Not only had Ismails forces occupied the empires border cities, but he had begun recruiting for his army among the ethnic Turkish tribes of eastern Anatolia and encouraging the Shia Muslims in Ottoman lands to revolt against their Sunni rulers. Despite these similarities, however, significant differences . His son Ali Mirza took his place, but within a few years his capital at Ardabil was conquered by his enemies. It is axiomatic that such a ruler would command instant and unquestioning obedience from his subjects. Here, Bihzad helped establish the birth of a new Safavid aesthetica hybrid of the colorful expressionism and naturalistic rendering of the dynasties that preceded the Safavids. Two decades of warfare severely strained the Iranian economy, however, and Tahmasp sought peace with the Ottomans. By the end of this section, you will be able to: To the east of the lands of the Ottomans, another Islamic empire emerged at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Empires: Safavid and Qajar | Encyclopedia.com Since the ruler, as the representative of the Hidden Imm, was closer to the source of absolute truth than were other men, opposition to him was a sin. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs were said to have had lavish lifestyles. (credit: Armenian Frescoes by David Stanley/Flickr, CC BY 2.0), This detail of a sixteenth-century miniature by the Persian artist Farrukh Beg shows Shah Tahmasp, who was a great patron of the arts. In 1736, Nader deposed the infant Abbas III and crowned himself shah, bringing the Safavid Empire to an end and establishing the short-lived Afsharid dynasty. The borders of Iran were secure at the end of Tahmasps reign, but his son and grandson were ineffective leaders who failed to keep the Qizilbash rivalries from once again destabilizing the country, which led to yet more incursions by Ottoman and Uzbek forces. As the Safavid dynasty approached the middle of the eighteenth century, the last shahs took less and less interest in foreign and local affairs, and retreated to the interior life of the palace. Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. In 1514, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I invaded western Armenia, causing the ill-prepared Safavid army to retreat. Nadir Shah defeated the Afghans in the Battle of Damghan, in 1729. They sustained one of the longest running empires of Iranian history, lasting from 1501 to 1736. The Safavids (Persian: ) were a native Iranian dynasty from Azarbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736, and which established Shi'a Islam as Iran's official religion and united its provinces under a single Iranian sovereignty in the early modern period. The Ardabil Carpet, Maqsud of Kashan, Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. The Safavid dynasty descended from diverse and mixed ethnic origins, and there is some disagreement among scholars as to whether they were of Azeri or Persian background. The main imports were specie, textiles (woolens from Europe, cottons from Gujarat), spices, metals, coffee, and sugar. Iskander Beg Monshis History of Shah Abbas the Great, written a few years after its subject's death, achieved a nuanced depth of history and character. They cleverly allied themselves with European powers in order to protect themselves from the Ottomans. Tahmasp went on to become the longest-reigning Safavid shah. His painting and calligraphic style influenced Iranian artists for much of the Safavid period, which came to be known as the Isfahan school. Safavid miniature painting remains one of the most prized examples of visual art. The Safavids (Persian: ) were a native Iranian dynasty from Azarbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736, and which established Shi'a Islam as Iran's official religion and united its provinces under a single Iranian sovereignty in the early modern period. To populate his new capital, Abbas ordered several different populations to settle in it, including Armenians, Jewish people, Circassians, and other Caucasian peoples, many of whom had been displaced during his war against the Ottomans in their homelands. Iran became a feudal theocracy: There was no separation of religion and state; the Shah was held to be the divinely ordained head of both. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. One of the most famous achievements of Tahmasps workshop was an illustrated version of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran written by the poet Ferdowsi in the tenth century. The Ottoman Turks and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. Then he turned against the Ottomans, recapturing Baghdad, eastern Iraq, and the Caucasian provinces, by 1622. @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Government of Safavid Empire - John McGarvey Their demise was followed by a period of unrest. Through this alliance many members of the ulama became landowners themselves, creating a religious aristocracy that gave them a level of political independence. The dynasty declined in the century following his reign, pressed by the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal dynasty, and fell when a weak shah, ahmsp II, was deposed by his general, Ndir Shah. The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. The dedication of the Persian Building at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exhibition, October 6, 1926. In other words, the Safavid shahs usurped the function which the Ithn'ashar mujtahids had arrogated to themselves, namely, that of acting as the representative on earth of the Mahd, the Ithn'ashar' messiah. