The Ilkhanid ruler ljait converted to Twelver Shiism in the 13th century. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. PDF Josh Raines AP World History Chapter 21 notes (Safavids) The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century. The legal system was built up of two branches: civil law, which had its roots in sharia, received wisdom, and urf, meaning traditional experience and very similar to the Western form of common law. Alien shrines were vandalised, and Sufi mystic groups forbidden. [83] Despite that Tahmsp could nullify and neglect some of his consternations regarding potential issues related to his family by having his close direct male relatives such as his brothers and sons routinely transferred around to various governorships in the empire, he understood and realized that any long-term solutions would mainly involve minimizing the political and military presence of the Qezelb as a whole. [78] Having to flee from city to city, Humayun eventually sought refuge at the court of Tahmsp in Qazvin in 1543. The Qizilbash 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). A third route was therefore devised which circumvented Ottoman territory. [196], On a local level, the government was divided into public land and royal possessions. Siege of Isfahan - Wikipedia The 150-year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. 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. He was eventually successful in making the eastern Georgian territories an integral part of the Safavid provinces. The latter included merchants trading in the bazaars, the trade and artisan guilds (asnf) and members of the quasi-religious organizations run by dervishes (futuvva). The Safavids thus set in train a struggle for power between the turban and the crown that is to say, between the proponents of secular government and the proponents of a theocratic government; third, they laid the foundation of alliance between the religious classes ('Ulama') and the bazaar which played an important role both in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 19051906, and again in the Islamic Revolution of 1979; fourth the policies introduced by Shah Abbas I conduced to a more centralized administrative system. The religious leaders effectively became a tool of the government. Roemer, H.R. Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252-1334). Not only did the invasions bring about the end of the Abbasid empire and leave the centre of eastern Islamdom fractured, but the arrival of new Turkic peoples and dynasties throughout much of Islamdom shifted the axes of power into the hands of Turkic clans. [80] Humayun handed over Kandahar, but Tahmsp was forced to retake it in 1558, after Humayun seized it on the death of the Safavid governor. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Safavid Empire? The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524). Although already by the early years of king Abbas' reign (r. 15881629) they were no longer controlling the state, the Turkoman Qizilbash continued to provide many of the senior army officers and to fill important administrative and ceremonial offices in the royal household. The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali,[30] the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shia as the first Imam. That is for the women and to get themselves in good form. It was the Safavids who made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shiism, and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness of Iranianhood, acting as a bridge to modern Iran. [3] The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Sha Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia. Ismil exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. Georgian, Circassian and Armenian were also spoken, since these were the mother-tongues of many of the ghulams, as well as of a high proportion of the women of the harem. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations". Russo-Persian War (1651-1653) - Wikipedia "Greeks and Trkmens: The Pontic Exception". During this period, painting, metalwork, textiles and carpets reached new heights of perfection. After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Indeed, this had been the situation throughout Persian history, even before the Safavids, ever since the Arab conquest. From 1540 and onwards, Shah Tahmasp initiated a gradual transformation of the Iranian society by slowly constructing a new branch and layer solely composed of ethnic Caucasians. This would not change with the Arab conquest of Iran, and it was primarily the Persians that took upon them the works of philosophy, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, music and alchemy. Both corps of musketeers and artillerymen totaled 12,000 men. 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. Two years later in 1587, the massive invasion of Khorasan by the Uzbeks proved the occasion whereby Murshid Quli Khan would make a play for supremacy in Qazvin. A specific Turkic language was attested in Safavid Persia during the 16th and 17th centuries, a language that Europeans often called Persian Turkish ("Turc Agemi", "lingua turcica agemica"), which was a favourite language at the court and in the army because of the Turkic origins of the Safavid dynasty. [171], Following the full implementation of this policy by Abbas I, the women (only Circassian and Georgian) now very often came to occupy prominent positions in the harems of the Safavid elite, while the men who became part of the ghulam "class" as part of the powerful third force were given special training on completion of which they were either enrolled in one of the newly created ghilman regiments, or employed in the royal household. It was just a brief setback, however, as Abbas had already been making long-term plans to prevent further incursions. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz, they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. The Safavid dynasty under Shah Ismail (961/1501) adopted Persian and the Shiite form of Islam as the national language and religion. [194] Under Abbas, the eunuchs became an increasingly important element at the court. 