safavid empire political structure

In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore. [212], Horses were the most important of all the beasts of burden, and the best were brought in from Arabia and Central-Asia. To further legitimize his power, Ismail I also added claims of royal Sassanian heritage after becoming Shah of Iran to his own genealogy. [179] There were large Shii communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as the 8th century. It rejected the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts and believed that only the Quran, hadith, (prophetic sayings and recorded opinions of the Imams) and consensus should be used as sources to derive verdicts (fatw). The original name was just turki, and so a convenient name might be Turki-yi Acemi. With the substantial new revenue, Abbas was able to build up a central, standing army, loyal only to him. As well as wrestling, what gathered the masses was fencing, tightrope dancers, puppet-players and acrobats, performing in large squares, such as the Royal square. Then he turned against Iran's archrival, the Ottomans, recapturing Baghdad, eastern Iraq and the Caucasian provinces by 1616, all through the 16031618, marking the first grand Safavid pitched victory over the Ottomans. Sheikh Saf al-Dn Abdul Fath Is'haq Ardabil came from Ardabil, a city in today's Iranian Azerbaijan where his shrine still stands. There was a systemic administrative organization in the empire which developed further into a dual system of civil administration and . 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. Shah Soltan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. [90] Shortly after the installation of Ismail II on August 22, 1576, Haydar was beheaded. Whereas neither the ancient Greeks nor the Romans accorded high social status to their doctors, Iranians had from ancient times honored their physicians, who were often appointed counselors of the Shahs. Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Turkic verse with the pen name of Tani. 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 second most senior appointment was the Grand Steward (Ichik Agasi bashi), who would always accompany the Shah and was easily recognizable because of the great baton that he carried with him. [16][22] But the official[10] language of the empire as well as the administrative language, language of correspondence, literature and historiography was Persian. 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. [181], It achieved its greatest influence in the late Safavid and early post-Safavid era, when it dominated Twelver Shii Islam. Despite the predominantly Sunni character of this territory, he proclaimed Shiism the state religion and enforced its creed and prayers in the mosques of his dominion. When Abbas had a lively conversation in Turkish with the Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle, in front of his courtiers, he had to translate the conversation afterwards into Persian for the benefit of most of those present. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. But the stumbling block of Hormuz remained, a vassal kingdom that had fallen into the hands of the Spanish Habsburgs when the King of Spain inherited the throne of Portugal in 1580. o Early Safavid women had considerable power and respect and could be patrons of art, architecture, and religious institutions o Early Safavid differed with other Islamic socities o Divorce could be caused by either the wife or husband o After death of Abbas the Great, women lost some rights Political Capitals: Tabriz- Qazvin- Isfahan 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. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz, they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. Martha's mother Theodorabetter known as Despina Khatun[43]was a Pontic Greek princess, the daughter of the Grand Komnenos John IV of Trebizond. After the death of Shah Abbs I (1629), the Safavid dynasty lasted for about a century, but, except for an interlude during the reign of Shah Abbs II (164266), it was a period of decline. The majority were deported to Iran, while some were slaughtered. But even he stood accountable to a deputy (vakanevis), who kept records of his decision-makings and notified the Shah. [220][221] With the later end of the Portuguese Empire, the British, Dutch and French in particular gained easier access to Persian seaborne trade, although they, unlike the Portuguese, did not arrive as colonisers, but as merchant adventurers. According to Encyclopdia Iranica, for Tahmsp, the problem circled around the military tribal elite of the empire, the Qezelb, who believed that physical proximity to and control of a member of the immediate Safavid family guaranteed spiritual advantages, political fortune, and material advancement. Afterwards, Ismail went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shh of Azerbaijan,[51][52][53] proclaimed himself King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran[54][55][56] and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Twelver Shsm as the official religion of his domain. Ismil's successors, most manifestly Shh Abbs I, successfully diminished the influence of the Qizilbash on the affairs of the state. