The Safavid period, finally, witnessed the beginning of frequent and sustained diplomatic and commercial interactions between Persia and Europe. A number of administrative institutions created during the Safavid period or adapted from earlier times continued to exist well into the Qajar era. Three years later he asserted his independence. Safavid princes also received a Qezelbāš tutor. In 1501, the Safavid army broke the power of the Āq Qoyunlu by defeating their ruler, Alvand (r. 1497 in Diārbakr [q.v. He set out to occupy Māzandarān where a large number of Āq Qoyunlu troops had found sanctuary, quelled a revolt in Yazd, and seized rebellious Isfahan. Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725) took Darband and, responding to an appeal by Gilān for protection against the Ḡilzi Afghans, marched on the Caspian provinces, which he took as well. In terms of military matters, Solaymān’s reign was uneventful, mostly because the shah was scrupulous in observing the Treaty of Qaṣr-e Širin. The person mainly responsible for this was Mirzā Sāru Taqi, who in his twelve years as grand vizier made great efforts to enhance royal revenue. In the changed position of the sovereign, the period of Shah Solaymān and Shah Solṭān-Ḥosayn shows how the Safavid polity, once driven by millenarian energy, had lost its ideological direction. They were originally a religious brotherhood who became more powerful because of warlords and political marriages. The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, Shah Abbas (1587–1629) came to power in 1587, at the age of 16, following the forced abdication of his father, Shah Muhammad Khudābanda. In May 1501, Ismail I declared Tabriz his capital and himself Shah of Azerbaijan. When the second Persian "vakil" was placed in command of a Safavid army in Transoxiana, the Qezelbash, considering it a dishonor to be obliged to serve under him, deserted him on the battlefield with the result that he was slain. It would be anachronistic to call Safavid Persia a modern nation-state, and it is important to realize that, in many ways, Safavid society continued Mongol and Timurid patterns and practices—ranging from its coinage to its administrative institutions. The state’s drastic financial crisis was exacerbated by the record number of people who annually performed the pilgrimage to Mecca in this peirod, draining huge sums of gold from the country. Following Ottoman precedent, he also locked up his grandchildren in the harem, thereby starting a trend that would produce rulers wholly unprepared for the task of governance. 800). He also decreed Shiʿism to be the official faith of the realm, thus endowing his new state with a strong ideological basis while giving Persia overlapping political and religious boundaries that would last to this day. Submitted tags will be reviewed by site administrator before it is posted online.If you enter several tags, separate with commas. This prompted Shah Ṭahmāsp in 1548 to move his capital from Tabriz, which had been briefly occupied in 1534 by the Ottomans, to Qazvin, a city located further in the interior. This warfare pattern repeated itself under Shah Tahmasp I and Sultan Suleiman I. Both were killed. He granted the English half of Bandar ʿAbbās’s toll receipts in return for their assistance in ousting the Portuguese from Hormuz Island in 1622, while he offered the Dutch the right to engage in toll-free trade in exchange for a contractual obligation to take an annual volume of 600 bales of silk. The shah also intensified another policy initiated by his predecessors by removing a great deal of state land, given out in various kinds of fiefs (toyuls, soyurḡāls), from tribal overlordship and turning them into crown domain (ḵāṣṣa). In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. More seriously, the Abdāli Afghans revolted in Khorasan, taking Herat and Mashad. They took the suburbs and, unable to breach the city walls, resorted next to a blockade. He was a disciple of the famed Sufi Grand Master Sheikh Zahed Gilani (1216–1301) of Lahijan. Intensifying the practice of appointing ḡolāms to high positions, he gave them a more prominent place in the ranks of the military where they served to counterbalance the Qezelbāš as members of a standing army answerable to the shah himself. 