[190] The Chief Physician (Hakim-bashi) was a highly considered member of the Royal court,[192] and the most revered astrologer of the court was given the title Munajjim-bashi (Chief Astrologer). They particularly established monopoly of the spice and porcelain trade between the Far East and Iran. Safavid Empire c. 1630. But the Portuguese ambassador to the Safavids, De Gouvea, still mentions the Council of State[188] in his records, which perhaps was a term for governmental gatherings of the time. Robbers had their right wrists amputated the first time, and sentenced to death on any subsequent occasion. [83] While Persians continued to fill their historical role as administrators and clerical elites under Tahmsp, little had been done so far to minimize the military role of the Qezelb. [62] By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybni, were driven far to the north, across the Oxus River, where they continued to attack the Safavids. According to traveller Jean Chardin, for example, farmers in Iran had higher living standards than farmers in the most fertile European countries. After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. In day-to-day affairs, the language chiefly used at the Safavid court and by the great military and political officers, as well as the religious dignitaries, was Turkish, not Persian; and the last class of persons wrote their religious works mainly in Arabic. In August 1514 Isml was seriously defeated at Chldirn by his Sunni rival, the Ottoman sultan Selim I. [101], The palace intrigues reflected ethnic unrest which would soon erupt into open warfare. By the seventeenth century, trade routes between East and West had shifted away from Iran, causing a decline in commerce and trade. Noting that the Safavids were Islamic Iran's longest-lasting dynasty, Newman 2008 challenged Safavid "decline" and, in its place, offered analyses to account for the Safavids' longevity. Ismil was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Sha Islam, and believed himself to be of divine descentpractically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers. This clearly differentiated Iran from the Ottomans, who were Sunnis. however, in the safavid case, the classical turko-mongol an political model underwent two significant changes: first, as the law of the politico- military caste, the ys or tre was now supplanted by the religio-organizational fr principles of the safavid tariqa.30 second, the political and religious leadership was united under one man Ismail I, brought in mainstream Twelver Shi'a religious leaders and granted them land and money in return for loyalty. [49] Ismil was of mixed Turkoman, Kurdish, Pontic Greek, and Georgian descent, and was a direct descendant of the Kurdish f Muslim mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din. [242] As such, the status of medicine in the Safavid period did not change much, and relied as much on these works as ever before. The vizier thought that the royal forces failed to prosecute the siege sufficiently and accused the forces of sedition. Subsequently, the shah marched upon Grem, the capital of Imereti, and punished its peoples for harbouring his defected subjects. The Empire's economic strength came from its location on the . [129], In 160910, a war broke out between Kurdish tribes and the Safavid Empire. [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. 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. Chardin was present at some feasts in Isfahan were there were more than fifty different kinds of fruit. The Turkish spoken in Safavid Iran was mostly what nowadays is referred to as Azeri or Azerbaijani Turkish. His primary job was to appoint and supervise all the officials of the household and to be their contact with the Shah. From then on Cyrus was called the " shah ," or king, of Persia. Since two other sons had predeceased him, the result was a personal tragedy for Shah Abbas. Shah Ismail I himself wrote many poems in Azerbaijani, as well as in Persian and Arabic, while Shah Tahmasp was a painter. [83] According to Encyclopdia Iranica, this would be the starting point for the corps of the olmn-e a-ye-e arifa, or royal slaves, who would dominate the Safavid military for most of the empire's length. 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. Later, in 1722, an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son, Mahmud, marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud "Shah" of Persia. She had been married to Uzun Hassan[44] in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. 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). Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbash. Tabriz was the center of this industry. How many rulers did the Safavid empire have? The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismil: the defeat destroyed Ismil's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status. A separate official, the Commander-in-Chief, was appointed to be the head of these officials. One of these empires is the Safavids. The Safavid Empire, based in Persia ( Iran ), ruled over much of southwestern Asia from 1501 to 1736. [147] In the late seventeenth century, Iranian merchants established a permanent presence as far north as Narva on the Baltic sea, in what now is Estonia. [190], Next in authority were the generals: the General of the Royal Troops (the Shahsevans), General of the Musketeers, General of the Ghulams and The Master of Artillery. 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. At its zenith, during the long reign of Shah Abbas I, the empire's reach comprised Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Bahrain, and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey. For instance, the Qajar dynasty (1789-1925), the first major dynasty to succeed the Safavids, continued the tradition of Safavid book arts, painting, and architecture. The carpets of Ardabil were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. Even though the Safavids were not the first Shii rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shia Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran, as well as what is nowadays the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Safavid Empire was formed in 1501 and ended by the invasion of Afghans in 1722. 