Thus came the term "Turk and Tajik" to describe the Persianate, or Turko-Persian, nature of many dynasties which ruled over Greater Iran between the 12th and 20th centuries, in that these dynasties promoted and helped continue the dominant Persian linguistic and cultural identity of their states, although the dynasties themselves were of non-Persian (e.g. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. When he died on 19 January 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him.[142]. Shah Ismail I himself wrote many poems in Azerbaijani, as well as in Persian and Arabic, while Shah Tahmasp was a painter. Abbas offered trading rights and the chance to preach Christianity in Iran in return for help against the Ottomans. The terms of trade were not imposed on the Safavid shahs, but rather negotiated. Zabiollah Safa (1986), "Persian Literature in the Safavid Period". Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Usually neither Persian nor European authors mention in which language people communicated with each other. A very strenuous form of exercise which the Persians greatly enjoyed was hunting. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. [198] The local sheriff (kalantar), who was not elected by the people but directly appointed by the Shah, and whose function was to protect the people against injustices on the part of the local governors, supervised the kadkhoda. As a result of the Mongol conquest and the relative religious tolerance of the Ilkhanids, Shii dynasties were re-established in Iran, Sarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya.[31]. Founded by Shah Ismail in the early 1500s, the Safavid dynasty broke with the Sunni Muslims, declared independence and enforced Shiite Islam as their state religion. He enjoyed tremendous power and control over national affairs as he was the immediate deputy of the Shah. This page was last edited on 22 December 2022, at 18:36. Tobacco grew all over the country and was as strong as that grown in Brazil. VI, Cambridge University Press 1986, p. 339: "Further evidence of a desire to follow in the line of Turkmen rulers is Ismail's assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", "Iranian identity iii. They finally arrived at the court of Philip III of Spain in 1602. Quickly making a name as a military genius both feared and respected amongst the empire's friends and enemies (including Iran's archrival the Ottoman Empire, and Russia; both empires Nader would deal with soon afterwards), Nader Shah easily defeated the Afghan Hotaki forces in the 1729 Battle of Damghan. Culture flourished under Safavid patronage. According to William Cleveland and Martin Bunton,[232] the establishment of Isfahan as the Great capital of Iran and the material splendor of the city attracted intellectual's from all corners of the world, which contributed to the city's rich cultural life. Stanford Jay Shaw. In fact, it was the founder of the Safavid Empire, Shah Ismail I, who forcibly converted Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam and established Shi'ism as the state religion. His native language was Old Tati (zar), an extinct Iranian dialect of the north closely related to Persian. "Review of Emile Janssens'. 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. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. 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). To counter the rising Safavid power, in 1502, Sultan Bayezid II forcefully deported many Shiite Muslims from Anatolia to other parts of the Ottoman realm. They were able to summon for a divorce and were given a lot more trust and respect than usual. Bureaucracy and landed class who were considered the middle classes. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Rml and Kopek Sultn Ustajlu (who had been Ismail's last wakl) established themselves as co-regents of the young shah. Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Iran 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 patronage for fine arts. As part of its completion, he greatly expanded the ghulam military corps from just a few hundred during Tahmsp's era, to 15,000 highly trained cavalrymen,[174] as part of a whole army division of 40,000 Caucasian ghulams. [96] She was done in by intrigues by the vizier Mirza Salman Jaberi (who was a holdover from Ismail II's reign) and Mohammad's chief wife Khayr al-Nisa Begum, known as Mahd-i Uly. By the time of Isml I, the orders sixth head, the afavs commanded enough support from the Kizilbashlocal Turkmens and other disaffected heterodox tribesto enable him to capture Tabrz from the Ak Koyunlu (Turkish: White Sheep), an Uzbek Turkmen confederation. In addition the shah's personal bodyguard, made up exclusively of Caucasian ghulms, was dramatically increased to 3,000. [113] It was clear that Abbas' style of leadership would be entirely different from Mohammad Khodabanda's leadership. Also, the camel was a good investment for the merchant, as they cost nearly nothing to feed, carried a lot weight and could travel almost anywhere. Regarding the usage of Georgian, Circassian and Armenian at the Royal Court, David Blow states,[195]. Safavid, like other Empires had a long standing hierarchy. Crown prince Hamza Mirza, now 21 years old and director of Safavid affairs, led a force to confront the Ottomans, but in 1586 was murdered under mysterious circumstances. These empires shared many similarities, but one major similarity is their political structures. [146] Overland trade grew notably however, as Iran was able to further develop its overland trade with North and Central Europe during the second half of the seventeenth century. Roemer, H. R. (1986). [109] Abbas' own position seemed even more dependent on Qizilbash approval than Mohammad Khodabanda's was. They appear to have abandoned their identity as Sunni Muslims and embrace Shia ideals under their leader, one Khwaja Ali. Isfahan bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital there in 1598: the Imperial Mosque, Masjid-e Shah, completed in 1630, the Imam Mosque (Masjid-e Imami) the Lutfallah Mosque and the Royal Palace. Soleymn agreed to permit Safavid Shia pilgrims to make pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina as well as tombs of imams in Iraq and Arabia on condition that the shah would abolish the taburru, the cursing of the first three Rashidun caliphs. The Safavids generally ruled over a peaceful and prosperous empire. The Silk Road which led through northern Iran was revived in the 16th century. The Judge is seated at one end of the room having a writer and a man of law by his side. [126][127] Kakheti lost two-thirds of its population in these years by Abbas' punitive campaign. The original name was just turki, and so a convenient name might be Turki-yi Acemi. 