'']</ref> An ethnic [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]], was of mixed [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]], and [[Pontic Greeks|Pontik Greek]] descent<ref>[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f3/v13f3004a.html Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.]</ref>, and was a direct descendant of [[Safi al-Din|Sheikh Safi al-Din]]. As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the , prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. was a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his [[Shi’a]] faith, and believed himself to be of divine descent. Practically worshipped by his [[Qizilbash]] followers, invaded Shirvan and avenged the death of his father. Afterwards he went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the of Azerbaijan<ref>Richard Tapper. "Shahsevan in Safavid Persia", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1974, p. 324</ref><ref>Lawrence Davidson, Arthur Goldschmid, "A Concise History of the Middle East", Westview Press, 2006, p. 153</ref> and Shi’ism the official religion of his domain<ref name="savoryeiref" />. Although initially the masters of only, the Safavids had, in fact, won the struggle for power in Persia which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in Tabriz, proclaimed most of Persia as his domain<ref name="savoryeiref" />, and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it, showing extraordinary valor in battle. continued to expand his territory adding [[Hamadan]] in 1503, [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]] and [[Kerman]] in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in [[1507]], Van in 1508, [[Baghdad]] in 1509, [[]] [[]] in 1510. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east were driven across the [[Oxus River]] where they continued to attack the Safavids. His decisive victory over the Uzbeks, had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran’s eastern borders and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids to Khorasan, the Safavid empire throughout their whole reign was able to keep them at bay. In 1507 Portuguese invaded the Persian Gulf and captured the island of Hormuz. It became a Portuguese naval base and trade outpost, which lasted more than a hundred years until the reign of I. The Iranian state lacked a navy at the time of and thus to this European presence.


==== Clashes with the Ottomans ====
More problematic for the Safavids were the powerful [[Ottoman]] empire. The Ottomans considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, Sultan Bayazid in 907-8/1502 forcefully deported many Shi'ites from Anatolia, who ended up in Safavid domain. In 1514, Bayazid's son, Sultan [[Selim I]] the Grim marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of [[Khoy]], and a decisive battle was fought there. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of Ismail <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. What gave the Ottomans the advantage was the artillery which the Safavid army lacked. According to R. M. Savory, "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later" <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. Although [[Shah Ismail I]] was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between these two powers continued under Shah [[Tahmasp I]] and Sultan [[Suleiman I]], until [[Shah Abbas I]] retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602.
{{main|Battle of Chaldiran|Qizilbash}}


More problematic for the Safavids the powerful [[Ottoman]]. The Ottomans considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, Sultan Bayazid in 907-8/1502 forcefully deported many Shi' from Anatolia . In 1514, Bayazid's son, Sultan [[Selim I]] marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of [[Khoy]], and a decisive was fought there. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. What gave the Ottomans the advantage was the artillery which the Safavid army lacked. According to R. M. Savory, "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later"<ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. Although was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between two powers continued under [[Tahmasp I]] and Sultan [[Suleiman I]], until retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602.
But the consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismail: the defeat destroyed Ismail's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status <ref name="savoryeiref" />. His relationships with his [[Qizilbash]] followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the [[Qizilbash]] tribes, which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran, resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of Ismail, and led to ten years of civil war (930-40/1524-33) until Shah Tahmasp regained control of the affairs of the state.


consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for : the defeat destroyed 's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status<ref name="savoryeiref" />. His relationships with his followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the , which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran, resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of , and led to ten years of civil war (930-40/1524-33) until regained control of the affairs of the state.
Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of [[Qizilbash]] tribes. Ismail exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, [[Shah Ismail I]] left the affairs of the government to the office of the Wakil. Ismail's successors, and most ostensibly Shah [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] successfully diminished the [[Qizilbash]] influence on the affairs of the state.


Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of . exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, left the affairs of the government to the office of the . 's successors, and most ostensibly I successfully diminished the influence on the affairs of the state.


==== Ismāil's poetry ====


Ismail is also known for his poetry using the pen-name Khatai (Arabic خطائی: sinner) <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. He is considered an important figure in the literary [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] and has left approximately 1400 verses in this language. Approximately 50 verses of his Persian poetry have also survived. According to Encyclopedia Iranica, ''Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality.''. Ismail was also deeply influenced by the Persian culture and particularly with the [[Shahnameh]] of [[Ferdowsi]], which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after the [[Shahnameh]] characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that the Shah-Nama-yi Shahi was intended as a present from Ismail I to the young [[Shah Tahmasp|Tahmasp]] <ref>M.B. Dickson and S.C. Welch, ''The Houghton Shahnameh'' 2 vols (Cambridge Mmssachusetts and London. 1981. See: pg 34 of Volume I)</ref>. After defeating the Shaybanids, Ismail asked Hatefi, a famous poet in Jam, Khorasan, to write a [[Shahnameh]]-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of mathnawis in the heroic style of the [[Shahnameh]] written later on for the Safavid kings <ref name="savoryeiref" />.
is also known for his poetry using the pen-name (Arabic خطائی: sinner)<ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. He is considered an important figure in the literary [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] and has left approximately 1400 verses in this language. Approximately 50 verses of his Persian poetry have also survived. According to Iranica, ''Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality.'' was also deeply influenced by the Persian particularly the [[Shahnameh]] of [[Ferdowsi]], which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that was intended as a present to the young <ref>M.B. Dickson and S.C. Welch, ''The Houghton Shahnameh'' 2 vols (Cambridge Mmssachusetts and London. 1981. See: pg 34 of Volume I)</ref>. After defeating , asked , a famous poet Jam Khorasan, to write a -like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of in the heroic style of the written later on for the Safavid kings<ref name="savoryeiref" />.