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 They retained their individual clan affiliation, and the different clans continued to be one another’s bitter rivals. He was therefore succeeded by his grandson Ṣafi, the son of Ṣafi Mirzā, who had been murdered by Shah ʿAbbās on suspicion of sedition. The political structure of the Safavid Empire was structured like a pyramid with the Shah at the very top of the pyramid, similar to a pope. A divine inspiration that promised him victory against his enemies if he followed šariʿa injunctions prompted him to cleanse the town of all blameworthy activities that cause good governance to founder. A stagnating influx of precious metals from the Ottoman Empire, though very much related to European conditions, reflected Persia’s faltering economy as well, and led to the closing of numerous mints in the second half of the 17th century. Beginning with Shah Solaymān, it was the eunuchs of the royal harem who wielded effective power, taking over the shah’s task of balancing competing interests among state courtiers. Restoring Persia as a major center of political power and cultural creativity, they also established one of the strongest and most enduring centers of Shi’ismwithin the Islamic world. The Turkmen Qezelbāš resisted, killing two successive wakils in the process, but could not halt the trend. Shah Ṣafi died in 1642, aged thirty-one, and exhausted from excessive drinking. Aside from the conflict with the Mughals in 1648-50, during which the shah seized Kandahar from Shah Jahān, no major external wars were fought, and while some visitors saw signs of a deteriorating economy, most still compared the security on the country’s roads and its prosperity favorably with conditions in the Ottoman Empire. It has been estimated that by the end of Shah ʿAbbās’ reign some one-fifth of high-ranking officials were ḡolāms. As Shah Solṭān-Ḥosayn took power, the country’s weakness became apparent in numerous insurrections and invasions around the country, and in the problems the state faced in quelling them. In 1684, the state introduced a currency reform, issuing new coins of better alloy. The oṣulis accepted the authority of a (living) interpreter (mojtahed, see EJTEHĀD), and reserved a place for rational interpretation. The carpets of Ardebil were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. There had been, however, Shi'a communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as eighth century. As was true throughout the Safavid era, episodes of enmity alternated with periods of overt friendship, often built on shared anti Uzbek concerns. Širvān, where heavy taxation had led to an anti-Safavid uprising, soon followed. Upon news of the fall, Ṭahmāsp (II) proclaimed himself shah in Qazvin. A legacy of the Central Asian element in Safavid statecraft, such female influence and power was not unprecedented. In 1721 they seized and pillaged Šamāḵi, the area’s capital and commercial center. The period of the Safavids, the dynasty that took control of Persia in the early 16th century, is often considered the beginning of modern Persian history, just as the state they created is said to mark the genesis of the Persian nation-state. Shaikh ʿAli Khan, however, was only marginally successful in his efforts because he lacked the shah’s consistent support, crucial in a system as personalized as that of Safavid Persia, in which shah tended to serve as a buffer between oppressive officials and his subjects. Nor should the tension and rivalry created by mutual suspicion and divergent interests between the two groups be exaggerated. To disseminate the Shiʿite creed, to shore up his legitimacy as a Shiʿite ruler, and to build a religious cadre without ties to any of the domestic (tribal and ethnic) factions, the shah invited scholars from Arab lands, most notably Jabal ʿĀmel in Lebanon (see also SHIʿITES IN LEBANON), to migrate to Persia, in return for land, cash, and high positions. Thus, Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and centralized control. To establish political provenance, the Safavid rulers claimed to be descended from Imam Ali, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, through the seventh Imam Musa al-Kazim. In discussing Persia between 1501 and 1722, several peculiarities of the area and the time should be borne in mind. There, the Safavids influenced the local Turcoman tribes, and they themselves were influenced by Turcomans, such that the originally Iranian-speaking Safavids became Turkic-speaking. The treaty that ended this latest war, signed in 1612, stipulated a return to the Peace of Amasya, but in effect made Persia cede substantial parts of Iraq and Georgia, in addition to the undertaking to pay the Turks 200 bales of raw silk annually. The Safavid society was a meritocracy, so that’s not really that surprising. The empire's rulers, like the Ottoman rulers, were Muslim, yet the Safavid Empire used religion