In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Buwayhids, who were of Zeydi a branch of Shi'ism ruled in Fars, Isfahan, and Baghdad. It seems that the Safavid family left its homeland and moved to Azarbaijan (modern northwestern Iran) in the twelfth century. Under the Peace of Amasya, concluded in 1555, Armenia and Georgia were divided between the two empires; the Ottomans gained control over Iraq and access to the Persian Gulf, while Irans control over Azerbaijan was guaranteed. In the sixteenth century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. It is axiomatic that such a ruler would command instant and unquestioning obedience from his subjects. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . Browne, "A Literary History of Persia," Vol. Abbas I also supported direct trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands, which sought Iranian carpets, silk, and textiles. The hostility between the sects that continues today is usually traced to the Safavid era and the dynastys military rivalry with the Ottomans, especially after the sultan acquired the Sunni title of caliph in 1517. The Safavids were poorly armed, while the Ottomans had muskets and artillery. Since the ruler was directly appointed by God, men were required to obey his commands whether just or unjust. After waging war against the Uzbeks, Abbas realized that fighting the Ottomans with the country in upheaval would be nearly impossible. The social and political structure of the Safavid Empire Essay in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. Safavid military history had three phases. Between 1508 and 1524, the year of Ismail's death, the shah appointed five successive Persians to the office of vakil. PDF Safavid Dynasty 1501-1736 (official end in 1760) 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. Ismail -Was the founder of the Safavid empire at age 7. Abbas I was particularly lenient toward the Armenian Christian population of Isfahan, due to their participation in the lucrative manufacture and export of silk. Never was the Divine Right of Kings more fully developed than by the Safavid shahs. Bureaucracy and landed class who were considered the middle classes. The Qizilbash were largely Turcoman, another Turkic group with its own language. The three Islamic empires of the early modern period - the Mughal, the Safavid, and the Ottoman - shared a common Turko-Mongolian heritage. In 1738, Nadir Shah reconquered Afghanistan starting with the city of Kandahar. SAFAVID DYNASTY - Encyclopaedia Iranica 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. 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. However, several scholars went one step further and extended the familys history back to the biblical Adam. Following the conquest of Iran, Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the largely Sunni population. what succession rules was followed by the Safavids? He used Persian as the language of government and composed poetry in Azeri, contributing to its development as a literary language. Roger M. Savory, "Safawidsiii, The establishment of the Safawid state,". From 1609-1610, war broke out between Kurdish tribes and Safavid Empire. The armies of Peter the Great took the Caucasus in the Russo-Persian war of 17221723, while the Ottomans reoccupied northwestern Iran. The patterns on Tahmasps robe have been embellished with gold. What might account for the differences in style between the Safavid and Mughal paintings? Published online by Cambridge University Press: Later, he conquered territories as far as east as Delhi, but did not fortify his Persian base and eventually, he exhausted his army's strength. At the apex of this structure was the shah. Fine silks. View images of the famous Ardabil carpet at the Victoria and Albert Museum website to see it in detail and also get a sense of its enormous size. His grandfather had acquired over thirty thousand enslaved people employed as civil servants and palace administrators; turning to the Caucasus region again, Abbas decided to also create an enslaved soldier corps like the Ottoman Janissaries. Arthur Upham Pope, a former Professor of aesthetics at Berkeley, and his wife Phyllis Ackerman, a specialist in Islamic textiles, were part of this movement that opened doors to the arts of Iran. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. The Safavid concept of kingship, combining territorial control with . This was a strategic move that accomplished two things. Even those in hereditary positions had to prove themselves capable or be replaced. It became more identifiably Shi'a in its orientation around the year 1400. 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. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. (attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license), The Safavid Empire was as ethnically diverse as the Ottoman Empire. In response, a Ghilzai Pashtun chieftain named Mir Wais Khan began a rebellion against the Georgian governor, Gurgin Khan, of Kandahar and defeated a Safavid army. Europeans imported some of the highest volumes of Safavid textiles. Although at first he was able to negotiate safe passage for his army, the Shirvanshahs, already uneasy about Haydars growing power, used his eventual attack on one of their cities as an excuse to declare war on the Safavids. Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (15651635) introduced new subjects to Persian paintingsemi-nude women, youths, lovers. All levels of society could mix there, from members of the royal court whose pavilion overlooked the square, to the Shiite clergy whose mosque was at the squares southern end, to foreign dignitaries, members of the military, merchants, and commoners. This left room for invasion by outside enemies, which is exactly what happened in 1722 when the Afghan army besieged the capital of Isfahan. As Tahmasps royal studio was to painting, Abbass capital at Isfahan was to architecture. Ismail also invited foreign Shiites living in places where they were persecuted by the Sunni majority to move to Iran, promising them land and protection. Safavid miniatures are highly prized today; some of the best examples have sold for millions of dollars at auction. They expanded their empire by wagging Jihads (Holy war) against other countries. In 1522, the Safavid royal library of Shah Tahmasp produced the most exquisitely illustrated Shahnameh of all time, now known as the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp. Royal manuscripts such as this were highly collaborative enterprises that brought together miniaturists, illuminators, calligraphers, poets, scribes, and gold sprinklers. Direct link to hdarwish825's post what succession rules was. Royal and elite women often funded the construction or maintenance of caravansaries, demonstrating the value of trade to both the state and individual wealth. With the capture of Tabriz, the Safavid dynasty officially began. 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. The city was built as a showpiece, with administrative buildings and public markets opening on the enormous Naqsh-e Jahan (Exemplar of the world) Square (Figure 4.22). This encouraged pilgrimages across the great stretch of the Safavid empire, in places such as Karbala and Najaf, two cities in central Iraq. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. Exquisitely detailed miniatures. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The subjects, even if they sponsored the work, are generally idealized rather than actual persons. Ismail I, despite his heterodox Shi'a beliefs, which were not compatible with orthodox Shi'ism (Momen, 1985) patronized Shi'a religious leaders, granting them land and money in return for loyalty. Then he turned against the Ottomans, recapturing Baghdad, eastern Iraq, and the Caucasian provinces, by 1622. Located in the central Middle East, the kingdom occupied a fundamental geographic location and had substantial effect in the stability of the region. Safavid Empire - New World Encyclopedia In May 1501, Ismail I declared Tabriz his capital and himself Shah of Azerbaijan. One faction, which became known as the Sunnis, supported the candidacy of Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, Muhammads father-in-law. The other faction wished the leadership to remain within Muhammads biological family and backed Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammads cousin and son-in-law, whom they believed the Prophet had chosen as his successor. His native language was Old Tati (zar), an extinct Iranian dialect of the north closely related to Persian. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings Want to cite, share, or modify this book? The Safavids ultimately succeeded in establishing a new Persian national monarchy. The most distinctive and prized artworks of the Safavid era were illuminated manuscripts of well-known texts decorated with miniature paintings. on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. -Made shitism the official religion of the Safavid Empire. Given the sects government sponsorship, the Shia ulama were often able to act as intermediaries between the people and the government. What was the Safavid Empire's political contributions to the world He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from Bahrain (1602) and, with the English navy, from Hormuz (1622) in the Persian Gulf (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). Safavid Iran - Wikipedia During his reign, the Safavid state reached the height of its military, political, and economic power. 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. As an empire, the Safavids succeeded in placing the nomadic people groups of the region under their. Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. According to many historians, the Safavid empire marked the beginning of modern Persia. The epic called the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. The maximum extent of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I ( CC BY-SA 4.0) The Safavids were a dynastic family that ruled over modern-day Iran. Safavid Iran was one of the Islamic "gunpowder empires", along with its neighbours, the Ottoman and Mughal empires. (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. 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. He had effective control under Shah Tahmasp II and then ruled as regent of the infant Abbas III until 1736, when he had himself crowned shah. The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. Second, it brought the royal workshops closer to the silk route, making it easier for the Safavids to control the sale of Persian silk. He ordered all Irans Sunni Muslims to become Shiites. The Safavid Empire was established in an Iran that had been long fragmented. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Complex, ornate palaces. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Shi'a's sacred sites were much closerin Iraq, captured by the Safavids in 1623 (but surrendered again to the Ottomans in 1639). Later Safavid shahs continued to expand Isfahan, adding buildings, avenues, and bridges and commissioning structures in other cities based on the style cultivated in the capital. The Shia believe Ali, who finally succeeded Uthman to become the leader of the Muslim community in 656, was the first legitimate imam, the title they give their spiritual leader rather than caliph. They view the line of Muhammad that descends through Ali and his wife Fatima, Muhammads daughter, as the only source of definitive religious guidance. 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. 