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-safavid-empire-195397. Geographical discoveries, in general, and bypassing the Cape of Good Hope, in particular, in South Africa, changed traditional trade routes in Iran's international trade. [213], Under the governance of the strong shahs, especially during the first half of the 17th century, traveling through Iran was easy because of good roads and the caravanserais, that were strategically placed along the route. [45] There were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by Ismil. It forever influenced Persian nationalism. The Afghans rode roughshod over their conquered territory for a dozen years, but were prevented from making further gains by Nadir Shah Afshar, a former slave who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar tribe in Khorasan, a vassal state of the Safavids. [193], The Safavid court was furthermore a rich mix of peoples from its earliest days. [128], Teimuraz returned to eastern Georgia in 1615 and defeated a Safavid force. 378. A Study of the Migration of Shii Works from Arab Regions to Iran at the Early Safavid Era. Safavid dynasty, ruling dynasty of Iran from 1501 to 1736, known especially for its architectural achievements and its establishment of Twelver Shi'ism among various ethnic and linguistic groups throughout Iran as a major unifying factor. These cities were later inherited by his Abdali Afghan military commander, Ahmad Shah Durrani, who would go on to found the Durrani Empire in 1747. He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. Bureaucracy and landed class who were considered the middle classes. 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. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. [50] 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. Chardin also noted that bringing cases into court in Iran was easier than in the West. Also, there were the quazi-religious fraternities called futuvva, which were run by local dervishes. 34, 597634. Expert Answers. 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. . 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. 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. He thought that there was nothing like it in France or Italy:[208]. Russian Muscovy in the previous century had deposed two western Asian khanates of the Golden Horde and expanded its influence into Europe, the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia. Having started with just the possession of Azerbaijan, Shirvan, southern Dagestan (with its important city of Derbent), and Armenia in 1501,[60] Erzincan and Erzurum fell into his power in 1502,[61] Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Diyarbakir, Najaf, and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat, as well as other parts of Khorasan, in 1510. 900901, tr. The revenue came not so much from exports, as from the custom charges and transit dues levied on goods passing through the country. In August 1514 Isml was seriously defeated at Chldirn by his Sunni rival, the Ottoman sultan Selim I. The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. It ruled over many parts of southern Europe, west Asia and North Africa. Usually neither Persian nor European authors mention in which language people communicated with each other. The Mongol invasions that began in the 13th century drastically reconfigured the Islamic world. Safavid Empire c. 1630. On the death of Ismail II there were three candidates for succession: Shh Shuj', the infant son of Ismail (only a few weeks old), Ismail's brother, Mohammad Khodabanda; and Mohammads son, Sultan Hamza Mirza, 11 years old at the time. 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 Maratha Empire decided to attack the Mughal capitol of Delhi. [171], Following the full implementation of this policy by Abbas I, the women (only Circassian and Georgian) now very often came to occupy prominent positions in the harems of the Safavid elite, while the men who became part of the ghulam "class" as part of the powerful third force were given special training on completion of which they were either enrolled in one of the newly created ghilman regiments, or employed in the royal household. We will write a custom Essay on The Ottoman and Safavid Empires: Comparison specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page 808 certified writers online Learn More Introduction All empires, no matter how great they are, inevitably have to experience the same cycle of gradual development, the possible rise, and the inevitable downfall. 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". Except for Shah Abbas II, the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were largely ineffectual. [150], The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiersKerman by Baloch tribes in 1698, Khorasan by the Hotakis in 1717, Dagestan and northern Shirvan by the Lezgins in 1721, constantly in Mesopotamia by Sunni peninsula Arabs. The demise of Tamerlane's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shii ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. The Safavid Empire was one ruled by Sufi Muslims who later became Shia Muslims. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-safavid-empire-195397 (accessed January 18, 2023). The Safavid Empire was formed in 1501 and ended by the invasion of Afghans in 1722. [210][211] According to contemporary historians, though, the landlord always had the worst of the bargain with the farmer in the crop-sharing agreements. They swear to a good fight and shake hands. Period 3 April 6, 2011 Safavid and Mughal Mughal and Safavid were a few of the strongest empires in their time. [25][26][27][28] It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history,[29] as well as one of the gunpowder empires. He admired their consideration towards foreigners, but he also stumbled upon characteristics that he found challenging. People met there to drink liqueurs or coffee, to smoke tobacco or opium, and to chat or listen to poetry. (2009). But his responsibilities also included that of being the treasurer of the Shah's properties. [158], Nevertheless, the Iranian society during the Safavids was that of a hierarchy, with the Shah at the apex of the hierarchical pyramid, the common people, merchants and peasants at the base, and the aristocrats in between. 