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96-558: The Shia Iranian Safavids asked for the assistance of the Utub in invading Oman in 1697; however, they were defeated, as they were already engaged in another war with the Ottomans for the control of Basra . Some Utub and Huwala at that time were serving as mariners in the Persian navy, but they revolted of maltreatment and took possession of some ships and drove away. The Imam of Oman at

192-724: A complete control over all of it. Ismāʻil followed the line of Iranian and Turkmen rulers prior to his assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", previously held by Uzun Hasan and many other Iranian kings. The Ottoman sultans addressed him as the king of Iranian lands and the heir to Jamshid and Kai Khosrow . Having started with just the possession of Azerbaijan, Shirvan , southern Dagestan (with its important city of Derbent ), and Armenia in 1501, Erzincan and Erzurum fell into his power in 1502, Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Diyarbakır , Najaf , and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat , as well as other parts of Khorasan , in 1510. In 1503,

288-463: A coup, but his selection was ensured when 30,000 Qizilbash supporters demonstrated outside the prison. Shortly after the installation of Ismail II on August 22, 1576, Haydar was beheaded. Ismail's 14-month reign was notable for two things: continual bloodletting of his relatives and others (including his own supporters) and his reversal on religion. He had all his relatives killed except for his older brother, Mohammad Khudabanda, who, being nearly blind,

384-509: A court appointee and the revenue of which reverted to the court. Particularly important in this regard were the Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, which produced Iran's single most important export; silk. With the substantial new revenue, Abbas was able to build up a central, standing army, loyal only to him. This freed him of his dependence on Qizilbash warriors loyal to local tribal chiefs. List of monarchs of Persia This article lists

480-540: A flourishing of Persian art. Whether Abbas had fully formed his strategy at the onset, at least in retrospect his method of restoring the shah's authority involved three phases: (1) restoration of internal security and law and order; (2) recovery of the eastern territories from the Uzbeks; and (3) recovery of the western territories from the Ottomans. Before he could begin to embark on the first stage, he needed relief from

576-635: A free-trade port at Zubarah's harbor, but the Al Khalifas refused to share the economic gains with the Al Jalahmah, and so the latter migrated to Al Ruwais. The Al Khalifa went on to monopolize the pearl banks around Qatar. Putting aside their grievances, the Utub clans of Al Bin Ali, Al Jalahma and Al Khalifa, along with some Arab clans, drove out the Persians from Bahrain in 1783 in an expedition which

672-489: A hand in elevating and deposing Ismail II and thus had considerable influence among the Qizilbash, was the first. She did not last much longer than Mohammad's installation at Qazvin, where she was murdered. 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 ‘Ulyā. There is some indication that Mirza Salman

768-456: A number of reasons (not least of which was the fact that a Tajik was given military command over them), and demanded that he be turned over to them. The crown prince (the vizier's son-in-law) meekly turned him over, and the Qizilbash executed him and confiscated his property. The siege of Herat thus ended in 1583 without Ali Quli Khan's surrender, and Khorasan was in a state of open rebellion. In 1585 two events occurred that would combine to break

864-478: A society where the Persian language, culture, monarchy, and Shia Islam became integral elements of the developing national identity. The concept presumably had started to form under the Mongol Ilkhanate in the late 13th-century, a period in which regional actions, trade, written culture, and partly Shia Islam, contributed to the establishment of the early modern Persianate world. Its shortened form

960-580: A source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi , who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya. After the decline of the Timurid Empire (1370–1506), Iran

1056-459: A tolerant Sunni Islam while ruling a largely Hindu population. After the death of Babur, his son Humayun was ousted from his territories and threatened by his half-brother and rival, who had inherited the northern part of Babur's territories. Having to flee from city to city, Humayun eventually sought refuge at the court of Tahmāsp in Qazvin in 1543. Tahmāsp received Humayun as the true emperor of

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1152-458: A treaty which preserved peace for twenty years. In cultural matters, Tahmāsp presided the revival of the fine arts, which flourished under his patronage. 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. Tahmāsp also planted

1248-549: A vassal state. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz , they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. Nevertheless, given the insecurity in Iraq and its northwest territory, Tahmāsp moved his court from Tabriz to Qazvin . In the gravest crisis of Tahmāsp's reign, Ottoman forces in 1553–54 captured Yerevan , Karabakh and Nakhjuwan , destroyed palaces, villas and gardens, and threatened Ardabil . During these operations an agent of

