political structure of the safavid empire

afavid dynasty, (15021736) Persian dynasty. While Naqsh-e Jahan Square provided a focus, the city also featured a broad tree-lined avenue called the Chahar Bagh, stretching over four kilometers from the square to a royal country estate (Figure 4.28). Tahmasp went on to become the longest-reigning Safavid shah. The dynasty declined in the century following his reign, pressed by the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal dynasty, and fell when a weak shah, ahmsp II, was deposed by his general, Ndir Shah. Although a majority of the people in the kingdom were Iranians, there were also some Arabs, Turks, and Armenians. Arthur Upham Pope, a former Professor of aesthetics at Berkeley, and his wife Phyllis Ackerman, a specialist in Islamic textiles, were part of this movement that opened doors to the arts of Iran. Complex, ornate palaces. As the spiritual heir of Sheikh Zahed, Safi Al-Din transformed the inherited Zahediyeh Sufi Order into the Safaviyeh Order. The Safavids, an introduction - Smarthistory Culture flourished under Safavid patronage. 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. Junayd believed the Safavids should use their popular religious mandate to seek military and political power for themselves, and he found Shia doctrine more appropriate for his vision. The production of silk was one of the most important industries in Iran. The most distinctive and prized artworks of the Safavid era were illuminated manuscripts of well-known texts decorated with miniature paintings. Members of the Safavid Dynasty likely were of Kurdish Persian descent and belonged to a unique order of Sufi -infused Shi'a Islam called Safaviyya. This led inevitably to an assumption of kingly infallibility. The Safavid family later claimed that Safi al-Din was descended from the Prophet through Muhammads daughter Fatima and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib. This system brought the brightest and most talented into government service while preventing the development of an entrenched and unchecked aristocracy. Shah Mosque (Royal Mosque), Isfahan, Iran, begun 1611 (photo: Another singular characteristic of Safavid architecture are the colorful tiles that covered exterior faced and interior domes of mosques. While Safi al-Dins origins are lost to history, it is generally believed that he came from a family of Azeri-speaking Kurds, although even this is uncertain. For the full article, see, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Safavid-dynasty. The Ardabil Carpet, Maqsud of Kashan, Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. Isfahan Define Anarchy Lawless and disorder; no one leader, no government Define Orthodoxy Traditional (not flexible) manner to follow a religion Define Shah King of the Safavid empire Define warfare in the Safavid Empire .They had a system similar to the janissaries. They formed an early alliance with merchants, for instance, establishing and administering vaqfs to protect the merchants property and assets. Chardin declares emphatically that outside court circles there was no arbitrary exercise of power by the shah, and both Chardin and Malcolm assert that the awe in which the shah was held by the court and the nobility was the primary reason for the relative security and freedom from oppression enjoyed by the lower classes. The carpets of Ardebil were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. He was able to reverse many of Irans territorial losses to the Russians and Ottomans; however, he had no interest in sharing power. SAFAVID DYNASTY - Encyclopaedia Iranica To save content items to your account, The Safavids, an introduction (article) | Khan Academy The Safavids were poorly armed, while the Ottomans had muskets and artillery. Various groups of Persian-speaking peoples lived in the Iranian plateau and were usually described as Tajik.. They sustained one of the longest running empires of Iranian history, lasting from 1501 to 1736. Iranian ceramics became highly valued for export because of their remarkable similarity in style and quality to treasured Chinese porcelain, with even more intricately painted decorations. Presently, there is a community of nearly 1.7 million people who are descendants of the tribes deported from Kurdistan to Khurasan (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids. inch), 153940 C.E., Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan or Kirman, Iran (now at the Victoria & Albert Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). and you must attribute OpenStax. In 1402, Iran had come under the power of the notoriously ruthless Timur (Tamerlane), a descendant of Genghis Khan. are licensed under a, Connections Across Continents, 15001800, Exchange in East Asia and the Indian Ocean, Capitalism and the First Industrial Revolution, The Exchange of Ideas in the Public Sphere, Nationalism, Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Political Order, Inventions, Innovations, and Mechanization, Regulation, Reform, and Revolutionary Ideologies, The Collapse of the Ottomans and the Coming of War, The Causes and Consequences of World War II, The Contemporary World and Ongoing Challenges, Science and Technology for Todays World, Recommended Resources for the Study of World History, This map shows the Safavid Empire (green) at its greatest extent, including disputed territories (dots) where the Safavids found themselves in conflict with the Ottoman Empire (orange) and the Uzbek rulers of the Khanate of Bukhara (purple). 