==== Legacy ====


Ismail's greatest legacy established an enduring empire which lasted over 200 years. Even after the fall of Safavids in 1722, their cultural and political legacy endured through the era of [[Nader Shah|Nader Shah Afshar]] and [[Zand dynasty|Zand]], [[Qajar]], [[Pahlavi dynasty|Pahlavi]] dynasties into the modern [[Islamic Republic of Iran]], where [[Shi’a|Shi’a Islam]] is the official religion as it was during the Safavids. After decline of the [[Timurid Empire]] (1370–1506), there were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by Ismail I. <ref>The writer Ṛūmlu documented the most important of them in his history.</ref> The most important local rulers about [[1500]] were:
's greatest legacy established an enduring empire which lasted over 200 years. Even after the fall of Safavids in 1722, their cultural and political endured through the era of [[ |]] [[Zand dynasty|Zand]], [[Qajar]], [[Pahlavi dynasty|Pahlavi]] dynasties into the modern [[Islamic Republic of Iran]], where [[Shi’a|Shi’a Islam]] is the official religion as it was during the Safavids.
After decline of the [[Timurid Empire]] (1370–1506), there were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by .<ref>The writer Ṛūmlu documented the most important of them in his history.</ref> The most important local rulers about [[1500]] were:


* [[Husayn Bayqarah|Huṣayn Bāyqarā]], the [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] ruler of [[Herat|Herāt]]
* [[Husayn Bayqarah|Huṣayn Bāyqarā]], the [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] ruler of [[Herat|Herāt]]
Line 48: Line 56:
* Murād Beg Bayandar, local ruler of [[Yazd]]
* Murād Beg Bayandar, local ruler of [[Yazd]]


was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian he created.


== Shāh Tahmāsp ==
Ismail was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian empire he created.

== Shah Tahmasp ==
{{main|Shah Tahmasp}}
{{main|Shah Tahmasp}}


Shah Tahmasp succeeded his father Shah Ismail I in 930/1524, when he was ten years and three months old.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> He was the ward of a qizilbash amir who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state. <ref name="savoryeiref" /> For around ten years, rival qizilbash factions fought amongst themselves for the control of Iran until Shah Tahmāsp reasserted his authority effectively and ended up by reigning for 52 years, the longest reign in Safavid history. <ref name="savoryeiref" /> The Uzbeks during the reign of Tahmasp attacked the Khurasan region of Iran five times and the Ottomans under Soleiman II made four invasions of Persia. As a result, Persia lost territory in Baghdad and Tahmasp also moved the Safavid capital from Tabriz to Qazvin. Using diplomacy, he negotiated with the Ottomans the treaty of Amasya and peace remained unbroken during the rest of his era. <ref name="savoryeiref" />
succeeded his father in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> He was the ward of amir who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> For around ten years, rival factions fought amongst themselves for the control of until Tahmāsp reasserted his authority effectively and ended up by reigning for 52 years, the longest reign in Safavid history.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> The Uzbeks during the reign of attacked the of five times and the Ottomans under made four invasions of Persia. As a result, Persia lost territory in and capital from Tabriz to Qazvin. Using diplomacy, he negotiated with the Ottomans the treaty of Amasya and peace remained unbroken during the rest of his era.<ref name="savoryeiref" />


After the death of Tahmasp in 984/1576, the struggle for a dominant position in the state was complicated by rival groups and factions.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> Dominant political factions vied for power and support three different candidates. The mentally unstable Ismail, the son of Tahmasp and the purblind Sultan Muhammad Khudabanda were some of the candidates but did not get the support of all the kizilbash amirs. The Ustalju tribe threw its support behind Haydar, who was of a Georgian mother, but the majority of the kizilbash amirs saw this as a threat to their own power<ref name="savoryeiref" />. They placed on the throne Ismail II (1576-1577) and then Sultan Muhammad Shah (1578-1588).
After the death of in 984/1576, the struggle for a dominant position in the state was complicated by rival groups and factions.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> Dominant political factions vied for power and support three different candidates. The mentally unstable , the son of and the purblind Muhammad were some of the candidates but did not get the support of all the . The tribe threw its support behind Haydar, who was of a Georgian mother, but the majority of the saw this as a threat to their own power<ref name="savoryeiref" />. placed on the throne (1576-1577) and Muhammad (1578-1588).


== Shah Abbas ==
== Shah Abbas ==
{{main|Shah Abbas I}}
The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, [[Shah Abbas I]] (1587&ndash;1629) acceded to the throne at the age of 16, following a forced [[abdication]] of his father, [[Shah Muhammad Khudābanda]]. Events of the past, including the role of [[Qizilbash]] in the succession struggles after the death of his father, and the counter balancing influence of traditional Ithnāˤashari Seyyeds, made [[Shah Abbas I|Abbas]] determined to end the dominance of untrustworthy [[Qizilbash]] chiefs in Safavid Iran <ref name="savoryeiref" />.


The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, [[Shah Abbas I]] (1587&ndash;1629) came to power in 1587 aged 16 following the forced [[abdication]] of his father, [[Shah Muhammad Khudābanda]], having survived Qizilbashi court intrigues and murders. He recognized the ineffectualness of his army which was consistently being defeated by the Ottomans who had captured Georgia and Armenia and by Uzbeks who had captured [[Mashhad]] and [[Sistan]] in the east. First he sued for peace in 1590 with the Ottomans giving away territory in the north-west. Then two Englishmen, [[Robert Sherley]] and his brother [[Anthony Sherley|Anthony]], helped Abbas I to reorganize the Shah's soldiers into an officer-paid and well-trained standing army similar to a European model (which the Ottomans had already adopted). He wholeheartedly adopted the use of gunpowder (See [[Military history of Iran]]). The army divisions were: [[Ghulam]]s غلام (crown servants or slaves<ref>D. M. Lang. "Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No. 3'', Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 523-539</ref> usually conscripted from [[Armenia]]n, [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] and [[Circassian]] lands), Tofongchis تفگنچى (musketeers), and Topchis توپچى (artillery-men).
[[Shah Abbas I|Abbas]] understood the ineffectiveness of his army, which was defeated by the Ottomans in the west, losing [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Armenia]], and by Uzbeks in the east, losing [[Mashhad]] and [[Sistan]]. In order to buy time for modernizing his army, in 1590, shortly after his rise to the throne, [[Shah Abbas I|Abbas]] quickly signed a peace treaty with the Ottomans, ceding them "the regions of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]], [[Karabakh|Qarabagh]], [[Ganja]], Qarajadagh, with [[Georgia (republic)]] and parts of Luristan and [[Kurdistan]]" <ref name="savoryeiref" />. He hired two famous Englishmen, [[Robert Sherley]] and his brother [[Anthony Sherley|Anthony]], to reorganize Safavid army into a well-trained standing force based on European arms. Defeating old [[Qizilbash]] stereotypes and alike Ottomans, during [[Shah Abbas I|Abbas]], the Safavid army embraced the use of gunpowder (see [[Military history of Iran]]).