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, From this time the state began to take on a more Persian character. "[194] Lastly, due to the large amount of Georgians, Circassians, and Armenians at the Safavid court (the gholams and in the harem), the Georgian, Circassian and Armenian languages were spoken as well, since these were their mother tongues. Later, Shah Abbas I moved the capital even deeper into central Iran, to the city of Isfahan, building a new city next to the ancient Persian one. John R. Perry, "Turkic-Iranian contacts", Last edited on 21 December 2022, at 07:16, establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, a war with Iran that would last until 1590, Abbas I's Kakhetian and Kartlian campaigns, conquered the Hotaki's last stronghold in Kandahar, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, "Chronicling a Dynasty on the Make: New Light on the Early afavids in ayt Tabrz's, "Islamic Culture and Literature in Iran and Central Asia in the early modern period", "The emergence of the Safavids as a mystical order and their subsequent rise to power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", "BARDA and BARDA-DRI v. Military slavery in Islamic Iran", "GEORGIA vii. In May 1501, Ismail I declared Tabriz his capital and himself Shah of Azerbaijan. Shah Abbas: the ruthless king who became an Iranian legend, p. 165. Culture flourished under Safavid patronage. What were the strengths of the Ottoman Empire? Savory, R, Iran under the Safavids, p. 66. The Shah himself exercised his own measures for keeping his ministers under control by fostering an atmosphere of rivalry and competitive surveillance. It continued until the end of the Qajar reign.[236]. Physiology was still based on the four humours of ancient and mediaeval medicine, and bleeding and purging were still the principal forms of therapy by surgeons, something even Thevenot experienced during his visit to Iran. With his new army, Abbs defeated the Turks in 1603, forcing them to relinquish all the territory they had seized, and captured Baghdad. 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. Af first, Kopek Sultn's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. 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. The epic Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [244], Safavids also used Persian as a cultural and administrative language throughout the empire and were bilingual in Persian. "[citation needed] At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Iran was that of the Kara Koyunlu, the "Black Sheep", whose ruler Jahan Shah ordered Junyd to leave Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city. 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). Safavid dynasty, (15011736), ruling dynasty of Iran whose establishment of Twelver Shiism as the state religion of Iran was a major factor in the emergence of a unified national consciousness among the various ethnic and linguistic elements of the country. One result of the resolution of this conflict was the rise in importance of the concept of ijtihad and the position of the mujtahid (as opposed to other ulama) in the 18th and early 19th centuries. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. The dependence of Abbas on 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. 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 wakl and had them executed. She had been married to Uzun Hassan[44] in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. One of the strikingly significant things about the Safavid dynasty--a religious order that over the centuries took on military and political elements--is the many wars that were fought. The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. Indeed, one of the greatest legacies of the Safavids is the architecture. Despite the reforms, the Qizilbash would remain the strongest and most effective element within the military, accounting for more than half of its total strength. The school reached its apogee with that of the Iranian philosopher Mulla Sadra who is arguably the most significant Islamic philosopher after Avicenna. 1977, p. 77. Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in 1747, the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent Zand dynasty. In 1559 Bayezid arrived in Iran where Tahmasp gave him a warm welcome. The Safavid Empire started its period of decline. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya.[31]. 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. He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. The Shah had stables in all the principal towns, and Shah Abbas was said to have about 30,000 horses in studs around the country. In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, the Ottomans and Uzbeks, as the seventeenth century progressed, Iran had to contend with the rise of two more neighbors. The series of campaigns that Tahmsp subsequently waged after realising this in the wider Caucasus between 1540 and 1554 were meant to uphold the morale and the fighting efficiency of the Qizilbash military,[169] but they brought home large numbers (over 70,000)[170] of Christian Georgian, Circassian and Armenian slaves as its main objective, and would be the basis of this third force; the new (Caucasian) layer in society. The Shirley brothers arrived in 1598 and helped reorganize the Iranian army, which proved to be crucial in the OttomanSafavid War (160318), which resulted in Ottoman defeats in all stages of the war and the first clear pitched Safavid victory of their archrivals. The group crossed the Caspian Sea and spent the winter in Moscow before proceeding through Norway and Germany (where it was received by Emperor Rudolf II) to Rome, where Pope Clement VIII gave the travellers a long audience. Second to the Prime Minister post were the General of the Revenues (mostoufi-ye mamalek), or finance minister,[189] and the Divanbegi, Minister of Justice. [39] From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region,[40] thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran.[41]. On extraordinary occasions when the Shah took justice into his own hand, he would dress himself up in red for the importance of the event, according to ancient tradition.[200]. 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 was engaged in a plot against his life. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east were driven across the Oxus River where they captured Samarkand establishing the Shaibanid dynasty, and from which they would continue to attack the Safavids. The status of physicians during the Safavids stood as high as ever. The Safavid Empire was less ethnically diverse than the Ottoman Empire. 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. For nearly 10 years rival Qizilbash factions fought each other. [31] The establishment of Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Safavid Iran led to various f orders (tariqa) openly declaring their Shte position, and others to promptly assume Sha Islam. The terms of trade were not imposed on the Safavid shahs, but rather negotiated. [102] 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. Men wore many rings on their fingers, almost as many as their wives. The army divisions were: Ghulams ("crown servants or slaves" usually conscripted from Armenian, Georgian, and Circassian lands), Tofongchis (musketeers), and Topchis (artillery-men). The Safavid empire had a strong social structure with kings and royals at the top and peasants at the bottom. 904. Because of the relative insecurity of property ownership in Iran, many private landowners secured their lands by donating them to the clergy as so called vaqf. Capital of the Safavid Empire. [241], By the sixteenth century, Islamic science, which to a large extent meant Persian science, was resting on its laurels. In the previous century, Russia Muscovy had deposed two western Asian khanates of the Golden Horde and expanded its influence into the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia. The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, Shah Abbas (15871629) came to power in 1587, at the age of 16, following the forced abdication of his father, Shah Muhammad Khudbanda. [114], What effectively fully severed Abbas's dependence on the Qizilbash, however, was how he constituted this new army. He was a disciple of the famed Sufi Grand Master Sheikh Zahed Gilani (12161301) of Lahijan. [57], Although Ismil 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. Shh Tahmsp, the young titular governor of Khorasan,[66] succeeded his father Ismil in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old. 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. They cleverly allied themselves with European powers in order to protect themselves from the Ottomans. [138], The shah had set great store on an alliance with Spain, the chief opponent of the Ottomans in Europe. "The Safavid Period". Eskandar Beg, pp. Thus Abbas was able to break dependence on the Qizilbash for military might indefinitely, and therefore was able to fully centralize control for the first time since the foundation of the Safavid state. From the population growth and urbanization of Isfahan agriculture . The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. [140] The English at sea, represented by the English East India Company, also began to take an interest in Iran, and in 1622 four of its ships helped Abbas retake Hormuz from the Portuguese in the Capture of Ormuz (1622). Ismail I continued to expand his base in northwestern Iran. The moment 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.[107]. The Uzbeks struck in the Spring of 1578 but were repelled by Murtaza Quli Sultan, governor of Mashhad. Thus Div Soltn emerged victorious in the first palace struggle, but he fell victim to Chuha Sultn of the Takkalu, who turned Tahmsp against his first mentor. 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. As a result, Iran was cut off from overseas links to East Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and South Asia. Roger M. Savory, "Safawidsiii, The establishment of the Safawid state,". After Saf al-Dn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dn Ms ( 794/139192). They wanted to spread "Shiism by military means." They viewed the leader of the Empire with . [194] As a result of Abbas' reforms, they held high offices in the army, the administration and the royal household. The public land was under the rule of local governors, or Khans. The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. From then on Cyrus was called the " shah ," or king, of Persia. During the three centuries 1500-1800 the technology, organization, and ethnography of Persian agriculture, animal husbandry, manufacturing, and accounting underwent partial change. 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. 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. From the time of Shah Abbas onwards, more land was brought under the direct control of the shah. Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbash. [130][131] Nowadays, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million people who are descendants of the tribes deported from Kurdistan to Khorasan (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids.[132].

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