Safavid dynasty

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Safavid dynasty
??? ??????????? ?????[1]
The Expansive Realm of Iran[2]
????? ?????[3]
The Country of Iran[4]
Empire
15011736
Flag
Flag[6]
Emblem[5]
Emblem[5]

The Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas the Great

Capital Tabriz
(15011555)
Qazvin
(15551598)
Isfahan
(15981736)
Languages
Persian (official,[7] coinage,[8][9] civil administration,[10] court (since Isfahan
became capital),[11] high literature,[10] literary,[8][12] theological discourse,
[8] diplomatic correspondence, belles-lettres (adab), historiography,[13] court-
based religious posts[14])
Azerbaijani (court,[15][16][17] religious dignitaries, military)[13][18][19][20]
GeorgianCircassianArmenian (court)[21]
Religion Twelver Shia Islam
Government Monarchy
Shahanshah
15011524 Ismail I (first)
17321736 Abbas III (last)
Grand Vizier
1501 Mohammad Zakariya Kujuji (first)
17291736 Nader Qoli Beg (last)
Legislature Council of State
History
Establishment of the Safaviyya by Safi-ad-din Ardabili 1301
Established 1501
Hotaki Invasion 1722
Reconquest under Nader Shah 17261729
Disestablished March 8, 1736
Nader Shah crowned 1 October 1736
Area 2,850,000 km2 (1,100,000 sq mi)
Currency Tuman, Abbasi (incl. Abazi), Shahi.[22]
1 Tuman = 50 Abbasi.
1 Tuman = 50 French Livre.
1 Tuman = 3 6s 8d.
Preceded by Succeeded by
Timurid Empire
Aq Qoyunlu
Shirvanshah
Marashiyan
Paduspanids
Mihrabanids
Afrasiab dynasty
Karkiya dynasty
Kingdom of Ormus
Hotaki dynasty
Afsharid dynasty
Russian Empire
Ottoman Empire
a State religion.[23]
Part of a series on the
History of Iran
Persepolis 24.11.2009 11-12-14.jpg
Mythological history[show]
Ancient period[show]
Imperial period[show]
Medieval period[show]
Early modern period[show]
Modern period[show]
Related articles[show]
Timeline
Flag of Iran.svg Iran portal
v t e
The Safavid dynasty ('s??f?v?d; Persian ?????? ?????? Dudman e Safavi[24]) was one
of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of
modern Iranian history.[25] The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so-called
gunpowder empires.[26] They ruled one of the greatest Iranian empires after the
7th-century Muslim conquest of Iran,[27][28][29][30] and established the Twelver
school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire,[31] marking one of the
most important turning points in Muslim history.

The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was
established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. It was of mixed
ancestry (Kurdish[32] and Azerbaijani,[33] which included intermarriages with
Georgian,[34] Circassian,[35][36] and Pontic Greek[37] dignitaries). From their
base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and
reasserted the Iranian identity of the region,[38] thus becoming the first native
dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Iranian state.[39]

The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to
1736) and, at their height, they controlled all of modern Iran, Azerbaijan,
Bahrain, Armenia, most of Georgia, the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and
Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan.

Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of
Persia as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an
efficient state and bureaucracy based upon checks and balances, their architectural
innovations and their patronage for fine arts. The Safavids have also left their
mark down to the present era by spreading Shi'a Islam in Iran, as well as major
parts of the Caucasus, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

Contents [hide]
1 Genealogyancestors of the Safavids and its multi-cultural identity
2 BackgroundThe Safavid Sufi Order
3 History
3.1 Founding of the dynasty by Shah Ismail I (r. 150124)
3.1.1 Persia prior to Ismail's rule
3.1.2 Rise of Shah Ismail I
3.1.3 Start of clashes with the Ottomans
3.2 Shah Tahmasp (r. 152476)
3.2.1 Civil Strife during Tahmasp's Early Reign
3.2.2 Foreign Threats to the Empire
3.2.3 Royal refugees Bayezid and Humayun
3.2.4 Legacy of Shah Tahmasp
3.3 Chaos under Tahmasps sons
3.3.1 Ismail II (r. 157677)
3.3.2 Mohammad Khodabanda (r. 157887)
3.4 Shah Abbas (r. 15881629)
3.4.1 Restoration of central authority
3.4.2 Recovery of territory from the Uzbeks and the Ottomans
3.4.3 Quelling the Georgian uprising
3.4.4 Suppressing the Kurdish rebellion
3.4.5 Contacts with Europe during Abbas's reign
3.4.6 Succession and legacy of Abbas I
3.5 Decline of the Safavid state
4 Shia Islam as the state religion
5 Military and the role of Qizilbash
5.1 Reforms in the military
6 Society
6.1 The customs and culture of the people
6.1.1 Character
6.1.2 Entertainment
6.1.3 Clothes and Appearances
6.2 Turks and Tajiks
6.3 The third force Caucasians
6.4 Emergence of a clerical aristocracy
6.5 Akhbaris versus Usulis
6.6 Allamah Majlisi
7 State and government
7.1 The Government
7.2 The Royal Court
7.3 Local governments
7.4 Democratic institutions in a totalitarian society
8 Legal system
9 Economy
9.1 Agriculture
9.2 Travel and Caravanserais
9.3 Foreign trade and the Silk Route
9.4 The Armenian merchants and the trade of silk
10 Culture
10.1 Culture within the Safavid family
10.2 Culture within the empire
10.3 The Isfahan SchoolIslamic philosophy revived
10.4 Medicine
11 Architecture
12 The languages of the court, military, administration and culture
13 Legacy
14 Safavid Shahs of Iran
15 See also
16 References and notes
17 Bibliography
18 Further reading
19 External links
Genealogyancestors of the Safavids and its multi-cultural identity
See also Safavid dynasty family tree, Safaviyya, Safvat as-safa, Silsilat-al-nasab-
i Safaviya, Firuz Shah Zarin-Kolah, and List of the mothers of the Safavid Shahs
The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be Seyyeds,[40] family descendants of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad, although many scholars have cast doubt on this claim.[41]
There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed
from Persian Kurdistan,[31] and later moved to Azerbaijan, finally settling in the
11th century CE at Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the
lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, Firuz Shah Zarin-Kulah.[32][42]
According to some historians,[43][44] including Richard Frye, the Safavids were of
Turkicized Iranian origin[33]