1344-633: Is now Iran , Azerbaijan , Armenia , eastern Georgia , parts of the North Caucasus including Russia , and Iraq , as well as parts of Turkey , Syria , Pakistan , Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . 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 . The Safavids have also left their mark down to

1440-633: The Hindu Kush . Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids into Khorasan, the Safavid empire was able to keep them at bay throughout its reign. More problematic for the Safavids was the powerful neighboring Ottoman Empire . The Ottomans, a Sunni dynasty, considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, in 1502, Sultan Bayezid II forcefully deported many Shiʻite Muslims from Anatolia to other parts of

1536-586: The Old Azari language —a now-extinct Northwestern Iranian language —and accompanied by a paraphrase in Persian that helps its understanding, has survived to this day and has linguistic importance. After Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā († 794/1391–92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement that conducted religious propaganda throughout Iran, Syria and Asia Minor, and most likely had maintained its Sunni Shafi'ite origin at that time. The leadership of

1632-586: The Ottomans due to their predatory habits of preying on caravans in Basra and trading ships in Shatt al-Arab . They migrated to Kuwait thereafter and established a government under Al-Sabah family. Around the 1760s, the Al Jalahma and Al Khalifa clans, both belonging to the Utub federation, migrated to Zubarah in modern-day Qatar , leaving Al Sabah as the sole proprietors of Kuwait. The two clans established

1728-721: The Peace of Amasya , Tasmāsp underwent what he called a "sincere repentance." Tasmāsp at the same time removed his son Ismail from his Qizilbash followers and imprisoned him at Qahqaha. Moreover, he began to strengthen Shiʻi practice by such things as forbidding in the new capital of Qazvin poetry and music which did not esteem Ali and the Twelve Imams. He also reduced the taxes of districts that were traditionally Shiʻi, regulated services in mosques and engaged Shiʻi propagandists and spies. Extortion, intimidation and harassment were practiced against Sunnis. When Tahmāsp died in 984/1576, Iran

1824-726: The Seleucid Empire . The Seleucid dynasty gradually lost control of Persia. In 253, the Arsacid dynasty established itself in Parthia . The Parthians gradually expanded their control, until by the mid-2nd century BC, the Seleucids had completely lost control of Persia. Control of eastern territories was permanently lost by Antiochus VII in 129 BC. For more comprehensive lists of kings, queens, sub-kings and sub-queens of this Era see: June 631 – June 632 (Second reign) Restored to

1920-618: The chief vizier , Qāżi Jahān of Qazvin, after 1535. While Persians continued to fill their historical role as administrators and clerical elites under Tahmāsp, little had been done so far to minimize the military role of the Qezelbāš. Therefore, in 1540, Shah Tahmāsp 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

2016-546: The gunpowder empires . The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the empire , marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam . An Iranian dynasty rooted in the Sufi Safavid order founded by Kurdish sheikhs , it heavily intermarried with Turkoman , Georgian , Circassian , and Pontic Greek dignitaries and

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2112-559: The 1680s travelogue Safine-ye Solaymani by the Safavid ambassador to Siam . This recurring expression highlights the authors' pride and recognition of their homeland. This expression is likely the fitting Persian way to describe an "empire" found in the writings of that time. Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334). In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed

2208-683: The Al Bin Ali clan and the army of Nasr Al-Madhkur . Zubarah was originally the center of power of the Al Bin Ali Bani Utbah clan, which ruled Zubarah and are the original dominant clan in Zubarah. About 2,000 Persian troops arrived in Bahrain by December; they then attacked Zubarah on 17 May 1783. After suffering a defeat, the Persians withdrew their arms and retreated to their ships. An Utub naval fleet from Kuwait arrived in Bahrain

2304-712: The Al Bin Ali under the command of their leader Isa bin Tarif attacked Mombasa , Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman helped the Ali Bin Ali with ships and armoury, repeatedly bombarding Fort Jesus for a week until the Portuguese surrendered on 12 March. The fort was ruled by the Portuguese Empire, with East African and Portuguese soldiers. The Utub's ancestors were expelled from Umm Qasr in Iraq by

2400-599: The Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan and were known as Qizilbash "Red Heads" because of their distinct red headgear. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and