He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from [[Bahrain]] (1602) and the English navy from [[Hormuz]] (1622), in the [[Persian Gulf]] (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). He expanded commercial links with the [[English East India Company]] and the [[Dutch East India Company]]. Thus Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and therefore was able to centralize control.
The army divisions were: [[Ghulams]] غلام (crown servants or slaves <ref>D. M. Lang. "Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No. 3'', Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 523-539</ref> usually conscripted from [[Armenia]]n, [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] and [[Circassian]] lands), Tofongchis تفگنچى (musketeers), and Topchis توپچى (artillery-men).

[[Shah Abbas I|Abbas I]] first fought the Uzbeks, recapturing [[Herat]] and [[Mashhad]] in 1598. Then he again turned against the Ottomans recapturing Baghdad and eastern Iraq. He "invaded [[Azerbaijan]] in 1603-1604, and occupied [[Nakhchivan]] and [[Erivan]]" <ref name="savoryeiref" />. In 1605-1606, [[Shah Abbas I]] launched further attacks on Ottomans and achieved conclusive victories. He won a major battle at Safian near [[Tabriz]] and "proceeded in successive campaigns to expel the last Ottoman soldier from Iranian territory as defined by the Treaty of Amasya (1555)" <ref name=''IranicaAbbas">Encyclopedia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f1/v1f1a035.html "Shah Abbas"], R.M. Savory</ref>, and peace settlement was reached with the Ottoman empire at Sarab in 1618. Successive Ottoman "invasions of [[Azerbaijan]]" <ref name="savoryeiref"/> were stopped by the scorch earth policy of devastating the regions of [[Erivan|Chukhar Sa'd]] and [[Nakhchivan]] and evacuating the inhabitants. By 1622, Safavids controlled all of the Caucasian provinces.

The peace with Ottomans was cancelled once more by [[Shah Abbas I|Abbas]] in 1623-1624, when he captured [[Baghdad]] and [[Diyarbakir]] <ref name="savoryeiref"/>.

He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from [[Bahrain]] (1602) and the English navy from [[Hormuz]] (1622), in the [[Persian Gulf]] (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). He expanded commercial links with the [[English East India Company]] and the [[Dutch East India Company]]. Thus Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and therefore was able to centralize control.


The [[Ottoman Turks]] and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. The capture of [[Baghdad]] by Ismail I in [[1509]] was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan [[Suleiman I]] in [[1534]]. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in [[1623]] yet lost it again to [[Murad IV]] in [[1638]]. Henceforth a treaty, signed in [[Qasr-e Shirin]], was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in [[1639]], a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. The 150 year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in [[Iraq]].
The [[Ottoman Turks]] and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. The capture of [[Baghdad]] by Ismail I in [[1509]] was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan [[Suleiman I]] in [[1534]]. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in [[1623]] yet lost it again to [[Murad IV]] in [[1638]]. Henceforth a treaty, signed in [[Qasr-e Shirin]], was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in [[1639]], a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. The 150 year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in [[Iraq]].


In 1609-1610, a war broke out between [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] tribes and the [[Safavid Empire]]. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November [[1609]] to the summer of [[1610]], the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured <ref name="dimiranica">[http://www.iranica.com/articles/v7/v7f4/v7f446.html Encyclopedia Iranica: DimDim in Safavid History] and ISBN 0-89158-296-7</ref>. Shah Abbas ordered a general massacre in Beradost and Mukriyan([[Mahabad]]) (Reported by Eskandar Beg Monshi, Safavid Historian (1557-1642) in the Book "Alam Ara Abbasi") and resettled the [[Turkic peoples|Turkish]] Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] tribes to [[Khorasan]] <ref>О. Dzh. Dzhalilov, "Курдский героический эпос Златорукий Хан" (The Kurdish Heroic Epic of Golden Hand Khan), Moscow, 1967</ref>. Nowadays in Iran, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million descendants of these tribes deported from Kurdistan to [[Khorasan]] (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids. For a map of these populations see [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/commonwealth_islamic_groups.jpg this map].
In 1609-1610, a war broke out between [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] tribes and the Safavid Empire. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November [[1609]] to the summer of [[1610]], the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured]. Shah Abbas ordered a general massacre in Beradost and Mukriyan([[Mahabad]]) (Reported by Eskandar Beg Monshi, Safavid Historian (1557-1642) in the Book "Alam Ara Abbasi") and resettled the [[Turkic peoples|Turkish]] Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] tribes to [[Khorasan]]<ref>
. Dzh. Dzhalilov, " " (The Kurdish Khan), Moscow, 1967</ref> Nowadays, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million descendants of tribes deported from Kurdistan to (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids.For a map of these see [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/commonwealth_islamic_groups.jpg this map]


