Meeting with little success, Abbs engaged in a major army reform. Beginning in 1526 periodic battles broke out, beginning in northwest Iran but soon involving all of Khorasan. He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from Bahrain (1602) and, with English help, from Hormuz (1622), in the Persian Gulf (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. (2009). Crown prince Hamza Mirza, now 21 years old and director of Safavid affairs, led a force to confront the Ottomans, but in 1586 was murdered under mysterious circumstances. The greatest Safavid ruler was Shah Abbas I (r. 1587 - 1629), who modernized the Persian military, adding musketeers and artillery-men; moved the capital city deeper into the Persian heartland; and established a policy of tolerance towards Christians in the empire. Today, we'll take a look at this ruling power. Since two other sons had predeceased him, when he died on January 19, 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him. the safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 and 1750 to 1773) and, at their height, they controlled all of what is now iran, republic of azerbaijan, bahrain, armenia, eastern georgia, parts of the north caucasus including russia, iraq, kuwait, and afghanistan, as well as parts of turkey, syria, Sheikh Saf al-Dn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabil came from Ardabil, a city in today's Iranian Azerbaijan where his shrine still stands. The Safavid Period, 1501-1732", "18 Iran, Armenia and Georgia Rise of a Shii State in Iran and New Orientation in Islamic Thought and Culture", "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors", "Georgians in the Safavid administration", Artistic and cultural history of the Safavids from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Uzbeks struck in the Spring of 1578 but were repelled by Murtaza Quli Sultan, governor of Mashhad. Tahmsp received Humayun as the true emperor of the Mughal dynasty, despite the fact that Humayun had been living in exile for more than fifteen years. Particularly important in this regard were the Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, which produced Iran's single most important export; silk. "[135] Abbas would take active and all measures needed in order to seal the alliances. The Sunni Ulema or clergy were either killed or exiled[citation needed]. Unlike Usulis, Akhbari did and do not follow marjas who practice ijtihad. They also placed jewels on their arms, such as on daggers and swords. Afterwards, Ismail went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shh of Azerbaijan,[51][52][53] proclaimed himself King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran[54][55][56] and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Twelver Shsm as the official religion of his domain. Dabashi, H. (1996) 'Mir Damad and the Founding of the School of Isfahan', in SH Nasr and O. Leaman (eds) History of Islamic Philosophy, London: Routledge, ch. . So absolute was his power, that the French merchant, and later ambassador to Iran, Jean Chardin thought the Safavid Shahs ruled their land with an iron fist and often in a despotic manner. Published 2009. "[93] His conduct might also be explained by his drug use. Role of the Military in Society Because all government officials were part of the army, military and political power went hand in hand for the Mughals. Shh Tahmsp, the young titular governor of Khorasan,[66] succeeded his father Ismil in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old. [82], Tahmsp also planted the seeds that would, unintentionally, produce change much later. In order not to favor one Turkic tribe over another and to avoid inflaming the Turk-Persian enmity, he recruited his army from the "third force", a policy that had been implemented in its baby-steps since the reign of Tahmasp Ithe Circassian, Georgian and to a lesser extent Armenian ghulms (slaves) which (after conversion to Islam) were trained for the military or some branch of the civil or military administration. [16] The inscriptions on Safavid currency were also in Persian. The Qizilbash were a wide variety of Shii Muslims (ghult) and mostly Turcoman militant groups who helped found the Safavid Empire. The Silk Road, which led through northern Iran to India, revived in the sixteenth century. The epic called the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. [130][131] Nowadays, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million people who are descendants of the tribes deported from Kurdistan to Khorasan (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids.[132]. As a result of the Mongol conquest and the relative religious tolerance of the Ilkhanids, Shii dynasties were re-established in Iran, Sarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. But even here there may have been practical political considerations; namely, "concern about the excessively powerful position of Shii dignitaries, which would have been undermined by a reintroduction of the Sunna. In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore. The Shah himself exercised his own measures for keeping his ministers under control by fostering an atmosphere of rivalry and competitive surveillance. [2] Shah Abbas I recognized the commercial benefit of promoting the artsartisan's products provided much of Iran's foreign trade. But it was Shah Safi, under influence by his Prime Minister, Saru Taqi, that initiated the program of trying to increase the royal revenues by buying land from the governors and putting in place local commissioners. [185] Majlisi promoted specifically Shii rituals such as mourning for Hussein ibn Ali and visitation (ziyarat) of the tombs of the Imams and Imamzadas, stressing "the concept of the Imams as mediators and intercessors for man with God."