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, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. [139], More came of Abbas's contacts with the English, although England had little interest in fighting against the Ottomans. He admired their consideration towards foreigners, but he also stumbled upon characteristics that he found challenging. In the late 17th century, Safavid Iran had higher living standards than in Europe. Despite the Safavid dynasty's Sufi origins, most Sunni or Shi'a Sufi groups were prohibited by the Nimatullahi order. Szczepanski, Kallie. Chardin was present at some feasts in Isfahan were there were more than fifty different kinds of fruit. [207], The Safavid economy was to a large extent based on agriculture and taxation of agricultural products. He blamed this on misgovernment, the sparse population of the country, and lack of appreciation of agriculture amongst the Persians. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. Although the early afav order was originally Sunni, following the jurisprudence of the Shfi school, it gravitated toward Shiism over time, perhaps pulled along by the popular veneration of Al. No act of the Shah was valid without the counter seal of the Prime Minister. Adam Olearius, "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors" (excerpts). Three bodies of troops were formed, all trained and armed in an early modern manner and paid out of the royal treasury: the ghulms (slaves), the tofangchs (musketeers), and the topchs (artillerymen). In spite of all this, however, the general population of Iran remained mostly Sunni until the Safavid period. Sheikh Saf al-Dn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabil came from Ardabil, a city in today's Iranian Azerbaijan where his shrine still stands. What were the strengths of the Ottoman Empire? He had removed them from power and banished them from Iran by 1729. [70] Decentralized control over Uzbek forces was largely responsible for the inability of the Uzbeks to make territorial inroads into Khorasan. Between 1508 and 1524, the year of Ismail's death, the shah appointed five successive Persians to the office of vakil. The standing army created by Abbas consisted of: (1) 10,00015,000 cavalry ghulm regiments solely composed of ethnic Caucasians, armed with muskets in addition to the usual weapons (then the largest cavalry in the world[115]); (2) a corps of musketeers, tufangchiyn, mainly Iranians, originally foot soldiers but eventually mounted, and (3) a corps of artillerymen, tpchiyn. Of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Ismail I gained political prominence in 1501. For nearly 10 years rival Qizilbash factions fought each other. [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. Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in Qandahar from Sunni to Twelverism. In cultural matters, Tahmsp presided the revival of the fine arts, which flourished under his patronage. Originally, the Safaviyeh was a spiritual, less denominational response to the upheavals and unrest in northwest Iran/eastern Anatolia in the decades following the Mongol invasion. The more than century of tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. According to Donald Struesand, "although the Safavid unification of the eastern and western halves of the Iranian plateau and imposition of Twelver Shii Islam on the region created a recognizable precursor of modern Iran, the Safavid polity itself was neither distinctively Iranian nor national. The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (c. 9801037) was still regarded as one of the primary textbooks in medicine throughout most of the civilized world. ISBN links support NWE through referral fees. Their demise was followed by a period of unrest. Each magistrate executes justice in his own house in a large room opening on to a courtyard or a garden which is raised two or three feet above the ground. Every office had a deputy or superintendent, whose job was to keep records of all actions of the state officials and report directly to the Shah. She was by no means content to exercise a more or less indirect influence on affairs of state: instead, she openly carried out all essential functions herself, including the appointment of the chief officers of the realm. The greatest Safavid ruler was Shah Abbas I (r. 1587 - 1629), who modernized the Persian military, adding musketeers and artillery-men; moved the capital city deeper into the Persian heartland; and established a policy of tolerance towards Christians in the empire. Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (15651635) introduced new subjects to Persian paintingsemi-nude women, youths, lovers. The highest level in the legal system was the Minister of Justice, and the law officers were divided into senior appointments, such as the magistrate (darughah), inspector (visir), and recorder (vakanevis). In 161416 during the OttomanSafavid War (16031618), Abbas suppressed a rebellion led by his formerly most loyal Georgian subjects Luarsab II and Teimuraz I (also known as Tahmuras Khan) in the Kingdom of Kakheti. [14] David Blow adds; "it seems likely that most, if not all, of the Turkoman grandees at the court also spoke Persian, which was the language of the administration and culture, as well as of the majority of the population. "These legendary characters are often represented on textiles in contemporary Safavid dress, with men sporting turbans wound around a central oblong baton (taj haydari) (52.20.11). The Ottoman Empire was a Turkish kingdom that existed between 1299 and 1923.The kingdom was made up of 29 provinces. In the war against the Uzbeks he showed that the Safavids had become a gunpowder empire. Tabriz was the center of this industry. Iran's neighbors seized the opportunity to attack. The Turkish spoken in Safavid Iran was mostly what nowadays is referred to as Azeri or Azerbaijani Turkish. In this period, handicrafts such as tile making, pottery and textiles developed and great advances were made in miniature painting, bookbinding, decoration and calligraphy. [83] Therefore, in 1540, Shah Tahmsp started the first of a series of invasions of the Caucasus region, both meant as a training and drilling for his soldiers, as well as mainly bringing back massive numbers of Christian Circassian and Georgian slaves, who would form the basis of a military slave system,[84] alike to the janissaries of the neighbouring Ottoman Empire,[85] as well as at the same time forming a new layer in Iranian society composed of ethnic Caucasians. They in turn would be replaced by the Shamlu, whose amir, Husain Khan, became the chief adviser. In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, their archrival the Ottomans and the Uzbeks as the 17th century progressed, Iran had to contend with the rise of new neighbors. [2] Shah Abbas I recognized the commercial benefit of promoting the artsartisan's products provided much of Iran's foreign trade. The Mughal empire was forced into a heavy tribute. As Tahmasp understood and realized that any long-term solutions would mainly involve minimizing the political and military presence of the Qizilbash as a whole, it would require them to be replaced by a whole new layer in society, that would question and battle the authority of the Qizilbash on every possible level, and minimize any of their influences. Since two other sons had predeceased him, when he died on January 19, 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him. Who were Safavids? 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