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. When the Safavid state weakened in its later years, the ulama were able to step in and use their newly acquired wealth to benefit their communities. Another famous manuscript is the Khamsa by Nezami executed in 1539-43, by Aqa Mirak and his school in Isfahan. In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore. As in the Ottoman Empire, wealthy Safavid women raised their public stature by becoming patrons of the arts and endowing public buildings. They outlawed it at the turn of the century. Haydar declared a religious war against the Christian residents of the Caucasus, but in order to reach them, he had to pass through the territory of the Shirvanshahs, who were allied with his enemies. While used primarily in mosques and shrines, fragments of these mirror mosaics can still be seen in the outdoor portals of the Chehel Sotoun palace, as well as on the columns of the Ali Qapu palace. For this reason, many silks used floral and vegetal motifs that appealed to both Persian and foreign markets. Shah Mosque (Royal Mosque), Isfahan, Iran, begun 1611 (photo: Another singular characteristic of Safavid architecture are the colorful tiles that covered exterior faced and interior domes of mosques. 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). Culture flourished under Safavid patronage. They were originally a religious brotherhood who became more powerful because of warlords and political marriages. 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. consent of Rice University. The capture of Baghdad by Ismail I in 1509, was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534. 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). Poetry stagnated under the Safavids; the great medieval ghazal form languished in over-the-top lyricism. Abbas I reformed the military and civil service and built a showpiece capital city, Isfahan, which remains one of the masterworks of Persian Islamic art and architecture. This warfare pattern repeated itself under Shah Tahmasp I and Sultan Suleiman I. Nevertheless, Safavid rulers were aggressive toward the Armenians, Georgians, and other Christians in the Caucasus region, whom they considered potentially rebellious. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. The art of the Safavids is simply magnificent. The remaining 5 percent of Shia are Zaydis or Seveners, a sect established by Zayd, the great-grandson of Ali, who disagree with Twelvers over the identity of the seventh imam. We recommend using a 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. This clearly differentiated Iran from the Ottomans, who were Sunnis. This strengthening of direct ties between the ulama and the people, and the separation of the religious establishment from the state, is believed to be one of the reasons Shiism long outlasted the Safavid era. Christians elsewhere in the Safavid realm, however, were given considerable freedom to build churches and honor their own customs and beliefs. His painting and calligraphic style influenced Iranian artists for much of the Safavid period, which came to be known as the Isfahan school. The reflective light symbolized the presence and light of God, who was conceived as a mirror of the divine realm. Constant wars with the Ottomans made Shah Tahmasp I move the capital from Tabriz, into the interior city of Qazvin in 1548. Miniatures were an important form of Persian art long before Islam appeared; Persian artists were prized at the court of the Abbasids, and artistic styles derived from their work, such as the nonfigurative elements used in the borders of miniatures, were later used to decorate manuscripts of the Quran. In 1750, it was mostly governed through a loose confederation of powerful princely states ^1 1 and rich port cities. ), Reflections on the social and economic structure of Safavid Persia at its zenith, Artisans and Guild Life in the later Safavid period, Quis custodiet custodes? 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. Tahmasps desire to fend off the Turkish threat led him to ally himself with a rising European power, the Habsburg Empire. The Safavids also staged incursions into eastern Anatolia; these triggered a conflict with the Ottoman Empire that continued for the length of the Safavids reign. Then two Englishmen, Robert Sherley and his brother Anthony, helped Abbas I to reorganize the Shah's soldiers into a partially paid and well-trained standing army similar to the European model (which the Ottomans had already adopted). By 1511, however, Ismails troops had driven the Uzbek people across the Oxus River, establishing the eastern borders of modern Iran. This system brought the brightest and most talented into government service while preventing the development of an entrenched and unchecked aristocracy. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. The silk industry of early modern Iran was one of the cornerstones of the Safavid economy. 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. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox. 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. Junayd believed the Safavids should use their popular religious mandate to seek military and political power for themselves, and he found Shia doctrine more appropriate for his vision. Based in Iran, the Safavid Empire at its height ruled over much of what is now Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, and Iraq, as well as parts of several neighboring countries including Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (Figure 4.19). Total loading time: 0 Even after their decline, the Safavids left an influential legacy with far reaching implications for Iranian art, religion, and culture. 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. While Safi al-Dins origins are lost to history, it is generally believed that he came from a family of Azeri-speaking Kurds, although even this is uncertain. (credit: Portrait of Shah Ismail I of Persia by Uffizi Gallery/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain), This detail from a series of seventeenth-century paintings decorating the walls of the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, Iran, depicts Shah Abbas I, who ruled over Iran at the height of the Safavid dynastys power. They sustained one of the longest running empires of Iranian history, lasting from 1501 to 1736. 