The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian
speakers, several pockets of whom still exist in the region. A massive migration of
Oghuz Turks in the 11th and 12th centuries not only Turkified Azerbaijan but also
Anatolia. The Azeri Turks are Shi?ites and were founders of the Safavid dynasty.

Other historians, such as Vladimir Minorsky[45] and Roger Savory, support this
idea[46]

From the evidence available at the present time, it is certain that the Safavid
family was of indigenous Iranian stock, and not of Turkish ancestry as it is
sometimes claimed. It is probable that the family originated in Persian Kurdistan,
and later moved to Azerbaijan, where they adopted the Azari form of Turkish spoken
there, and eventually settled in the small town of Ardabil sometimes during the
eleventh century.

By the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family
were native Turkish-speaking and Turkicized,[18][47] and some of the Shahs composed
poems in their native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also
supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnameh
of Shah Tahmasp,[48][49] while members of the family and some Shahs composed
Persian poetry as well.[50][51] The authority of the Safavids was religiously
based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants
of the Ali,[52] the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by Shi'ites as
the first Imam.

Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both
Pontic Greek as well as Georgian lines.[53] In addition, from the official
establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many
intermarriages with both Circassian as well as again Georgian dignitaries,
especially with the advent of king Tahmasp I.[35][36]

BackgroundThe Safavid Sufi Order

Main articles Safaviyya, Safi al-Din Ardabili, and Ideology of Safavids
Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous
founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili (12521334). In 7001301, Safi al-Din assumed the
leadership of the Zahediyeh, a significant Sufi order in Gilan, from his spiritual
master and father-in-law Zahed Gilani. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi
al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. The Safavid order soon gained
great influence in the city of Ardabil, and Hamdullah Mustaufi noted that most of
the people of Ardabil were followers of Safi al-Din.

Religious poetry from Safi al-Din, written in the Old Azari language[54][55]a now-
extinct Northwestern Iranian languageand accompanied by a paraphrase in Persian
that helps its understanding, has survived to this day and has linguistic
importance.[54]

After Safi al-Din, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Din Musa (
794139192). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement that
conducted religious propaganda throughout Persia, Syria and Asia Minor, and most
likely had maintained its Sunni Shafiite origin at that time. The leadership of
the order passed from Sadr ud-Din Musa to his son Khwadja Ali ( 1429) and in turn
to his son Ibrahim ( 142947).

Mannequin of a Safavid Qizilbash soldier, showing characteristic red cap (Sa'dabad

Palace, Teheran)
When Shaykh Junayd, the son of Ibrahim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya 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
Kara Koyunlu, the Black Sheep, whose ruler Jahan Shah ordered Junayd to leave
Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city.[31] Junayd
sought refuge with the rival of Kara Koyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu (White
Sheep Turkomans) Khan Uzun Hassan, and cemented his relationship by marrying Uzun
Hassan's sister, Khadija Begum. Junayd was killed during an incursion into the
territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi.

Haydar married Martha 'Alamshah Begom,[37] Uzun Hassan's daughter, who gave birth
to Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. Martha's mother Theodorabetter known
as Despina Khatun[56]was a Pontic Greek princess, the daughter of the Grand
Komnenos John IV of Trebizond. She had been married to Uzun Hassan[57] in exchange
for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans.

After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid
religious influence. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar
in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking
clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan and were known as Qizilbash Red Heads because
of their distinct red headgear. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of
Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power.

After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi,
who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. According to official
Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail
as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya.[31]

History
Founding of the dynasty by Shah Ismail I (r. 150124)
Main article Ismail I

Ismail declares himself Shah by entering Tabriz; his troops in front of Arg of
Tabriz, painter Chingiz Mehbaliyev, in private collection.
Persia prior to Ismail's rule
After the decline of the Timurid Empire (13701506), Persia was