[186]. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-safavid-empire-195397. [84] According to the Encyclopdia Iranica, this would be as well the starting point for the corps of the olmn-e a-ye-e arifa, or royal slaves, who would dominate the Safavid military for most of the empire's length, and would form a crucial part of the third force. -Reorganized the empire's military . This freed him of his dependence on Qizilbash warriors loyal to local tribal chiefs. Ismil exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. [157] There even are numerous recorded accounts of laymen that rose to high official posts, as a result of their merits. They were the continuers of the classical tradition of Islamic thought, which after Averroes died in the Arab west. He enjoyed tremendous power and control over national affairs as he was the immediate deputy of the Shah. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il, adopted the title of "King of Iran" (Pdiah- rn), with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from Khorasan as far as Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of the Persian Gulf. In fact, from Sheikh Junayd to Sheikh Ismail Ithe founder of the Safavid Empireall ruling Sheikhs of the Safavids had Turcoman mothers. Mohammad allowed others to direct the affairs of state, but none of them had either the prestige, skill or ruthlessness of either Tahmsp or Ismail II to rein in the ethnic or palace factions, and each of his rulers met grim ends. In the following centuries, this religious schism would both cement Iran's internal cohesion and national feelings and provoke attacks by its Sunni neighbors. 113131. He was declared Shah of Iran in 1502. [97] Pari Khn Khnum could master strong support among the Qizilbash, and her uncle, Shamkhal Sultan, was a prominent Circassian who held a high official position. The Safavid Empire, based in Persia (Iran), ruled over much of southwestern Asia from 1501 to 1736. However, Shah Abbas was fearful to the point of paranoia about the assassination and executed or blinded all of his sons to prevent them from replacing him. In 1503, the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti were made his vassals as well. William L. Cleveland and Martin P. Bunton. "[255], Founding of the dynasty by Shh Ismil I (, Civil strife during Tahmsp's early reign, Recovery of territory from the Uzbeks and the Ottomans, Contacts with Europe during Abbas's reign, Democratic institutions in an authoritarian society, The Isfahan SchoolIslamic philosophy revived, The languages of the court, military, administration and culture. Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls and an inedible bitter almond hadam-talka used as a spice in India. Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were therefore rendered ineffectual, and the Iranian government declined and finally collapsed when a serious military threat emerged on its eastern border in the early eighteenth century. The war between the two powers continued under Ismil's son, Emperor Tahmasp I, and the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, until Shah Abbs retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602. Islamic philosophy[237] flourished in the Safavid era in what scholars commonly refer to the School of Isfahan. The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (c. 9801037) was still regarded as one of the primary textbooks in medicine throughout most of the civilized world. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. 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 Muhammad Zaman to study in Rome). When Abbas had a lively conversation in Turkish with the Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle, in front of his courtiers, he had to translate the conversation afterwards into Persian for the benefit of most of those present. His tactics in dealing with the Ottoman threat eventually allowed for a treaty which preserved peace for twenty years. [212], Horses were the most important of all the beasts of burden, and the best were brought in from Arabia and Central-Asia. Summary. "The Safavid Period". With the Safavid state and its territories secured, in 1738 Nader conquered the Hotaki's last stronghold in Kandahar; in the same year, in need of fortune to aid his military careers against his Ottoman and Russian imperial rivals, he started his invasion of the wealthy but weak Mughal Empire accompanied by his Georgian subject Erekle II,[155] occupying Ghazni, Kabul, Lahore, and as far as Delhi, in India, when he completely humiliated and looted the militarily inferior Mughals. All other . The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. According to the Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye:[240]. Ismil's successors, most manifestly Shh Abbs I, successfully diminished the influence of the Qizilbash on the affairs of the state. 