2496-589: The Iranian state established by Ismāʻil. The most important local rulers about 1500 were: Ismāʻil was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian Empire he created. The Safavid dynasty was founded about 1501 by Shāh Ismā'īl I . His background is disputed: the language he used is not identical with that of his "race" or "nationality" and he was bilingual from birth. Ismāʻil was of mixed Turkoman , Kurdish , Pontic Greek , and Georgian descent, and

2592-573: The Mughal dynasty, despite the fact that Humayun had been living in exile for more than fifteen years. After Humayun converted to Shiʻi Islam (under extreme duress), Tahmāsp offered him military assistance to regain his territories in return for Kandahar , which controlled the overland trade route between central Iran and the Ganges. In 1545 a combined Iranian–Mughal force managed to seize Kandahar and occupy Kabul. Humayun handed over Kandahar, but Tahmāsp

2688-620: The Ottoman realm. In 1511, the Şahkulu rebellion was a widespread pro-Shia and pro-Safavid uprising directed against the Ottoman Empire from within the empire. Furthermore, by the early 1510s Ismail's expansionistic policies had pushed the Safavid borders in Asia Minor even more westwards. The Ottomans soon reacted with a large-scale incursion into Eastern Anatolia by Safavid ghazis under Nūr-ʿAlī Ḵalīfa. This action coincided with

2784-404: The Qizilbash (which provided the only military force) was further reinforced by the precarious situation of the empire, in the vice of Ottoman and Uzbek territorial plunder. Yet over the course of ten years Abbas was able, using cautiously-timed but nonetheless decisive steps, to affect a profound transformation of Safavid administration and military, throw back the foreign invaders, and preside over

2880-542: The Qizilbash, which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran , resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of Ismāʻil, and led to ten years of civil war (930–040/1524–1533) until Shāh Tahmāsp regained control of the affairs of the state. For most of the last decade of Ismail's reign, the domestic affairs of the empire were overseen by the Tajik vizier Mirza Shah Hossein until his assassination in 1523. The Chaldiran battle also holds historical significance as

2976-579: The Safavid Empire by the Ottomans. Under the Peace, the Ottomans agreed to restore Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan to the Safavids and in turn would retain Mesopotamia (Iraq) and eastern Anatolia. Soleymān agreed to permit Safavid Shi’a 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

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3072-620: The Samlu (now supporting Sam Mizra's pretensions) attempted to poison the shah. Tahmāsp resolved to end hostilities and sent his ambassador to Soleymān's winter quarters in Erzurum in September 1554 to sue for peace. Temporary terms were followed by the Peace of Amasya in June 1555, ending the war with the Ottomans for the next two decades. The treaty was the first formal diplomatic recognition of

3168-1041: The Sasanian throne, and later strangled to death by Piruz Khosrow Note: Classical Persia is generally agreed to have ended with the collapse of the Sasanian Empire as a result of the Muslim conquest of Persia . A Zoroastrian Persian dynasty that held power in the north for over a century before finally falling to the Abbasid Caliphate. For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: The Buyid Kingdom

3264-516: The Shamlus. 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 . When he reached the capital with Abbas a public demonstration in the boy's favor decided the issue, and Shah Mohammad voluntarily handed over the insignia of kingship to his son, who was crowned Abbas I on October 1, 1588. The moment

3360-405: The accession to the Ottoman throne in 1512 of Sultan Selim I , Bayezid II 's son, and it was the casus belli leading to Selim's decision to invade neighbouring Safavid Iran two years later. 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. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double

3456-483: The affairs of the government to the office of the wakīl (chief administrator, vakil in Turkish). Ismāʻil's successors, most manifestly Shāh Abbās I, successfully diminished the influence of the Qizilbash on the affairs of the state. Shāh Tahmāsp, the young titular governor of Khorasan , succeeded his father Ismāʻil in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old. The succession was evidently undisputed. Tahmāsp

3552-571: The assembled court. The Takkalu replaced the Rumlu as the dominant tribe. They in turn would be replaced by the Shamlu, whose amir, Husain Khan, became the chief adviser. This latest leader would only last until 1534, when he was deposed and executed. At the downfall of Husain Khan, Tahmāsp asserted his rule. Rather than rely on another Turkmen tribe, he appointed a Persian wakīl . From 1553 for forty years