differently to promote order and stability within its realm. These massacres and blindings mark the end of a system whereby the extended Safavid family held corporate power, and inaugurated a phase in Safavid history in which the shah became the sole ruler surrounded by his palace entourage consisting of women, eunuchs, and ḡolāms. ʿAbbās Mirzā was next enthroned as Shah ʿAbbās, although Moršedqoli Khan continued to wield supreme authority for some time to come. The importance of women in the political life of the 16th century has been mentioned before, but the phenomenon was even more pronounced in the later Safavid period, although following the shift from corporate to individual legitimacy, it was now the queen-mother rather than royal sisters and daughters who wielded power and influence. Esmāʿil also continued to search for allies against the Ottomans, offering his daughter’s hand in marriage to the ruler of Širvān, and, most importantly, set out to rebuild his weakened army by introducing a corps of musketeers. Its governorship went to a leader of the Ḏu’l-Qadr who would rule the area for the next 100 years. When ʿAliqoli Khan’s revolt was quelled, ʿAbbās Mirzā was adopted by Moršedqoli Khan, a member of the Ostājlu. Isfahan bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital to that city in 1598: The Imperial Mosque, Masjid-e Shah, completed in 1630, the Imami Mosque,Masjid-e Imami, the Lutfullah Mosque and the Royal Palace. Thus the outbreak of the Ottoman-Venetian war of 1570-73, and the eruption of rebellions in Anatolia in the same period, made the flow of money between the Ottoman Empire and Persia dry up. As Vladimir Minorsky put it, friction between these two groups was inevitable, because the Qezelbash "were no party to the national Persian tradition." And then also in the 16th century, almost coincident with the founding of the Safavid Dynasty in Persia, you have Timur's grandson's great-grandson, Babur, who's born in current-day Uzbekistan, is able to defeat the Delhi Sultanate and establish the Mughal Empire. Following Čālderān, the Ottomans briefly occupied Tabriz. They lost their tax advantages, and especially the Jolfan community suffered, both from the poor economic conditions and from the pressures exerted on them as non-Muslims by the increasingly assertive clerical forces. were more strictly enforced, with ordinances issued against them venturing out during rainfall for fear of polluting the Muslim population. He became fastidious in matters of hygiene and food, and averse to the arts that he had formerly patronized so avidly. 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 Safavid Empire, although driven and inspired by strong religious faith, rapidly built the foundations of strong central secular government and administration. In 1668, Ṣafi II had himself re-crowned as Shah Solaymān, as he considered his first coronation as inauspicious. A Šāmlu was appointed governor of Herat; a Qarāmānlu, was made ruler of the area between Balḵ and Morḡāb, and a leader of the Ṭāleš tribe received Marv (Merv). There they were given trading privileges, especially in the export trade in silk, Persia’s most lucrative commodity. This policy was, however, informed less by sheer cowardice and apathy, as is often claimed, than by the rational calculation on the part of the shah and his officials that, in the face of weakened fighting power, it would be most judicious to maintain peaceful relations with the powerful Ottomans. Between 1534 and 1554, Sulṭan Süleymān I, responding to Safavid harassment, conducted three campaigns against Persia, causing much devastation in Azerbaijan. Originating from a mystical order at the turn of the 14th century, the Safavids ruled Persia from 1501 to 1722. As the Safavid regime crumbled, both the Ottomans and the Russians took advantage of Persia’s weakened state to cast covetous eyes on its northern territories. Safavid Literature. One empire in… By preserving ties to their ancestral homeland, they also facilitated Safavid control over these territories. The Safavids descended from a long line of Sufi shaikhs who maintained their headquarters at Ardabil, in northwestern Iran. Aside from the purely personal and ideological motives involved, this campaign was also directed against the Qezelbāš, whose orgiastic excess in drink and sexual represented the old order. It was perhaps to perpetuate the distinction of Persian from Arabic culture that attracted the Iranians towards Shi'a Islam—the heartland and sacred sites of Sunni Islam would always be in the Arabian peninsula. pl. Even though Safavids were not the first Shi'a rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shi'ism the official religion in Iran. 