Due to his obsessive fear of assassination, [[Shah Abbas I]] either put to death or blinded any member of his family who aroused his suspicion. For this reason, one of his sons was executed and two blinded. Since his two other sons had predeceased him, the result was personal tragedy for [[Shah Abbas I]]. When he died on [[19 January]] [[1629]], he had no son capable of succeeding him. ( see [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]] at [http://www.iranica.com] under "Abbas I the Great", page 75).
Due to his obsessive fear of assassination, Shah Abbas either put to death or blinded any member of his family who aroused his suspicion. this one of his sons was executed and two blinded. Since two other sons had predeceased him, the result was personal tragedy for Shah Abbas. When he died on [[19 January]] [[1629]], he had no son capable of succeeding him.see [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]] at [http://www.iranica.com] under "Abbas I the Great", page 75.
<!-- Fighting with Shaibanid -->
<!-- Fighting with Shaibanid -->
The beginning of the [[17th century]] saw the power of the Qizilbash decline, the original militia that had helped Ismail I capture Tabriz and which had gained many administrative powers over the centuries. Power was shifting to a new class of merchants, many of them ethnic [[Armenians]], [[Georgian people|Georgian]]s and [[Demographics of India|Indian]]s.
The beginning of the [[17th century]] saw the power of the Qizilbash decline, the original militia that had helped Ismail I capture Tabriz and which had gained many administrative powers over the centuries. Power was shifting to a new class of merchants, many of them ethnic [[Armenians]], [[Georgian people|Georgian]]s and [[Demographics of India|Indian]]s.
Line 82: Line 85:


==Decline of the Safavid state==
==Decline of the Safavid state==
{{main|Hotaki|Afsharids}}
[[Image:40sotoon.jpg|right|thumb|270px|View of Chehel-sotoon Palace, [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], [[Iran]].]]
[[Image:40sotoon.jpg|right|thumb|270px|View of Chehel-sotoon Palace, [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], [[Iran]].]]


Line 90: Line 94:
Except for Shah [[Abbas II of Persia|Abbas II]], the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were ineffectual. The end of his reign, [[1666]], marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs had lavish lifestyles.
Except for Shah [[Abbas II of Persia|Abbas II]], the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were ineffectual. The end of his reign, [[1666]], marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs had lavish lifestyles.


The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiers &mdash; Kerman by [[Baluchi]] tribesmen in 1698, Khorasan by Afghans in 1717, constantly in [[Mesopotamia]] by peninsula Arabs. Shah Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. In response, a [[Ghilzai]] [[Pashtun]] chieftain named [[Mir Wais Khan]] began a rebellion against the Georgian governor, [[Gurgin Khan]], of [[Kandahar]] and defeated a Safavid army. Later, in [[1722]] an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son Mahmud marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud 'Shah' of Persia (see the [[Hotaki]] dynasty).
The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiers &mdash; Kerman by [[Baluchi]] tribesmen in 1698, Khorasan by Afghans in 1717, constantly in [[Mesopotamia]] by peninsula Arabs. Shah Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. In response, a [[Ghilzai]] [[Pashtun]] chieftain named [[Mir Wais Khan]] began a rebellion against the Georgian governor, [[Gurgin Khan]], of [[Kandahar]] and defeated a Safavid army. Later, in [[1722]] an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son Mahmud marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud 'Shah' of Persia.


The Afghans rode roughshod over their conquered territory for a dozen years but were prevented from making further gains by [[Nadir Shah]], a former slave who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar tribe in [[Khorasan]], a vassal state of the Safavids. Nadir Shah defeated the Afghans in the [[Battle of Damghan]], [[1729]]. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by [[1730]]. In [[1738]], Nadir Shah reconquered Eastern Persia, starting with [[Qandahar]]; in the same year he occupied [[Ghazni]], [[Kabul]], and [[Lahore]], later conquering as far as east as [[Delhi]], but not fortifying his Persian base and exhausting his army's strength. He had effective control under Shah [[Tahmasp II]] and then ruled as regent of the infant [[Abbas III]] until [[1736]] when he had himself crowned shah.
The Afghans rode roughshod over their conquered territory for a dozen years but were prevented from making further gains by [[Nadir Shah]], a former slave who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar tribe in [[Khorasan]], a vassal state of the Safavids. Nadir Shah defeated the Afghans in the [[Battle of Damghan]], [[1729]]. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by [[1730]]. In [[1738]], Nadir Shah reconquered Eastern Persia, starting with [[Qandahar]]; in the same year he occupied [[Ghazni]], [[Kabul]], and [[Lahore]], later conquering as far as east as [[Delhi]], but not fortifying his Persian base and exhausting his army's strength. He had effective control under Shah [[Tahmasp II]] and then ruled as regent of the infant [[Abbas III]] until [[1736]] when he had himself crowned shah.


Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in [[1747]], the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent [[Zand dynasty]]. However the brief puppet regime of [[Ismail III]] ended in [[1760]] when [[Karim Khan]] felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty.
Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in [[1747]], the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent [[Zand dynasty]]. However the brief puppet regime of [[Ismail III]] ended in [[1760]] when [[Karim Khan]] felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty.




==Shia Islam as the state religion==
==Shia Islam as the state religion==

Revision as of 11:34, 15 June 2007

Semi-protection

Silver padlock

This article has been semi-protected. Semi-protection prevents edits from unregistered users (IP addresses), as well as edits from any account that is not autoconfirmed (is at least four days old and has at least ten edits to Wikipedia) or confirmed. Such users can request edits to this article by proposing them on this talk page, using the {{Edit semi-protected}} template if necessary to gain attention. New users may also request the confirmed user right by visiting Requests for permissions.

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

The Safavid Empire at its 1512 borders.

The Safavid dynasty (Template:PerB) was dynasty that ruled the Iranian Empire from 1501 to 1722.[1] The Safavids were Azerbaijani-speaking Shi’as and originated in Ardabil, a city located in the Azerbaijan region of Iran. They created the greatest Iranian Empire[2] since the Islamic conquest of Persia, and established the Ithnāˤashari school of Shi'a Islam[3] as the official religion of their empire. They also reasserted the Iranian identity of the region[4], thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sassanids to establish a united Iranian state. Despite their demise in 1722, the Safavids have left their mark down to present era by spreading and establishing Shi'a Islam in major parts of the Caucasus and West Asia, especially in Iran.