3648-443: The basis of a military slave system, alike to the janissaries of the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, as well as at the same time forming a new layer in Iranian society composed of ethnic Caucasians . At the fourth invasion in 1553, it was now clear that Tahmāsp followed a policy of annexation and resettlement as he gained control over Tbilisi (Tiflis) and the region of Kartli while physically transplanting more than 30,000 people to

3744-428: The central Iranian heartlands. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , this would be the starting point for the corps of the ḡolāmān-e ḵāṣṣa-ye-e šarifa , or royal slaves , who would dominate the Safavid military for most of the empire's length. As non-Turcoman converts to Islam, these Circassian and Georgian ḡolāmāns (also written as ghulams ) were completely unrestrained by clan loyalties and kinship obligations, which

3840-432: The court, but she fell in the first of many intrigues which continued even though the Uzbeks and Ottomans again used the opportunity to threaten Safavid territory. Mohammad allowed others to direct the affairs of state, but none of them had either the prestige, skill or ruthlessness of either Tahmāsp or Ismail II to rein in the ethnic or palace factions, and each of his rulers met grim ends. Mohammad's younger sister, who had

3936-552: The death of his father, Sheik Haydar, who had been murdered in 1488 by the ruling Shirvanshah, Farrukh Yassar. Afterwards, Ismail went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shāh of Azerbaijan , proclaimed himself King of Kings ( shahanshah ) of Iran and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Twelver Shīʿīsm as the official religion of his domain . The establishment of Twelver Shīʿīsm as

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4032-561: The empire, he understood and realized that any long-term solutions would mainly involve minimizing the political and military presence of the Qezelbāš as a whole. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , his father and founder of the Empire, Ismail I, had begun this process on a bureaucratic level as he appointed a number of prominent Persians in powerful bureaucratic positions, and one can see this continued in Tahmāsp's lengthy and close relationship with

4128-506: The excessively powerful position of Shiʻi dignitaries, which would have been undermined by a reintroduction of the Sunna." His conduct might also be explained by his drug use. In any event, he was ultimately killed (according to some accounts) by his Circassian half-sister, Pari Khān Khānum , who championed him over Haydar. She is said to have poisoned his opium. On the death of Ismail II there were three candidates for succession: Shāh Shujā',

4224-581: The first three Rashidun caliphs. It was a heavy price in terms of territory and prestige lost, but it allowed the empire to last, something that seemed improbable during the first years of Tahmāsp's reign. Almost simultaneously with the emergence of the Safavid Empire, the Mughal Empire , founded by the Timurid heir Babur , was developing in South-Asia. The Mughals adhered (for the most part) to

4320-492: The impasse among the Qizilbash. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. 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. In the east Murshid Quli Khan, of the Ustajlu tribe, managed to snatch Abbas away from

4416-435: The infant son of Ismail (only a few weeks old), Ismail's brother, Mohammad Khodabanda; and Mohammad's son, Sultan Hamza Mirza, 11 years old at the time. Pari Khān Khānum, sister of Ismail and Mohammad, hoped to act as regent for any of the three (including her older brother, who was nearly blind). Mohammad was selected and received the crown on February 11, 1579. Mohammad would rule for 10 years, and his sister at first dominated

4512-514: The kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti were made his vassals as well. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybāni , were driven far to the north, across the Oxus River , where they continued to attack the Safavids. Ismāʻil's decisive victory over the Uzbeks, who had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran's eastern borders, and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond

4608-529: The leadership of Shaikh Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and his subjects in Zubarah, Qatar, conquered and expelled the Persians from Bahrain in 1782 after defeating them in the battle of Zubarah between the people of Zubarah and the Army of Nasr Al-Madhkur . The Bani Utbah was already present at Bahrain at that time, settling there during summer season and purchasing date palm gardens. On 5 March 1837,

4704-548: The leadership of the Zahediyeh , a significant Sufi order in Gilan, from his spiritual master and father-in-law Zahed Gilani . Due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. The Safavid order soon gained great influence in the city of Ardabil, and Hamdullah Mustaufi noted that most of the people of Ardabil were followers of Safi al-Din. Religious poetry from Safi al-Din, written in