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. This book uses the The art of the Safavids is simply magnificent. It was founded by Isml I, who, by converting his people from Sunnite to Shite Islam and adopting the trappings of Persian monarchy, planted the seeds of a unique national and religious identity. Adam Olearius, "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors" (excerpts). Mirror mosaics were used in religious spaces as well, especially in Shia mosques and shrines to important Shia saints. Before the principal phases in the development of the Safavid administrative system are discussed in detail, a brief outline of the Safavid administrative and social structure may be helpful. The subjects, even if they sponsored the work, are generally idealized rather than actual persons. When Shah Abbas I came to power in 1588, he immediately began making plans to move the Safavid capital to Isfahan, a city in central Iran. While strongly influenced by Persian miniatures, Mughal miniatures tended to represent a more realistic depiction of animals and humans. Shah Tahmasp supported both schools at a royal painting workshop where artistic masters were invited to work with luxury materials such as gold leaf and ground lapis lazuli (Figure 4.25). 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, The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the power of the Qizilbashthe original militia that had helped Ismail I capture Tabriz and which over the century had insinuated themselves as entitled bureaucrats in the administrationdeclined. Sheikh Saf al-Dn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabil came from Ardabil, a city in today's Iranian Azerbaijan where his shrine still stands. Safi al-Din renamed the order after himselfSafaviyyaand made a number of reforms that reshaped it from a local order to a religious movement that sought followers from around Iran and neighboring countries. The Safavids are therefore widely known for bringing this historic change to the region. After being sheltered by allies, the twelve-year-old Ismail emerged from exile in 1499 claiming to be the Mahdi or messiah and began rallying the Qizilbash troops who had fought for his father and brother. He had completely driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by 1730. In the previous century, Russia Muscovy had deposed two western Asian khanates of the Golden Horde and expanded its influence into the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia. In the following centuries, this religious schism would both cement Iran's internal cohesion and national feelings and provoke attacks by its Sunni neighbors. then you must include on every physical page the following attribution: If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, 4, p. 14. As the Safavids continued to push westward into Ottoman territory, Bayezids son Selim I responded by invading Iranian Azerbaijan, laying waste to Tabriz in 1514 and attempting to destroy the Qizilbash. At the height of their reign, the Safavids controlled not only Iran, but also the countries we now know as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. He captured Tabrz from the Ak Koyunlu and became shah of Azerbaijan (1501) and Persia (1502). Despite near-constant war, during this time Iran reached new cultural and economic heights. Thus, the end of his reign, 1666, marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. Royal manuscripts provide a glimpse into the fusion of regional styles used in early Safavid art. Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (15651635) introduced new subjects to Persian paintingsemi-nude women, youths, lovers. The Safavid Empire, based in Persia ( Iran ), ruled over much of southwestern Asia from 1501 to 1736. Presently, 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. Throughout the rest of the decade, Ismail I fended off attacks from the Ottomans, stamped out the remnants of a rival faction, called the Ak Koyunlu, and continued to expand his territoryHamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, Khorasan and Herat in 1510. Historians generally agree that the Safavids efforts to convert Muslims in their empire to Shiism utilized coercion and force. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Safavids in Persia | Article for mature travellers - Odyssey Travellers Then enter the name part The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiersKerman by Baluchi tribesmen in 1698, Khorasan by Afghans in 1717, constantly in Mesopotamia by peninsula Arabs. Never was the Divine Right of Kings more fully developed than by the Safavid shahs. Constant wars with the Ottomans made Shah Tahmasp I move the capital from Tabriz, into the interior city of Qazvin in 1548. Located in the central Middle East, the kingdom occupied a fundamental geographic location and had substantial effect in the stability of the region. Like the Ottomans and Mughals, the Safavids developed a powerful military, ran a strong and well-organized central state, and fostered a climate in which artistic and intellectual culture flourished. As an empire, the Safavids succeeded in placing the nomadic people groups of the region under their. The Middle Ages had seen a series of invasions of Iran by Turks, Mongols, and others. Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing GRAB THE BEST PAPER 92.2% of users find it useful To save content items to your account, It was perhaps to perpetuate the distinction of Persian from Arabic culture that attracted the Iranians towards Shi'a Islamthe heartland and sacred sites of Sunni Islam would always be in the Arabian peninsula. The order in Ardabil was founded in the thirteenth century by the Sufi master Zahed Gilani, and little is known about its beliefs and practices in its earliest stages. 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. The Safavids were generally more tolerant of non-Muslim subjects than they were of the Sunni. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The epic called the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. The Safavid Empire was less ethnically diverse than the Ottoman Empire. Through his mother, Shah Ismail I was descended from the Komnenos dynasty that once ruled the Byzantine Empire. In fact, from Sheikh Junayd to Sheikh Ismail Ithe founder of the Safavid Empireall ruling Sheikhs of the Safavids had Turcoman mothers. The article analyses the social and political structure of the Safavid Empire. In the fifteenth century, the Safaviyeh gradually gained political and military clout in the power vacuum precipitated by the decline of the Timurid dynasty. Safavid dynasty, (1501-1736), ruling dynasty of Iran whose establishment of Twelver Shiism as the state religion of Iran was a major factor in the emergence of a unified national consciousness among the various ethnic and linguistic elements of the country. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. (c) - PERSIAN LITERATURE IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD - Cambridge Core They sought to control these populations by enslaving or deporting their members, and nobles were often requested to convert to Shiism. hasContentIssue false, THE JALAYIRIDS, MUZAFFARIDS AND SARBADRS, TRADE FROM THE MID-14TH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE SAFAVID PERIOD, RELIGION IN THE TIMURID AND SAFAVID PERIODS, SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS, PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD, PERSIAN LITERATURE IN THE TIMURID AND TRKMEN PERIODS (782907/13801501), PERSIAN POETRY IN THE TIMURID AND SAFAVID PERIODS, For an annotated general bibliography of the Safavid period, see, https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521200943.007, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. 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. Royal elites collaged them into, The Ardabil Carpet, Maqsud of Kashan, Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. He was a disciple of the famed Sufi Grand Master Sheikh Zahed Gilani (12161301) of Lahijan. Poetry lacked the royal patronage of other arts and was hemmed in by religious prescriptions. The production of silk was one of the most important industries in Iran. Chardin declares emphatically that outside court circles there was no arbitrary exercise of power by the shah, and both Chardin and Malcolm assert that the awe in which the shah was held by the court and the nobility was the primary reason for the relative security and freedom from oppression enjoyed by the lower classes. 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. BBC - Religions - Islam: Safavid Empire (1501-1722) While the decoration of each of these buildings varied, the structural composition remained much the same, consisting of domes surrounded by four, Fresco, c. 1597 C.E., Ali Qapu Palace (photo: reibai, CC BY 2.0). Haydar was killed in battle in 1488. System of governance, social organization | The Safavid Empire inch), 153940 C.E., Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan or Kirman, Iran, (now at the Victoria & Albert Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). This warfare pattern repeated itself under Shah Tahmasp I and Sultan Suleiman I. The Safavid Empire was established in an Iran that had been long fragmented. The Ardabil carpet, still one of the largest Persian carpets in existence, was made during the Safavid period. Later, Shah Abbas I moved the capital even deeper into central Iran, to the city of Isfahan, building a new city next to the ancient Persian one. He used Persian as the language of government and composed poetry in Azeri, contributing to its development as a literary language. The Ottoman (OE) and Safavid (SE) Empires are no exception to this rule. The armies of Peter the Great took the Caucasus in the Russo-Persian war of 17221723, while the Ottomans reoccupied northwestern Iran. Abbas then returned to the issue his grandfather had taken up: taming the Qizilbash, whose disputes had plunged Iran into civil conflict that twice nearly brought the country to ruin. After becoming the Safaviyeh leader in 1447, Sheikh Junayda descendant of Sheikh Safi Al-Dintransformed it into a revolutionary Shi'a movement with the goal of seizing power in Iran. For this reason, most Shia movements developed far outside the control of these caliphates, in places like Morocco, Yemen, Iran, and central Asia. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article Find out more about saving content to Dropbox. The city center was unique. The entry of European ships to the Indian Ocean trade cut off much of Irans direct access to Africa and South Asia. The loss of his capital Tabriz to the enemyand to a Sunni Muslim at thatwas a huge blow to Shah Ismails standing among his own armies, made worse by the fact that he had declared himself invincible based on his fictionalized semidivine ancestry. The Safavid empire was founded by the Safavids.They became a centralized government. Museums around the world commissioned Pope and Ackerman to organize symposia and exhibitions on the topic of Persian art, where works from the Safavid Empire were especially of interest. In practice, however, there were well defined limits to this absolutism, even when the shah was a strong and capable ruler. The capture of Baghdad by Ismail I in 1509, was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534. During his reign, the official language at the royal court was Azerbaijanian. READ: Mughal Empire (article) | Khan Academy Mar 31, 2023 OpenStax. Never was the Divine Right of Kings more fully developed than by the Safavid shahs. Tabriz was taken but the Ottoman army refused to follow the Safavids into the Persian highlands and by winter, retreated from Tabriz. He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. Sultan Muhammad, The Court of Gayumars, Shahnameh for Shah Tahmasp I, c. 152425, opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 45 x 30 cm, folio 20v (Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; photo: This fusion of artistic styles is best glimpsed in the story of. Abbas I was particularly lenient toward the Armenian Christian population of Isfahan, due to their participation in the lucrative manufacture and export of silk. In 1750, it was mostly governed through a loose confederation of powerful princely states ^1 1 and rich port cities. Sunni clerics and theologians were given the choice of conversion or exile.