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. Throughout the Ottomans expansion, they rapidly improved their military . As non-Turcoman converts to Islam, these Circassian and Georgian olmns (also written as ghulams) were completely unrestrained by clan loyalties and kinship obligations, which was an attractive feature for a ruler like Tahmsp whose childhood and upbringing had been deeply affected by Qizilbash tribal politics. The public land was under the rule of local governors, or Khans. [6] It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, [7] but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, [8] Georgian, [9] Circassian, [10] [11] and Pontic Greek [12] dignitaries, nevertheless they . More importantly, the Dutch East India Company and later the English/British used their superior means of maritime power to control trade routes in the western Indian Ocean. [10][11], The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. Richard Wilson, When Golden Time Convents: Twelfth Night and Shakespeare's Eastern Promise, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFMunsh1978 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSstn (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFJavakhishvili1970 (. 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. [219] He convinced the British to assist him by allowing them to open factories in Shiraz, Isfahan and Jask. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Safavid-dynasty, Khan Academy - The Safavids, an introduction, Efahn, Iran: Masjed-e Shaykh Luf Allh (Sheikh Lofollh Mosque), Efahn, Iran: interior of Masjed-e Shaykh Luf Allh (Sheikh Lofollh Mosque). [183] It remains only a small minority in the Shii world. That condition would not change (and in fact it would worsen) until Tahmsp's grandson, Abbas I, assumed the throne. 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. However by this period the Empire was disintegrating, and for the next two centuries it lay in decay. In Esposito, John L. [206], According to the historian Roger Savory, the twin bases of the domestic economy were pastoralism and agriculture. Consequently, they were slowly able to take on administrative jobs in areas which had hitherto been the exclusive preserve of the ethnic Persians.[168]. The Safavid Empire. Furthermore, the Safavids maintained a sizeable sphere of influence overseas, particularly in the Deccan region of India. Efahn fell to the Ghilzai Afghans of Kandahr in 1722. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Tahmsp resolved to end hostilities and sent his ambassador to Soleymn's winter quarters in Erzurum in September 1554 to sue for peace. Thirdly there was horsemanship. Last but by no means least there were the palace eunuchs who were also ghulams "white" eunuchs largely from the Caucasus, and "black" eunuchs from India and Africa. Later that year, when the shah summoned them to join him on a hunting expedition in Mazandaran, they didn't show up due to the fear they would be either imprisoned or killed. More problematic for the Safavids was the powerful neighboring Ottoman Empire. By choosing the central city of Isfahan, fertilized by the Zyande roud ("The life-giving river"), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he both distanced his capital from any future assaults by the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf, which had recently become an important trading route for the Dutch and British East India Companies.[233]. [150], The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiersKerman by Baloch tribes in 1698, Khorasan by the Hotakis in 1717, Dagestan and northern Shirvan by the Lezgins in 1721, constantly in Mesopotamia by Sunni peninsula Arabs. This book was translated into French in 1681 by Angulus de Saint, under the name "Pharmacopoea Persica". A system of government based on military strength, B. Usually neither Persian nor European authors mention in which language people communicated with each other. ARMY. Most were replaced by a ghulam, and within short time, Georgians, Circassians, and to a lesser extent Armenians had been appointed to many of the highest offices of state, and were employed within all other possible sections of society. The status of physicians during the Safavids stood as high as ever. Women with slender waists were regarded as more attractive than those with larger figures. Distinctive monuments like the Sheikh Lotfallah (1618), Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradise Palace) (1469) and the Chahar Bagh School (1714) appeared in Isfahan and other cities. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. . [238] He wrote the Al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa ("The Transcendent Philosophy of the Four Journeys of the Intellect"),[239] a meditation on what he called 'meta philosophy' which brought to a synthesis the philosophical mysticism of Sufism, the theology of Shi'a Islam, and the Peripatetic and Illuminationist philosophies of Avicenna and Suhrawardi. In 1514, Sultan Selim I marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of Khoy, where a decisive battle was fought. "the Order of the Lion and the Sun, a device which, since the 17 century at least, appeared on the national flag of the Safavids the lion representing 'Ali and the sun the glory of the Shii faith", Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski, J. M. Rogers, Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House, Courtauld Institute of Art. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [29] The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Sha Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.[29][31]. Shah Abbss remarkable reign, with its striking military successes and efficient administrative system, raised Iran to the status of a great power. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century.
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