Background

Origins: The Sufi order at Ardabil

Unlike with many other dynasties founded by warlords and military chiefs, one of the unique aspects of the Safavids in the post-Islamic Iran was their origin in the Islamic Sufi order called the Safaviyeh. This uniqueness makes the Safavid dynasty comparable to the pre-Islamic Sassanid dynasty, which made Zoroastrianism into an official religion, and whose founders were from a priestly class. The origins of the Safavid family are shrouded in a mystery, and the contemporary lack of broad knowledge about them is compounded by the ideological distortions which took place during their political reign.

The Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyeh Sufi Order by its eponymous founder Safī al-Dīn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabilī (1252-1334). In 700/1301, Safī al-Dīn assumed the leadership of a local Sufi order in Gilan from his spiritual master Sheikh Zahid Gilani who was also his father-in-law. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Sheikh Safī al-Dīn, from then on, the order was known as the Safaviyeh. Safi ud-Din's origin is not known, but according to some classical sources, he was probably of Kurdish descent[5][6]. Extant religious poetry from him, written in Old Tati[7][8] - a now distinct Northwestern Iranian language[8] - and accompanied by a paraphrase in Persian which helps their understanding, has survived to this day and has linguistic importance.

Nevertheless, even before their ascent to political power in the 15th century, the Safavids had become Turkic-speaking and used Azerbaijani Turkish as a medium of communication with their followers [9]

From Sheikh Safi al-Din to Ismail I

After Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyeh passed onto Sheikh Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā († 794/1391-92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement which conducted religious propaganda throughout Persia, Syria and Asia Minor, and most likely had maintained its Sunni Shaf’ite origin at that time. The leadership of the order passed on from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khwādja Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son Ibrāhīm († 1429-47).

When Sheikh Junāyd, the son of Ibrāhīm, assumed the leadership of Safaviyeh in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to R.M. Savory, "Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power". At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Persia was that of the the Qara Qoyunlu, the "Black Sheeps", whose ruler Jahān Shāh ordered Junāyd to leave Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city.[3] Junāyd sought refuge with the rival of Qara Qoyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu Khan Uzun Hassan and cemented his relationship by marrying Khadija Begum, Uzun Hassan's sister. Junāyd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shīrvanshāhs and his son Sheikh Haydar assumed the leadership of the Safaviyeh. Sheikh Haydar married Martha[10], Uzun Hassan's daughter, who gave birth to Ismāil, the founder of the Safavid dynasty. Martha's mother, named Theodora - better known as Despina Khatun[11] - was a Pontic Greek princess and the daughter of the Grand Komnenos John IV of Trebizond. She had been married to Uzun Hassan[12] in exchange to protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans.

After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Yāqub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Yāqub allied himself with the Shīrvanshāh and killed Shaykh Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyeh followers were Turkish-speaking clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan, and were collectively known as Qizilbāsh ("Red Heads") because of their distinct red headgear. The Qizilbāsh were warriors, spiritual followers of Sheikh Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the spiritual followers of the Safaviyeh gathered around his son Ali, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Yāqub. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismāil as the spiritual leader of the Safavid Order[3].

Founding of the dynasty by Shāh Ismāil I

The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by Ismāil, from now known as Shāh Ismāil I.[13] An ethnic Azeri, Ismāil was of mixed Turkic, Iranic, and Pontik Greek descent[14], and was a direct descendant of Sheikh Safi al-Din. As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh oder, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismāil was a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his Shi’a faith, and believed himself to be of divine descent. Practically worshipped by his Qizilbāsh followers, Ismāil invaded Shirvan and avenged the death of his father. Afterwards, he went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shāh of Azerbaijan[15][16] and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Shi’ism the official religion of his domain[3]. Although initially the masters of Azerbaijan only, the Safavids had, in fact, won the struggle for power in Persia which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in Tabriz, Ismāil proclaimed most of Persia as his domain[3], and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it, showing extraordinary valor in battle. Ismāil continued to expand his territory adding Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat, as well as other parts of Khorasan, in 1510. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybāni, were driven across the Oxus River where they continued to attack the Safavids. His decisive victory over the Uzbeks, who had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran’s eastern borders and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond the Hindukush. Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids to Khorasan, the Safavid empire throughout their whole reign was able to keep them at bay. In 1507, the Portuguese invaded the Persian Gulf and captured the island of Hormuz. It became a Portuguese naval base and trade outpost, which lasted more than a hundred years until the reign of Shāh Abbās I. The Iranian state lacked a navy at the time of Ismāil, and thus Shāh Ismāil was forced to accept this European presence.

Clashes with the Ottomans

More problematic for the Safavids was the powerful Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, a Sunni dynasty, considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, Sultan Bayazid in 907-8/1502 forcefully deported many Shi'as from Anatolia to other parts of the Ottoman realm. In 1514, Bayazid's son, Sultan Selim I marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of Khoy, and a decisive war was fought there. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of Ismāil[13]. What gave the Ottomans the advantage was the artillery which the Safavid army lacked. According to R. M. Savory, "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later"[13]. Although Ismāil was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between the two powers continued under Ismāil's son, Shāh Tahmāsp I (q.v.), and the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, until Shāh Abbās (q.v.) retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602.

The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismāil: the defeat destroyed Ismāil's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status[3]. His relationships with his Qizilbāsh followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the Qizilbāsh, which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran, resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of Ismāil, and led to ten years of civil war (930-40/1524-33) until Shāh Tahmāsp regained control of the affairs of the state.

Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbāsh. Ismāil exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, he left the affairs of the government to the office of the Wakīl (q.v.). Ismāil's successors, and most ostensibly Shāh Abbās I successfully diminished the Qizilbāsh's influence on the affairs of the state.

Ismāil's poetry

Ismāil is also known for his poetry using the pen-name Khatāī (Arabic خطائی: sinner)[13]. He is considered an important figure in the literary history of Azerbaijani and has left approximately 1400 verses in this language. Approximately 50 verses of his Persian poetry have also survived. According to Encyclopædia Iranica, "Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality". He was also deeply influenced by the Persian literary tradition of Iran, particularly by the "Shāhnāma" of Ferdowsi, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after Shāhnāma-characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that Ismāil's "Shāhnāmaye Shāhī" was intended as a present to the young Tahmāsp[17]. After defeating Muhammad Shaybāni's Uzbeks, Ismāil asked Hātefī, a famous poet from Jam (Khorasan), to write a Shāhnāma-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of mathnawis in the heroic style of the Shāhnāma written later on for the Safavid kings[3].