1977, p. 77. In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move the capital of his Iranian empire from the north-western city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Iranian history; the complete remaking of the city. Turkic) origins. The two wrestlers were covered in grease. In 1659, the Kingdom of Kakheti rose up against the Safavid Iranian rule due to a change of policy that included the mass settling of Qizilbash Turkic tribes in the region in order to repopulate the province, after Shah Abbas' earlier mass deportations of between 130,000[143] 200,000[123][124][144] Georgian subjects to Iran's mainland and massacre of another thousand in 1616 virtually left the province without any substantial population. What were the strengths of the Ottoman Empire? [76] Under the Peace, the Ottomans agreed to restore Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan to the Safavids and in turn would retain Mesopotamia (Iraq) and eastern Anatolia. Usually neither Persian nor European authors mention in which language people communicated with each other. The Safavid Empire was established in an Iran that had been long fragmented. [83] While Persians continued to fill their historical role as administrators and clerical elites under Tahmsp, little had been done so far to minimize the military role of the Qezelb. The series of campaigns that Tahmsp subsequently waged after realising this in the wider Caucasus between 1540 and 1554 were meant to uphold the morale and the fighting efficiency of the Qizilbash military,[169] but they brought home large numbers (over 70,000)[170] of Christian Georgian, Circassian and Armenian slaves as its main objective, and would be the basis of this third force; the new (Caucasian) layer in society. 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. o Early Safavid women had considerable power and respect and could be patrons of art, architecture, and religious institutions o Early Safavid differed with other Islamic socities o Divorce could be caused by either the wife or husband o After death of Abbas the Great, women lost some rights Political Capitals: Tabriz- Qazvin- Isfahan The first Safavid king, Esml I (907-30/1501-24), initiated a process of political and religious change in Persia that profoundly affected the economic structure. Noting that the Safavids were Islamic Iran's longest-lasting dynasty, Newman 2008 challenged Safavid "decline" and, in its place, offered analyses to account for the Safavids' longevity. Abbas I also supported direct trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands, which sought Iranian carpets, silk, and textiles. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. In July 1501 Isml was enthroned as shah, although his area of control was initially limited to Azerbaijan. Related Questions George Lenczowski, "Iran under the Pahlavis", Hoover Institution Press, 1978, p. 79: "Ismail Safavi, descendant of the pious Shaykh Ishaq Safi al-Din (d. 1334), seized Tabriz assuming the title of Shahanshah-e-Iran". The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. But his responsibilities also included that of being the treasurer of the Shah's properties. [138], The shah had set great store on an alliance with Spain, the chief opponent of the Ottomans in Europe. Although the early afav order was originally Sunni, following the jurisprudence of the Shfi school, it gravitated toward Shiism over time, perhaps pulled along by the popular veneration of Al. In the 10th and 11th centuries the Buwayhids, who were of the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam, ruled in Fars, Isfahan and Baghdad. They would thus retain the official ownership and secure their land from being confiscated by royal commissioners or local governors, as long as a percentage of the revenues from the land went to the ulama. The impressive achievements of its 400,000 residents prompted the inhabitants to coin their famous boast, "Isfahan is half the world". The Silk Road which led through northern Iran was revived in the 16th century. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Buwayhids, who were of Zeydi a branch of Shi'ism ruled in Fars, Isfahan, and Baghdad. However, at that time it was referred to by various other names. The eastern part of Samtskhe (Meskheti) was irrevocably lost to the Ottomans as well as Mesopotamia. In return, they had to keep ready a standing army at all times and provide the Shah with military assistance upon his request. 34, 597634. The language chiefly used by the Safavid court and military establishment was Azerbaijani. However, strategically it remained inconclusive. Every office had a deputy or superintendent, whose job was to keep records of all actions of the state officials and report directly to the Shah. In a major army reform broke out, beginning in northwest Iran but soon involving all of Khorasan trade. India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, Kandahar... 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