The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from
1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of
modern Iranian history,
as well as one of the
gunpowder empires. The Safavid
Shāh Ismā'īl I established the
Twelver denomination of
Shīʿa Islam as the
official religion of the Persian Empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the
history of Islam
The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic, military, and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization. Most historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE. Muslims re ...
.
The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the
Safavid order of
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality ...
, which was established in the city of
Ardabil in the
Iranian Azerbaijan region.
It was an Iranian dynasty of
Kurdish origin, but during their rule they intermarried with
Turkoman,
Georgian,
Circassian, and
Pontic Greek[Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29'' (1975), Appendix II "Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond"] dignitaries, nevertheless they were Turkish-speaking and
Turkified
Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...
. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of
Greater Iran
Greater Iran ( fa, ایران بزرگ, translit=Irān-e Bozorg) refers to a region covering parts of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Xinjiang, and the Caucasus, where both Iranian culture and Iranian languages have had a s ...
and reasserted the
Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the
Sasanian Empire 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 is now
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Republic of Azerbaijan,
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
, eastern
Georgia, parts of the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
including
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
, and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
, as well as parts of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...
, and
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
.
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
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
based upon "
checks and balances", their
architectural innovations, and
patronage for fine arts.
The Safavids have also left their mark down to 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
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
,
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...
,
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...
, and
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
.
Genealogy—ancestors of the Safavids and its multi-cultural identity
The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be
sayyid
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamm ...
s, family descendants of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
, although many scholars have cast doubt on this claim. There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from
Iranian Kurdistan,
and later moved to
Iranian Azerbaijan, finally settling in the 11th century CE at
Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the
Kurdish dignitary,
Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah.
[RM Savory. Ebn Bazzaz.](_blank)
''Encyclopædia Iranica''
According to historians,
[É. Á. Csató, B. Isaksson, C Jahani. ''Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic'', Routledge, 2004, p. 228, .] including
Vladimir Minorsky
Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (russian: Владимир Фёдорович Минорский; – March 25, 1966) was a Russian Orientalist best known for his contributions to the study of Persian, Lurish and Kurdish history, geography, ...
and
Roger Savory, the Safavids were of Turkicized Iranian origin:
By the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were Turkicized and Turkish-speaking,
and some of the Shahs composed poems in their then-native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand
''Shahnameh'' of Shah Tahmasp, while members of the family and some Shahs composed Persian poetry as well.
The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shiʻa as the first Imam.
Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both
Pontic Greek as well as
Georgian lines. In addition, from the official establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many intermarriages with both
Circassian as well as again Georgian dignitaries, especially with the accession of
Tahmasp I.
Safavid Shahs of Iran
*
Ismail I 1501–1524
*
Tahmasp I 1524–1576
*
Ismail II
Ismail II (; Born Ismail Mirza; 31 May 1537 – 24 November 1577) was the third Shah of Safavid Iran from 1576 to 1577. He was the second son of Tahmasp I with his principal consort, Sultanum Begum. By the orders of Tahmasp, Ismail spent twen ...
1576–1578
*
Mohammad Khodabanda 1578–1587
*
Abbas I 1587–1629
*
Safi 1629–1642
*
Abbas II 1642–1666
*
Suleiman I 1666–1694
*
Soltan Hoseyn 1694–1722
*
Tahmasp II 1722–1732
*
Abbas III 1732–1736
Mothers of Safavid Shahs
Culture
The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in
Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Azerbaijan
* Azerbaijanis
* Azerbaijani language
See also
* Azerbaijan (disambiguation)
* Azeri (disambiguation)
* Azerbaijani cuisine
* Culture of Azerbaijan
The culture of Azerbaijan ...
pen-name of Khatai.
[V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shāh Ismā‘īl I", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.] Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived.
["Ismail Safavi" ''Encyclopædia Iranica''] A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses. Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry.
[Emeri "van" Donzel, ''Islamic Desk Reference'', Brill Academic Publishers, 1994, p. 393.]
Safavid Dynasty, Horse and Groom, by Haydar Ali, early 16th century.jpg
Safavid Dynasty, Woman with a Spray of Flowers, circa 1575 AD.jpg
Safavid Dynasty, Joseph Enthroned from a Falnama (Book of Omens), circa 1550 AD.jpg
Shirin bathing, being approached by Khusraw, Safavid miniature painting, Iran.jpg
See also
*
Khanates of the Caucasus
*
List of Shi'a Muslim dynasties
*
Persianate states
*
Safavid art
*
Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam
*
Trade in Iran's Safavid era
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Christoph Marcinkowski (tr.), ''Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey'', Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, .
* Christoph Marcinkowski (tr., ed.), ''Mirza Rafi‘a's
Dastur al-Muluk: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration. Annotated English Translation, Comments on the Offices and Services, and Facsimile of the Unique Persian Manuscript'', Kuala Lumpur, ISTAC, 2002, .
* Christoph Marcinkowski, ''From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century'', Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005, .
"The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors" Adam Olearius, translated by John Davies (1662),
External links
History of the Safavids on Iran Chamber"Safavid dynasty" ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' by Rudi Matthee
* The History Files
BBC History of Religion"Georgians in the Safavid administration" ''Encyclopædia Iranica''
*
ttp://www.art-arena.com/safavidart.htm History of Safavid artbr>
A Study of the Migration of Shiʻi Works from Arab Regions to Iran at the Early Safavid Era.Why is Safavid history important?(Iran Chamber Society)
Historiography During the Safawid Era"IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiʿism in Iran Since the Safavids: Safavid Period" ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' by Hamid Algar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safavid Dynasty
Safavid Iran
Iranian dynasties
Iranian Muslim dynasties
Monarchy in Persia and Iran
Early Modern history of Georgia (country)
Early Modern history of Armenia
Early Modern history of Azerbaijan
History of Dagestan
Early Modern history of Iraq
1501 establishments in Asia