Legacy

Ismāil's greatest legacy established an enduring empire which lasted over 200 years. Even after the fall of Safavids in 1722, their cultural and political influence endured through the era of Afsharid, Zand, Qajar, and Pahlavi dynasties into the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, where Shi’a Islam is still the official religion as it was during the Safavids.

Political scene in Persia prior to Ismāil's rule

After the decline of the Timurid Empire (1370–1506), there were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by Ismāil.[18] The most important local rulers about 1500 were:

Ismāil was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian Empire he created.

Shāh Tahmāsp

Shāh Tahmāsp, the young governor of Herat, succeeded his father Ismāil in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old.[3] He was the ward of the powerful Qizilbash amir Ali Beg Rūmlū (titled "Div Soltān") who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state.[3] For around ten years, rival Qizilbāsh factions fought amongst themselves for the control of the empire until Shāh Tahmāsp reasserted his authority effectively and ended up by reigning for 52 years, the longest reign in Safavid history.[3] The Uzbeks, during the reign of Tahmāsp, attacked the eastern provinces of the kingdom five times and the Ottomans under Soleymān I made four invasions of Persia. As a result, Persia lost territory in Iraq, and Tahmāsp was forced to move his capital from Tabriz to Qazvin. Using diplomacy, he negotiated with the Ottomans the treaty of Amasya and peace remained unbroken during the rest of his era.[3]

After the death of Tahmāsp in 984/1576, the struggle for a dominant position in the state was complicated by rival groups and factions.[3] Dominant political factions vied for power and support three different candidates. The mentally unstable Ismāil, the son of Tahmāsp and the purblind Muhammad Khudābanda were some of the candidates but did not get the support of all the Qizilbāsh chiefs. The Turkmen Ustājlū tribe, one of the most powerful tribes among the Qizilbāsh, threw its support behind Haydar, who was of a Georgian mother, but the majority of the Qizilbāsh chiefs saw this as a threat to their own, Turkmen-dominated power[3]. Instead, they first placed Ismāil II. on the throne (1576-1577) and after him Muhammad Shāh Khudābanda (1578-1588).

Shah Abbas

The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, Shah Abbas I (1587–1629) came to power in 1587 aged 16 following the forced abdication of his father, Shah Muhammad Khudābanda, having survived Qizilbashi court intrigues and murders. He recognized the ineffectualness of his army which was consistently being defeated by the Ottomans who had captured Georgia and Armenia and by Uzbeks who had captured Mashhad and Sistan in the east. First he sued for peace in 1590 with the Ottomans giving away territory in the north-west. Then two Englishmen, Robert Sherley and his brother Anthony, helped Abbas I to reorganize the Shah's soldiers into an officer-paid and well-trained standing army similar to a European model (which the Ottomans had already adopted). He wholeheartedly adopted the use of gunpowder (See Military history of Iran). The army divisions were: Ghulams غلام (crown servants or slaves[19] usually conscripted from Armenian, Georgian and Circassian lands), Tofongchis تفگنچى (musketeers), and Topchis توپچى (artillery-men).

Abbas I first fought the Uzbeks, recapturing Herat and Mashhad in 1598. Then he turned against the Ottomans recapturing Baghdad, eastern Iraq and the Caucasian provinces by 1622. He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from Bahrain (1602) and the English navy from Hormuz (1622), in the Persian Gulf (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. Thus Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and therefore was able to centralize control.

The Ottoman Turks and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. The capture of Baghdad by Ismail I in 1509 was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I in 1534. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in 1623 yet lost it again to Murad IV in 1638. Henceforth a treaty, signed in Qasr-e Shirin, was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in 1639, a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. The 150 year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq.

In 1609-1610, a war broke out between Kurdish tribes and the Safavid Empire. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured. Shah Abbas ordered a general massacre in Beradost and Mukriyan(Mahabad) (Reported by Eskandar Beg Monshi, Safavid Historian (1557-1642) in the Book "Alam Ara Abbasi") and resettled the Turkish Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many Kurdish tribes to Khorasan.[20] Nowadays, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million people who are descendants of the tribes deported from Kurdistan to Khurasan (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids.[21]

Due to his obsessive fear of assassination, Shah Abbas either put to death or blinded any member of his family who aroused his suspicion. In this way one of his sons was executed and two blinded. Since two other sons had predeceased him, the result was personal tragedy for Shah Abbas. When he died on 19 January 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him.[22]. The beginning of the 17th century saw the power of the Qizilbash decline, the original militia that had helped Ismail I capture Tabriz and which had gained many administrative powers over the centuries. Power was shifting to a new class of merchants, many of them ethnic Armenians, Georgians and Indians.

At its zenith, during the long reign of Shah Abbas I the empire's reach comprised Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Georgia, and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Decline of the Safavid state

View of Chehel-sotoon Palace, Isfahan, Iran.

In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, the Ottomans and Uzbeks, as the 17th century progressed Iran had to contend with the rise of two more neighbors. Russian Muscovy in the previous century had deposed two western Asian khanates of the Golden Horde and expanded its influence into the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar.

Furthermore by the 17th century, trade routes between East and West had shifted away from Iran, causing a loss of commerce and trade. Moreover, Shah Abbas had a conversion to a ghulam-based military, though expedient in the short term.

Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were ineffectual. The end of his reign, 1666, marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs had lavish lifestyles.

The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiers — Kerman by Baluchi tribesmen in 1698, Khorasan by Afghans in 1717, constantly in Mesopotamia by peninsula Arabs. Shah Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. In response, a Ghilzai Pashtun chieftain named Mir Wais Khan began a rebellion against the Georgian governor, Gurgin Khan, of Kandahar and defeated a Safavid army. Later, in 1722 an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son Mahmud marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud 'Shah' of Persia.