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, Ali Mirza was also killed, and his infant brother Ismail was sent into exile. What was the Safavid Empire's political contributions to the world As Tahmasps royal studio was to painting, Abbass capital at Isfahan was to architecture. His son Ali Mirza took his place, but within a few years his capital at Ardabil was conquered by his enemies. In May 1501, Ismail I declared Tabriz his capital and himself Shah of Azerbaijan. After Abbas had ordered the mass deportation of Georgians to central Iran, he sent Oghuz Turks (Turcomen) to settle the area; the local population that remained refused to allow them to do so, however, and staged a military rebellion. The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524). While silk had always been a highly sought after Persian commodity, dating back to ancient times, the Safavid era produced one of the most lucrative silk industries of the early modern world. The best artists from across the empire traveled to work at the royal workshop in Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran that was the first capital of the Safavid dynasty. Government of Safavid Empire - John McGarvey The Safavid Empire of Persia - ThoughtCo The conversion efforts of the Safavids have left long legacies in the Islamic world. At the apex of this structure was the shah. (credit: Armenian Frescoes by David Stanley/Flickr, CC BY 2.0), This detail of a sixteenth-century miniature by the Persian artist Farrukh Beg shows Shah Tahmasp, who was a great patron of the arts. Safavid Persia had a succession of capitals: for the capital was where the shah and his entourage happened to be. First, he bargained for peace with the Ottomans in 1590, giving away territory in the north-west. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. The epic called the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. The Silk Road, which led through northern Iran to India, revived in the sixteenth century. 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. Fresco, c. 1597 C.E., Ali Qapu Palace (photo: The palaces of the Safavid era, such as the, Shah Mosque (Royal Mosque), Isfahan, Iran, begun 1611 (photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0). Although he successfully repelled an attempt by the Uzbeks to invade northeastern Iran, they remained a threat to the east, and war with the Ottomans flared up soon afterward when Suleimans armies invaded Iran in the mid-1530s. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. In the sixteenth century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. By the time the seventeen-year-old Abbas was crowned shah in 1588, Iran was in chaos. Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (15651635) introduced new subjects to Persian paintingsemi-nude women, youths, lovers. At the apex of this structure was the shah. As in the Ottoman Empire, wealthy Safavid women raised their public stature by becoming patrons of the arts and endowing public buildings. Since two other sons had predeceased him, when he died on January 19, 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him. 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. Ismail also invited foreign Shiites living in places where they were persecuted by the Sunni majority to move to Iran, promising them land and protection. Except where otherwise noted, textbooks on this site The reflective light symbolized the presence and light of God, who was conceived as a mirror of the divine realm. Tabriz was taken but the Ottoman army refused to follow the Safavids into the Persian highlands and by winter, retreated from Tabriz. In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore. This was a strategic move that accomplished two things. Many of its members were bi- or multilingual, with Azeri Turkish and Persian being the linguae francae of the dynasty. The more than century of tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. In other words, the Safavid shahs usurped the function which the Ithn'ashar mujtahids had arrogated to themselves, namely, that of acting as the representative on earth of the Mahd, the Ithn'ashar' messiah. In 1501, various disaffected militia from Azerbaijan and eastern Anatolia who were known as the Kizilbash (Azeri for "red heads" due to their red headgear) united with the Ardabil Safaviyeh to capture Tabriz from the then ruling Sunni Turkmen alliance known as Ak Koyunlu (The White Sheep Emirate) under the leadership of Alwand. The Safavid empire was founded by the Safavids.They became a centralized government. System of governance, social organization | The Safavid Empire They cleverly allied themselves with European powers in order to protect themselves from the Ottomans. Shi'a's sacred sites were much closerin Iraq, captured by the Safavids in 1623 (but surrendered again to the Ottomans in 1639). With his new army behind