4800-578: The midst of these foreign perils, rebellion broke out in Khorasan fomented by (or on behalf of) Mohammad's son, Abbas. Ali Quli Khan Shamlu, the lala of Abbas and Ismail II's man in Herat proclaimed Abbas shah there April 1581. The following year the loyal Qizilbash forces (the Turkmen and Takkalu who controlled Qazvin), with vizier Mirza Salman and crown prince Sultan Hamza Mirza at their head, confronted

4896-674: The monarchs of Iran ( Persia ) from the establishment of the Medes around 678 BC until the deposition of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Pharaonic titulary: Horus : Smatawy, Nswbty : Mesutire Note: Ancient Persia is generally agreed to have ended with the collapse of the Achaemenid dynasty as a result of the Wars of Alexander the Great . The Fratarakas appear to have been Governors of

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4992-585: The most powerful dynasty in Iran was that of the Qara Qoyunlu , the "Black Sheep", whose ruler Jahan Shah ordered Junāyd to leave Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city. 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. Junayd

5088-458: The most serious threat to the empire: the military pressure from the Ottomans. He did so by taking the humiliating step of coming to peace terms with the Ottomans by making, for now, permanent their territorial gains in Iraq and the territories in the north, including Azerbaijan, Karabakh , Ganja , eastern Georgia (comprising the Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti ), Dagestan , and Kurdistan. At

5184-624: The opportunity to attack. The Uzbeks struck in the Spring of 1578 but were repelled by Murtaza Quli Sultan, governor of Mashhad. More seriously the Ottomans ended the Peace of Amasya and commenced a war with Iran that would last until 1590 by invading Iran's territories of Georgia and Shirvan . While the initial attacks were repelled, the Ottomans continued and grabbed considerable territory in Transcaucasia , Dagestan , Kurdistan and Lorestan and in 993/1585 they even took Tabriz . In

5280-407: The order passed from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khwādja Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son Ibrāhīm († 1429–47). When Shaykh Junayd , the son of Ibrāhim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to historian Roger Savory , "Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power." At that time,

5376-450: The people of Isfahan after 16 days. and 1160–1161 Deposed by Inanj, Lord of Reyy and the court officials Killed by Khwarazm Shah Tekish An empire built from Khwarezm , covering part of Iran and neighbouring Central Asia. For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: and 1376/1377–1381 Sources: Note: Medieval Persia

5472-404: The perpetrators were brought to justice, although the shah lectured the assembled amirs on how they departed from the old ways when the shah was master to his Sufi disciples. The shah used that occasion to proclaim the 11-year-old Sultan Hamza Mirza (Mahd-i ‘Ulyā's favorite) crown-prince. The palace intrigues reflected ethnic unrest which would soon erupt into open warfare. Iran's neighbors seized

5568-446: The present era by establishing Twelver Shīʿīsm as the state religion of Iran , as well as spreading Shīʿa Islam in major parts of the Middle East , Central Asia , Caucasus , Anatolia , the Persian Gulf , and Mesopotamia . Mamalik-i Mahrusa-yi Iran ( Guarded Domains of Iran ) was the common and official name of the Safavid realm. The idea of the Guarded Domains illustrated a feeling of territorial and political uniformity in

5664-510: The problem circled around the military tribal elite of the empire, the Qezelbāš , who believed that physical proximity to and control of a member of the immediate Safavid family guaranteed spiritual advantages, political fortune, and material advancement. Despite that Tahmāsp 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

5760-494: The rebelling Ustajlu-Shamlu coalition which had assumed control of Khorasan under the nominal rule of young Abbas. The Ustajlu chief, Murshid Quli Khan, immediately acquiesced and received a royal pardon. The Shumlu leader, Ali Quli Khan, however, holed himself inside Herat with Abbas. The vizier thought that the royal forces failed to prosecute the siege sufficiently and accused the forces of sedition. The loyal Qizibash recoiled at their treatment by Mirza Salman, who they resented for

5856-401: The same day and set Manama ablaze. The Persian forces returned to the mainland to recruit troops for another attack, but their garrisons in Bahrain were ultimately overrun by the Utub. It is well known that the strategist of this battle was Shaikh Nasr Al-Madhkur ; his sword fell into the hands of Salama Bin Saif Al Bin Ali after his army collapsed and his forces were defeated. The Utub under