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. His native language was Old Tati (Āzarī), an extinct Iranian dialect of the north closely related to Persian. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs were said to have had lavish lifestyles. Located in the central Middle East, the kingdom occupied a fundamental geographic location and had substantial effect in … Ṭahmāsp I (r. 1524-76). The Safavid dynasty had its origins in a long established Sufi order, called the Safaviyeh, which had flourished in Azarbaijan since the early fourteenth century. Whereas earlier chronicles usually offered general accounts of universal history built on legitimacy reflecting Turko-Mongol claims, those written from the late 16th century revolve more narrowly around the dynasty of the Safavids as Persian rulers. Shah ʿAbbās was first and foremost an outstanding strategist, keen to regain the territories that had been lost to enemy forces or to internal sedition. His reputation is not simply retrospective: eyewitness observers already attested to his justice and generosity, as well as to a relative lack of corruption during his reign. He dispatched numerous embassies to Europe and Russia, many of which combined diplomatic with commercial mandates, and he even tried to establish reciprocal trade relations with the Netherlands and England (see DUTCH-PERSIAN RELATIONS; GREAT BRITAIN ii; EAST INDIA COMPANY (THE BRITISH); EAST INDIA COMPANY (THE DUTCH)). Shah Ṭahmāsp’s long rule witnessed an important transformation in Safavid ideology, continuing a shift in the shah’s status that had begun with the defeat at Čālderān. As Persians of Kurdish ancestry and of a non-tribal background, the Safavids did not fit this pattern, though the state they set up with the assistance of Turkmen tribal forces of eastern Anatolia closely resembled this division in its makeup. 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. He wrote poetry filled with pre-Islamic Persian terms and references, referring to himself as Feridun, Khosrow, Jamshid and Alexander, as well as applying religious names, such as “son of ʿAli” and one of the Twelve Imams. The more than century of tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. He raised the profile of the ḡolām institution (see BARDA and BARDADĀRI iv. He delegated much of the daily affairs of state to a Persian wakil, or deputy. They unified much of Persia under a single political control, transforming an essentially tribal nomadic order into a sedentary society deriving most of its revenue from agriculture and trade. It is true that the shah did little to prevent the loss of Balḵ (1516-17) and Kandahar (Qandahār [1522]), and that henceforth he took to hunting, wine-drinking, and spending time in the company of young boys, preferring these activities over the management of state affairs. Majlesi the Younger was appointed šayḵ al-Eslām of Isfahan in 1689, a position he held until his death in 1699. Persia, in the early years, may have been spared a possible Ottoman invasion because the Sultan was kept occupied on the western front. Given Shah Solṭān-Ḥosayn’s increasing seclusion, oppression by local officials and discord within the ranks of the palace went virtually unchecked, with all out intrigue and a crippling effect on governance as the outcome. The Safavids were poorly armed, while the Ottomans had muskets and artillery. Later in Ṭahmāsp’s reign, Safavid coins began to bear Persian instead of Arabic inscriptions. The staff of the Sultan including bookkeepers etc. Some of these problems were systemic, a function of Persia’s inherent lack of precious metal, and some may have been the first negative manifestations of a series of policy measures that provided short-term revenue but had harmful long-term effects. The struggle for power between the two states always concentrated on Kandahar, which in the course of two centuries switched hands twelve times. Ṭahmāsp also regained Kandahar, which in 1522 had fallen to the Mughals. Yet, rather than simply reflecting the ascendance of the ulema, this was part of a religious policy marked by pragmatism and designed to enhance the legitimacy of the dynasty. Moreover, Shah Abbas's conversion to a ghulam-based military, though expedient in the short term, had, over the course of a century, weakened the country's strength by requiring heavy taxation and control over the provinces. Despite the Safavid dynasty's Sufi origins, most Sunni or Shi'a Sufi groups were prohibited by the Nimatullahi order.