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. When Ismail crowned himself Shah in 1501, most of Irans population was Sunni. 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. Known as, Muqarnas and mirror mosaics, outdoor portal, Chehel Sotoun (photo: Amir Pahaei, CC BY-SA 4.0). Empires: Safavid and Qajar | Encyclopedia.com Henceforth, a treaty, signed in Qasr-e Shirin, was established, delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in 1639, which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. In all three the ruling dynasty was Islamic, the economic system was agrarian, and the military forces were paid in grants of land revenue. However, the original ancestral line of the Safavids was a religious order of Sufi mystics that lived in Ardabil, a city now in Azerbaijan (Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam that originated during the, Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid dynasty, rejoined the western and eastern halves of the Iranian plateau through military achievement. @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Many of its members were bi- or multilingual, with Azeri Turkish and Persian being the linguae francae of the dynasty. The Safavids unified much of Iran under single political control. But there was little public enthusiasm, and after his death most who had claimed to adopt Sunnism during his reign quietly reverted to Shiism. Fresco, c. 1597 C.E., Ali Qapu Palace (photo: The palaces of the Safavid era, such as the, Shah Mosque (Royal Mosque), Isfahan, Iran, begun 1611 (photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0). It did not last forever, however. His son Ali Mirza took his place, but within a few years his capital at Ardabil was conquered by his enemies. Thus, the end of his reign, 1666, marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. -This caused tension between the Safavid Empire and Ottoman Empires, which was a Sunni empire. Creative Commons Attribution License The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. This led inevitably to an assumption of kingly infallibility. Power was shifting to a new class of merchants, many of them ethnic Armenians, Georgians, and Indians. With his new army behind him, Abbas undertook to gain back the territories lost to the Uzbeks and Ottomans. Capital of the Safavid Empire. The Safiviyeh came to be led by a fifteen-year old, Ismail I. 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. The Ottomans pushed further and on August 23, 1514, managed to engage the Safavids in the Battle of Chaldiran west of Tabriz. There had been, however, Shi'a communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as eighth century. The Safavids are therefore widely known for bringing this historic change to the region. After Ismails death in 1524, ten years of internal strife followed as rival Qizilbash factions fought for dominance and the right to be regent to Ismails ten-year-old heir Tahmasp. In the following centuries, this religious schism would both cement Iran's internal cohesion and national feelings and provoke attacks by its Sunni neighbors. The most popular of these themes was the Persian, The Ardabil Carpet, Maqsud of Kashan, Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. 4.3 The Safavid Empire - World History Volume 2, from 1400 | OpenStax The emergence of the Safavids marked the first time the region was ruled by Persian kings since the. In addition, despite representing different cultures, the two share a range of similarities, which allows for an insightful analysis of the characteristics that great empires share. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. First, he bargained for peace with the Ottomans in 1590, giving away territory in the north-west. From the beginning of the polity in 1501 until the Ottoman Sultan Selim (r. 1512-1520) defeated the founder of the Safavid polity, Shah Ismail I (r. 1501-1524) at Chaldiran in 1514, the Safavid army was a tribal army. afavid dynasty summary | Britannica In their view of Islam, any pious man who followed the example of Muhammad could lead the Muslim community. Sheikh Saf al-Dn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabil came from Ardabil, a city in today's Iranian Azerbaijan where his shrine still stands. About 95 percent of Shia also believe Ali was the first of twelve infallible leaders chosen by God, so this sect is often called the Twelvers. Shah Ism'l I, who established the Safavid dynasty in 907/15012, considered himself to be the living emanation of the godhead, the Shadow of God upon earth, and the representative of the Hidden Imm by virtue of direct descent from the Seventh Imm of the Twelver (Ithn'ashariyya) Sh'a, Ms al-Kzim. The cathedral Abbas ordered built for the Armenian Christians still serves that community in Isfahan today. The Habsburg emperor Charles V, concerned by the Ottomans progression toward Vienna, approached first Ismail and then Tahmasp about an alliance. They sustained one of the longest running empires of Iranian history, lasting from 1501 to 1736. To spread the new beliefs and win converts, Ismail brought Shia scholars to Iran from Lebanon and Syria. Detail, 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: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The Safavid era witnessed a political, religious and military reorganisation and unification of which Iran as it stands today is in no small degree the legacy. It is 34-1/2 by 17-1/2 feet and is on view at Londons Victoria and Albert Museum. 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.
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