him, Abbas undertook to gain back the territories lost to the Uzbeks and Ottomans. In these paintings, artists used mineral-based dyes, which produced brilliant and long-lasting colors (Figure 4.26). The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. After being sheltered by allies, the twelve-year-old Ismail emerged from exile in 1499 claiming to be the Mahdi or messiah and began rallying the Qizilbash troops who had fought for his father and brother. Women in Safavid Empire: Recent evidence suggests otherwise: There was a struggle against these restrictions Some women openly refused to wear face covers while in public Women donned bright clothing in defiance @ court women played an important political role (indirectly) and were often deeply involved in political conspiracies If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, 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. An empire in fragments The South Asian subcontinentmodern India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan is part of the Eurasian landmass. 4.3 The Safavid Empire - World History Volume 2, from 1400 | OpenStax This book uses the The Safavid Empire, based in Persia ( Iran ), ruled over much of southwestern Asia from 1501 to 1736. History of the Safavids from Iran Chamber, Artistic and cultural history of the Safavids from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Safavid_Empire&oldid=1092454, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. (credit: Shah Isma'il, History of Shah Isma'il, by Mu'in Musavvir, Isfahan, Iran by Muin Musavvir/British Library/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain), The interior of the Armenian Christian Holy Savior Cathedral in Isfahan, built in 1606, incorporates both Christian imagery, such as scenes from the life of Christ, and Islamic-style decorative tilework. Thus, Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and centralized control. A major problem faced by Ismail I after the establishment of the Safavid state was how to bridge the gap between the two major ethnic groups in that state: The Qezelbash Turkmens, the "men of the sword" of classical Islamic society whose military prowess had brought him to power, and the Persian elements, the "men of the pen," who filled the ranks of the bureaucracy and the religious establishment in the Safavid state as they had done for centuries under previous rulers of Persia, be they Arabs, Turkic, Mongols, or Turkmens. Shia Islam is still the official state religion of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 4, p. 14. inch), 153940 C.E., Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan or Kirman, Iran (now at the Victoria & Albert Museum; photo: Scenes from popular stories and floral motifs were applied just as easily to the pages of books as they were to walls of palaces and, most commonly, to designs woven into silk and velvet textiles. In this way, one of his sons was executed and two were blinded. The remaining 5 percent of Shia are Zaydis or Seveners, a sect established by Zayd, the great-grandson of Ali, who disagree with Twelvers over the identity of the seventh imam. Its founder was the Persian[1] mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din (12541334), after whom the order was named. Wealthy patrons commissioned artistslike those in the studio of Shah Tahmaspto paint these miniatures either to illustrate books or to be kept as a separate piece of art in an album of similar works. For instance, the Qajar dynasty (17891925), the first major dynasty to succeed the Safavids, continued the tradition of Safavid book arts, painting, and architecture. As the Safavid order developed, its members intermarried with other Turkic groups such as the Turcomen, Lar, and Bakhtiyari, and with Georgian, Armenian, and Pontic Greek Christians within their lands and bordering territories. The political structure of the Safavid Empire was structured like a pyramid with the Shah at the very top of the pyramid, similar to a pope. 5.2: Safavid Empire - Humanities LibreTexts in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. The elegantly baroque, yet famously misnamed, "Polonaise" carpets were made in Iran during the seventeenth century. what succession rules was followed by the Safavids? Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. Safavid military history had three phases. One of the most famous achievements of Tahmasps workshop was an illustrated version of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran written by the poet Ferdowsi in the tenth century. During the period of Mongol rule over Iran and the Caucasus, the distinction between Shia and Sunni became less important than it had been. In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their territory. The Ottoman and Safavid Empires: Comparison Essay The Middle Ages had seen a series of invasions of Iran by Turks, Mongols, and others. The Ottoman Turks and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. Ismail I, despite his heterodox Shi'a beliefs, which were not compatible with orthodox Shi'ism (Momen, 1985) patronized Shi'a religious leaders, granting them land and money in return for loyalty.

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