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5952-539: The same time, he took steps to ensure that the Qizilbash did not mistake this apparent show of weakness as a signal for more tribal rivalry at the court. Although no one could have bristled more at the power grab of his "mentor" Murshid Quli Khan, he rounded up the leaders of a plot to assassinate the wakīl and had them executed. Then, having made the point that he would not encourage rivalries even purporting to favor his interests, he felt secure enough to have Murshid Quli Khan assassinated on his own orders in July 1589. It

6048-504: The seeds that would, unintentionally, produce change much later. During his reign he had realized while both looking to his own empire and that of the neighboring Ottomans, that there were dangerous rivalling factions and internal family rivalries that were a threat to the heads of state. Not taken care of accordingly, these were a serious threat to the ruler, or worse, could bring the fall of the former or could lead to unnecessary court intrigues. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , for Tahmāsp,

6144-414: The shah was able to avoid being ensnared in tribal treacheries. But the decade of civil war had exposed the empire to foreign danger and Tahmāsp had to turn his attention to the repeated raids by the Uzbeks. The Uzbeks, during the reign of Tahmāsp, attacked the eastern provinces of the kingdom five times, and the Ottomans under Soleymān I invaded Iran four times. Decentralized control over Uzbek forces

6240-555: The shah's attention. Although the first slave soldiers would not be organized until the reign of Abbas I, during Tahmāsp's time Caucasians would already become important members of the royal household, Harem and in the civil and military administration, and by that becoming their way of eventually becoming an integral part of the society. One of Tahmāsp's sisters married a Circassian, who would use his court office to team up with Tahmāsp's daughter, Pari Khān Khānum to assert themselves in succession matters after Tahmāsp's death. After

6336-445: The size of that of Ismāʻil ; furthermore, the Ottomans had the advantage of artillery, which the Safavid army lacked. According to historian Roger Savory , "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later". Although Ismāʻil

6432-482: The start of over 300 years of frequent and harsh warfare fueled by geo-politics and ideological differences between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavids (as well as successive Iranian states) mainly regarding territories in Eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus , and Mesopotamia . Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbash. Ismāʻil exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, he left

6528-438: The state religion of Safavid Iran led to various Ṣūfī orders ( tariqa ) openly declaring their Shīʿīte position, and others to promptly assume Shīʿa Islam. Among these, the founder of one of the most successful Ṣūfī orders, Shāh Ni'matullāh Walī (d. 1431), traced his descent from the first Ismāʿīlī Imam , Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl , as evidenced in a poem as well as another unpublished literary composition. Although Shāh Ni'matullāh

6624-414: The success with firearms at Jām, Tahmāsp still lacked the confidence to engage their archrivals the Ottomans, choosing instead to cede territory, often using scorched earth tactics in the process. The goal of the Ottomans in the 1534 and 1548–1549 campaigns, during the 1532–1555 Ottoman–Safavid War , was to install Tahmāsp's brothers (Sam Mirza and Alqas Mirza , respectively) as shah in order to make Iran

6720-411: The support divided on ethnic lines— Ismail was supported by most of the Turkmen tribes as well as his sister Pari Khān Khānum , her Circassian uncle Shamkhal Sultan as well as the rest of the Circassians, while Haydar was mostly supported by the Georgians at court although he also had support from the Turkmen Ustajlu. Ismail had been imprisoned at Qahqaha since 1556 by his father on charges of plotting

6816-402: The territorial integrity of the empire (although much reduced from Ismail's time). During the first 30 years of his long reign, he was able to suppress the internal divisions by exerting control over a strengthened central military force. In the war against the Uzbeks he showed that the Safavids had become a gunpowder empire . His tactics in dealing with the Ottoman threat eventually allowed for

6912-492: The time of local warlords. For nearly 10 years rival Qizilbash factions fought each other. Af first, Kopek Sultān's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. Thus Div Soltān emerged victorious in the first palace struggle, but he fell victim to Chuha Sultān of the Takkalu, who turned Tahmāsp against his first mentor. In 1527 Tahmāsp demonstrated his desire by shooting an arrow at Div Soltān before

7008-662: The time, Sultan bin Saif II , asked for the assistance of the Utub in invading Bahrain in 1717. The Utub assisted him and he successfully took Bahrain from the Safavids, Qishm and other Islands near the Persian coast. Bani Utbah led by many clans along with Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa and Salama bin Saif Al Bin Ali invaded and conquered Bahrain in 1783. Bahrain is ruled by the Bani Utbah House of Khalifa ever since. On 17 May 1783, war broke out between