1977, p. 77. The article analyses the social and political structure of the Safavid Empire. [122][123][124][125] After fully securing the region, he executed the rebellious Luarsab II of Kartli and later had the Georgian queen Ketevan, who had been sent to the shah as negotiator, tortured to death when she refused to renounce Christianity, in an act of revenge for the recalcitrance of Teimuraz. There, the Safavids influenced the local Turcoman tribes, and they themselves were influenced by Turcomans, such that the originally Iranian-speaking Safavids became Turkic-speaking. Having agreed to do so, a sergeant would investigate and summon the defendant, who was then obliged to pay the fee of the sergeant. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiism in Iran Since the Safavids: Safavid Period", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Safavid_Iran&oldid=1128652747, Shahsevans: these were 12,000 strong and built up from the small group of, Ghulams: Tahmasp I had started introducing huge amounts of, Musketeers: realizing the advantages that the Ottomans had because of their firearms, Shah Abbas was at pains to equip both the qurchi and the ghulam soldiers with up-to-date weaponry. 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. Henceforth a treaty, signed in Qasr-e Shirin known as the Treaty of Zuhab was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in 1639, a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. [113] It was clear that Abbas' style of leadership would be entirely different from Mohammad Khodabanda's leadership. 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. As a result of Mongol conquest, and relative religious tolerance of Ilhanids, Shi'a dynasties were established in IranSarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. 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 Safavid empire had a strong social structure with kings and royals at the top and peasants at the bottom. When the young Shah Tahmsp took the throne, Iran was in a dire state. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of Ismil;[48] furthermore, the Ottomans had the advantage of artillery, which the Safavid army lacked. This gives a convincing explanation as to why the Turkic Azerbaijani language became so important in a land with an overwhelming Persian-speaking majority. 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 and Armenia, most of Iraq , Georgia , Afghanistan, and the Caucasus, as well as parts of Pakistan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan and Turkey. Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were largely ineffectual. [78][79] After Humayun converted to Shii Islam (under extreme duress),[78] Tahmsp offered him military assistance to regain his territories in return for Kandahar, which controlled the overland trade route between central Iran and the Ganges. Immediately after Nader Shah's assassination in 1747 and the disintegration of his short-lived empire, the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent Zand dynasty. Although a majority of the people in the kingdom were Iranians, there were also some Arabs, Turks, and Armenians. Had corrupt bureaucracy and officials Peasant revolts Had external conflicts from rival Muslim empires and other Empires that were threatening to take land Rich and powerful spent money for a life of luxury 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. It would seemthat the poet and miniaturist Sadeqi Afshar (15331610), whose mother tongue was not Azerbaijani Turkish, but Chaghatay (although he was born in Tabriz), was the first to refer to speakers of Qizilbashi (motakallemin-e Qizilbash), but he, and one century later Abdol-Jamil Nasiri, were the exception to this general rule of calling the language "Turki". [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. This agreement concisted of five elements: land, water, plough-animals, seed and labour. Georgians in the Safavid Administration", The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 16001730, "The Safavids and Mughal Relations with the Deccan States", "Persians and Shi'ites in Thailand: From the Ayutthaya Period to the Present", "Cetbang, Teknologi Senjata Api Andalan Majapahit", "CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS iv. It ruled over many parts of southern Europe, west Asia and North Africa. The Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623-1639 was the last of a series of conflicts fought between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire, then the two major powers of Western Asia, over control of Mesopotamia. The elegantly baroque, yet famously misnamed, "Polonaise" carpets were made in Iran during the seventeenth century. The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. As the former represented the "people of the sword" and the latter, "the people of the pen", high-level official posts would naturally be reserved for the Persians. Safavid culture is often admired for the large-scale city planning and architecture, achievements made during the reign of later shahs, but the arts of persian miniature, book-binding and calligraphy, in fact, never received as much attention as they did during his time. 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. [121] Ultimately forming an alliance, the two sought refuge with the Ottoman forces in Ottoman ruled Imereti. Although Turkish was widely spoken in Safavid Iran this fact is rarely mentioned. 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