The Afghans rode roughshod over their conquered territory for a dozen years but were prevented from making further gains by Nadir Shah, a former slave who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar tribe in Khorasan, a vassal state of the Safavids. Nadir Shah defeated the Afghans in the Battle of Damghan, 1729. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by 1730. In 1738, Nadir Shah reconquered Eastern Persia, starting with Qandahar; in the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore, later conquering as far as east as Delhi, but not fortifying his Persian base and exhausting his army's strength. He had effective control under Shah Tahmasp II and then ruled as regent of the infant Abbas III until 1736 when he had himself crowned shah.

Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in 1747, the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent Zand dynasty. However the brief puppet regime of Ismail III ended in 1760 when Karim Khan felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty.

Shia Islam as the state religion

Even though Safavids were not the first Shia rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shia Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran. There were large Shia communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as 8th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries the Buwayhids, who were of Zeydi a branch of Shia, ruled in Fars, Isfahan and Baghdad. As a result of Mongol conquest and the relative religious tolerance of the Ilkhanids, Shia dynasties were re-established in Iran - Sarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. Shah Öljeitü - the sultan of Ilkhanate converted to Twelver Shiism in 13th century, however the population of Iran stayed largely Sunni until the Safavid period.

File:Hatemipersianarmy.JPG
Persian Army- Watercolor by Haydar Hatemi-2002

Following his conquest of Iran, Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the largely Sunni population. The Sunni Ulema or clergy were either killed or exiled. Ismail I, despite his heterodox Shia beliefs (Momen, 1985), brought in Shi'a religious leaders and granted them land and money in return for loyalty. Later, during the Safavid and especially Qajar period, the Shia Ulema's power increased and they were able to exercise a role, independent of or compatible with the government. Despite Safavid's Sufi origins, most Sufi groups were prohibited, bar the Nimatullahi order.

Iran became a feudal theocracy; the Shah was held to be the divinely ordained head of both. In the following centuries, this religious stance would cement both Iran's internal cohesion and national feelings and provoke attacks by its Sunni neighbors.

Constant wars with the Ottomans made Shah Tahmasp I move the capital from Tabriz to the interior city of Qazvin in 1548. Later, Shah Abbas I moved the capital to Isfahan, even deeper into central Iran. Abbas I built a new city next to the ancient Persian one. From this time the state began to take on a more Persian character. The Safavids ultimately succeeded in establishing a new Persian national monarchy.

Shah Abbas I of Safavid at a banquet.
Detail from a celing fresco; Chehel Sotoun Palace; Isfahan.


Turcoman-Persian conflict

Shah Suleiman I and his courtiers, Isfahan, 1670. Painter is Ali Qoli Jabbador, and is kept at The St. Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies in Russia, ever since it was acquired by Tsar Nicholas II. Note the two Georgian figures with their names at the top left.

A major problem faced by Ismail I after the establishment of the Safavid state was how to bridge the gap between the two major ethnic groups in that state: the Qizilbash Turkmens, the "men of the sword" of classical Islamic society whose military prowess had brought him to power, and the Persian elements, the "men of the pen," who filled the ranks of the bureaucracy and the religious establishment in the Safavid state as they had done for centuries under previous rulers of Persia, be they Arabs, Mongols, or Turkmens. As Vladimir Minorsky put it, friction between these two groups was inevitable, because the Qizilbash "were no party to the national Persian tradition". Between 1508 and 1524, the year of Ismail's death, the shah appointed five successive Persians to the office of vakil. When the second Persian "vakil" was placed in command of a Safavid army in Transoxiana, the Qizilbash, considering it a dishonor to be obliged to serve under him, deserted him on the battlefield with the result that he was slain. The fourth vakil was murdered by the Qizilbash, and the fifth was put to death by them [13].

The Qizilbashi tribes were essential to the military of Iran until the rule of Shah Abbas I- their leaders were able to exercise enormous influence and participate in court intrigues (assassinating Shah Ismail II for example).

Economy

What fueled the growth of Safavid economy was Iran's position between the burgeoning civilizations of Europe to its west and India and Islamic Central Asia to its east and north. The Silk Road which led through northern Iran to India revived in the 16th century. Abbas I also supported direct trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands which sought Persian carpet, silk and textiles. Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls and an inedible bitter almond hadam-talka used as a specie in India. The main imports were specie, textiles (woolens from Europe, cottons from Gujarat), spices, metals, coffee, and sugar.

Culture

Culture within the Safavid family

The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in Azerbaijani pen-name of Khatai. [23]. Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Esmail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived[13]. A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses with the pen name of Tani.[24]. Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry. [25].



Culture in the empire

In the Safavid era the Persian Architecture flourished again and saw many new monuments, such as Naghsh-i Jahan Square, the biggest historic square in the world.

Shah Abbas I recognized the commercial benefit of promoting the arts - artisan products provided much of Iran's foreign trade. In this period, handicrafts such as tile making, pottery and textiles developed and great advances were made in miniature painting, bookbinding, decoration and calligraphy. In the sixteenth century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. Tabriz was the center of this industry. The carpets of Ardabil were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. The elegantly baroque yet famously misnamed 'Polonaise' carpets were made in Iran during the seventeenth century.

Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (1565–1635) introduced new subjects to Persian painting — semi-nude women, youth, lovers. His painting and calligraphic style influenced Iranian artists for much of the Safavid period, which came to be known as the Isfahan school. Increased contact with distant cultures in the 17th century, especially Europe, provided a boost of inspiration to Iranian artists who adopted modeling, foreshortening, spatial recession, and the medium of oil painting (Shah Abbas II sent Zaman to study in Rome). The epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. (This book was written by Ferdousi in the 1000AD for Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi) Another manuscript is the Khamsa by Nezami executed 1539-43 by Aqa Mirak and his school in Isfahan.