7104-516: The women's apartments in order to receive the Begum's orders. On these occasions the royal edicts were drawn up and sealed. The amirs demanded that she be removed, and Mahd-i Ulya was strangled in the harem in July 1579 on the ground of an alleged affair with the brother of the Crimean khan , Adil Giray, who was captured during the 1578–1590 Ottoman war and held captive in the capital, Qazvin. None of

7200-554: Was mamalik-i Iran ("Kingdom of Iran"), and it also had other variants, such as mamalik-i mahrusa-yi khusravani ("the Royal Guarded Domains") and mamalik-i mahrusa-yi humayun ("the Imperial Guarded Domains"). Simply Iran was also used. The phrase mulk-i vasi' al-faza-yi Iran ("the expansive realm of Iran") is used in both the 17th-century chronicle Khold-e barin and

7296-618: Was Turkish-speaking and Turkified . From their base in Ardabil , the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran. 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

7392-659: Was a direct descendant of the Kurdish Ṣūfī Muslim mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din . As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh order, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismāʻil was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Shīʿa Islam , and believed himself to be of divine descent – practically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers. In 1500, Ismāʻil I invaded neighboring Shirvan to avenge

7488-408: Was an attractive feature for a ruler like Tahmāsp whose childhood and upbringing had been deeply affected by Qezelbāš tribal politics. In turn, many of these transplanted women became wives and concubines of Tahmāsp, and the Safavid harem emerged as a competitive, and sometimes lethal, arena of ethnic politics as cliques of Turkmen, Circassian, and Georgian women and courtiers vied with each other for

7584-597: Was apparently a Sunnī Muslim, the Ni'matullāhī order soon declared its adherence to Shīʿa Islam after the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Although Ismāʻil I initially gained mastery over Azerbaijan alone, the Safavids ultimately won the struggle for power over all of Iran, which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in Tabriz, Ismāʻil I claimed most of Iran as part of his territory , and within 10 years established

7680-419: Was calm domestically, with secure borders and no imminent threat from either the Uzbeks or the Ottomans. What remained unchanged, however, was the constant threat of local disaffection with the weak central authority. That condition would not change (and in fact it would worsen) until Tahmāsp's grandson, Abbas I, assumed the throne. On Tahmāsp's death support for a successor coalesced around two of his nine sons;

7776-444: Was clear that Abbas' style of leadership would be entirely different from Mohammad Khodabanda's leadership. Abbas was able to begin gradually transforming the empire from a tribal confederation to a modern imperial government by transferring provinces from mamalik (provincial) rule governed by a Qizilbash chief and the revenue of which mostly supported local Qizilbash administration and forces to khass (central) rule presided over by

7872-406: Was consumed with Div Sultān's efforts to eliminate Ustajlu from power. This court intrigue lead directly to tribal conflict. Beginning in 1526 periodic battles broke out, beginning in northwest Iran but soon involving all of Khorasan. In the absence of a charismatic, messianic rallying figure like the young Ismail, the tribal leaders reclaimed their traditional prerogative and threatened to return to

7968-691: Was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between the two powers continued under Ismāʻil's son, Emperor Tahmasp I , and the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent , until Shah Abbās retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602. The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismāʻil: the defeat destroyed Ismāʻil's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status. His relationships with his Qizilbash followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries among

8064-399: Was disposed of, but Mahd-i ‘Ulyā proved the stronger of the two. 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. In place of the usual royal audience, these high dignitaries had to assemble each morning at the entrance to

8160-816: Was divided into a number of separate emirates, of which the most important were Fars , Ray , and Iraq . Generally, one of the emirs held a sort of primus inter pares supremacy over the rest, which would be marked by titles like Amir al-umara (which tied them into the hierarchy of the Abbasid Caliphate ) and Shahanshah (which the dynasty revived as a sign of independence from the Abbasid caliphs). For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: and 983–997 For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: For more comprehensive lists of kings and sub-kings of this Era see: and 1160 Regained throne but then deposed by

8256-474: Was engaged in a plot against his life. An angry mob gathered and Tahmasp had Bayezid put into custody, alleging it was for his own safety. Tahmasp then handed the prince over to the Ottoman ambassador. Shortly afterwards, Bayezid was killed by agents sent by his own father. When the young Shah Tahmāsp took the throne, Iran was in a dire state. But in spite of a weak economy, a civil war and foreign wars on two fronts, Tahmāsp managed to retain his crown and maintain

8352-417: Was forced to flee abroad to avoid execution. In 1559 Bayezid arrived in Iran where Tahmasp gave him a warm welcome. Suleiman was eager to negotiate his son's return, but Tahmasp rejected his promises and threats until, in 1561, Suleiman compromised with him. In September of that year, Tahmasp and Bayezid were enjoying a banquet at Tabriz when Tahmasp suddenly pretended he had received news that the Ottoman prince

8448-605: Was forced to retake it in 1558, after Humayun seized it on the death of the Safavid governor. Humayun was not the only royal figure to seek refuge at Tahmasp's court. A dispute arose in the Ottoman Empire over who was to succeed the aged Suleiman the Magnificent . Suleiman's favourite wife, Hürrem Sultan , was eager for her son, Selim , to become the next sultan. But Selim was an alcoholic and Hürrem's other son, Bayezid , had shown far greater military ability. The two princes quarrelled and eventually Bayezid rebelled against his father. His letter of remorse never reached Suleiman, and he

8544-561: Was grave for the empire, with the Ottomans deep in Iranian territory in the west and north and the Uzbeks in possession of half of Khorasan in the east. The 16-year-old Abbas I was installed as nominal shah in 1588, but the real power was intended to remain in the hands of his "mentor," Murshid Quli Khan, who reorganized court offices and principal governorships among the Qizilbash and took the title of wakīl for himself. Abbas' own position seemed even more dependent on Qizilbash approval than Mohammad Khodabanda's was. The dependence of Abbas on

8640-598: Was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi . Haydar married Martha 'Alamshah Begom, Uzun Hassan's daughter, who gave birth to Ismail I , founder of the Safavid dynasty. Martha's mother Theodora—better known as Despina Khatun —was a Pontic Greek princess, the daughter of the Grand Komnenos John IV of Trebizond . She had been married to Uzun Hassan in exchange for protection of

8736-463: Was largely responsible for the inability of the Uzbeks to make territorial inroads into Khorasan. Putting aside internal dissension, the Safavid nobles responded to a threat to Herat in 1528 by riding eastward with Tahmāsp (then 17) and soundly defeating the numerically superior forces of the Uzbeks at Jām. The victory resulted at least in part from Safavid use of firearms, which they had been acquiring and drilling with since Chaldiran. Notwithstanding

8832-526: Was launched in part due to Persian aggression towards Zubarah in 1782. Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran , commonly called Safavid Iran , Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire , was one of the largest and long-standing Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty . It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history , as well as one of

8928-522: Was not a real candidate for the throne, and Mohammad's three sons, Hamza Mirza, Abbas Mirza and Abu Talib Mirza. While the murderous actions of Ismail might be explained by political prudence (Ottoman sultans occasionally purged the bloodline to prevent succession rivals ), his actions against Shi’a suggest retaliation against his father, who saw himself as a pious practitioner. Ismail sought to reintroduce Sunni orthodoxy. But even here there may have been practical political considerations; namely, "concern about

9024-665: Was politically splintered, giving rise to a number of religious movements. The demise of Tamerlane's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shiʻi ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were a number of Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis , Nuqtavis and Musha'sha'iyyah . Of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Isma'il I gained political prominence in 1501. There were many local states prior to

9120-428: Was the ward of the powerful Qizilbash amir Ali Beg Rūmlū (titled " Div Soltān Rumlu " ) who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state. Rūmlū and Kopek Sultān Ustajlu (who had been Ismail's last wakīl ) established themselves as co-regents of the young shah. The Qizilbash, which still suffered under the legacy of the battle of Chaldiran, was engulfed in internal rivalries. The first two years of Tahmāsp's reign

9216-474: Was the chief conspirator. Pari Khān Khānum could master strong support among the Qizilbash, and her uncle, Shamkhal Sultan , was a prominent Circassian who held a high official position. Mirza Salman left the capital before Pari Khān Khānum closed the gates and was able to meet Mohammad Khodabanda and his wife in Shiraz, to whom he offered his services. He may have believed that he would rule once their enemy

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