Isfahan bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital there in 1598: the Imperial Mosque, Masjid-e Shah, completed in 1630, the Imami Mosque,Masjid-e Imami, the Lutfullah Mosque and the Royal Palace.

Poetry stagnated under the Safavids; the great medieval ghazal form languished in over-the-top lyricism. Poetry lacked the royal patronage of other arts and was hemmed in by religious prescriptions.

The Safavid era gave way to a flowering of philosophy in Iran with such figures Mulla Sadra of Shirza, Shaikh Bahai and Mir Damad. According to Professor Richard Nelson Frye: They were the continuers of the classical tradition of Islamic thought, which after Averroes died in the Arab west. The Persians schools of thought were the true heirs of the great Islamic thinkers of the golden age of Islam, whereas in the Ottoman empire there was an intellectual stagnation, as far as the traditions of Islamic philosophy were concerned.[26] One of the most renowned Muslim philosophers, Mulla Sadra, lived during Shah Abbas I's reign and wrote the Asfar, a meditation on what he called 'meta philosophy' which brought to a synthesis the philosophical mysticism of Sufism, the theology of Shi'ism, and the Peripatetic and Illuminationist philosophies of Avicenna and Suhrawardi. Iskander Beg Monshi’s History of Shah Abbas the Great written a few years after its subject's death, achieved a nuanced depth of history and character.

Political legacy

Safavids patronized Iranian culture in the manner of their predecessors, with the difference that they were themselves from Iran (they rose to power from Azerbaijan region of Iran). It was Safavids who made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shi’ism against the onslaughts of orthodox Sunni Islam, and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness of Iranianhood.[27] and acting as a bridge to modern Iran. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il adopted the title of "Persian Emperor" Pādišah-ī Īrān, with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from the Afghanistan as far as Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of Persian Gulf.[28]

Architecture

A new age in Iranian architecture began with the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Economically robust and politically stable, this period saw a flourishing growth of theological sciences. Traditional architecture evolved in its patterns and methods leaving its impact on the architecture of the following periods.

The appearance of new patterns base on geometrical networks in the development of cities gave order to open urban spaces, and took into account the conservation of natural elements(water and plants) within cities. The establishment of distinctive public spaces is one of the most important urban features of the Safavid period, as manifested for example in Naghsh-e Jahan Square, Chahar Bagh and the royal gardens of Isfahan.

Distinctive monuments like the Sheikh Lotfallah (1603), Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradise Palace)(1699) and the Chahar Bagh School(1714) appeared in Isfahan and other cities. This extensive development of architecture was rooted in Persian culture and took form in the design of schools, baths, houses, caravanserai and other urban spaces such as bazaars and squares. It continued until the end of the Qajar reign.[29]

Safavid Shahs of Iran

Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid State. Medieval European rendering

References & Notes

  1. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.
  2. ^ Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I. B. Tauris (March 30, 2006)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m R.M. Savory, Safavids, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition
  4. ^ ...reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties ... in R.M. Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), page 3
  5. ^ See Safavids in Emeri van Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference compiled from the Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, 1994, pg 381
  6. ^ R.M. Savory. Ebn Bazzaz. Encyclopedia Iranica
  7. ^ E. Yarshater, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Book 1, p. 240:
  8. ^ a b E. Yarshater, Encyclopaedia Iranica, The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan
  9. ^ E. Yarshater Iran: The Safavid period, Encyclopedia Iranica, [1]
  10. ^ Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29., (1975), Appendix II - Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond
  11. ^ Peter Charanis. "Review of Emile Janssens' Trébizonde en Colchide", Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3,, (Jul., 1970), p. 476
  12. ^ Anthony Bryer, open citation, p. 136
  13. ^ a b c d e f Encyclopedia Iranica. ٍIsmail Safavi
  14. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.
  15. ^ Richard Tapper. "Shahsevan in Safavid Persia", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1974, p. 324
  16. ^ Lawrence Davidson, Arthur Goldschmid, "A Concise History of the Middle East", Westview Press, 2006, p. 153
  17. ^ M.B. Dickson and S.C. Welch, The Houghton Shahnameh 2 vols (Cambridge Mmssachusetts and London. 1981. See: pg 34 of Volume I)
  18. ^ The writer Ṛūmlu documented the most important of them in his history.
  19. ^ D. M. Lang. "Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No. 3, Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 523-539
  20. ^ see:
    • Encyclopaedia Iranica and ISBN 0-89158-296-7
    • O. Dzh. Dzhalilov, "Kurdski geroicheski epos Zlatoruki Khan" ("The Kurdish heroic epic Gold-hand Khan"), Moscow, 1967
  21. ^ For a map of these areas, see this map
  22. ^ see Encyclopaedia Iranica at [2] under "Abbas I the Great", page 75
  23. ^ V. Minorsky. "The Poetry of Shah Ismail", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 10. No. 4, 1942
  24. ^ E. Yarshater, "Language of Azerbaijan, vii., Persian language of Azerbaijan", Encyclopaedia Iranica, v, pp. 238-245, Online Edition, (LINK)
  25. ^ Emeri “van” Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference, Brill Academic Publishers, 1994, pp 393
  26. ^ R. N. Frye, The Golden Age of Persia, Phoenix Press, 2000, page 234
  27. ^ Hillenbrand R., Islamic art and Architecture, London (1999), p228 – ISBN 0-500-20305-9
  28. ^ ’’ibid’’, p228.
  29. ^ Jodidio, Philip, Iran: Architecture For Changing Societies:Umberto Allemandi (August 2, 2006).

Literature

  • Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey, M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7.
  • Mirza Rafi‘a's Dastur al-Muluk: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration. Annotated English Translation, Comments on the Offices and Services, and Facsimile of the Unique Persian Manuscript, M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Kuala Lumpur, ISTAC, 2002, ISBN 983-9379-26-7.
  • From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century, M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005, ISBN 9971-77-491-7.
  • Adam Olearius, "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors", Translated by John Davies (1662), (excerpts)

Template:Link FA Template:Link FA