Safavid dynasty
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The Safavid dynasty (Persian: دودمان صفوی), was an native Iranian dynasty,[1] of full or partial Kurdish[2][3][4] origin. The Safavids established of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire.
The Expansive Realm of Iran ملک وسیعالفضای ایران The State of Iran مملکت ایران | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1501–1722/1736 | |||||||
 Flag
(1576–1732) .svg) Imperial Coat of Arms
(1501–1722) | |||||||
 Greatest borders during Abbas the Great | |||||||
| Capital | Tabriz (1501–1555) Qazvin (1555–1598) Isfahan (1598–1736) | ||||||
| Official languages | Persian[5] | ||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||
| Shah | |||||||
• 1501–1524 | Ismail I (first) | ||||||
• 1732–1736 | Abbas III (last) | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | 1501 | ||||||
• Disestablished | 1722/1736 | ||||||
| |||||||
From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids took control over parts of Greater Iran,[6] thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.[7]
Safavid Shahs of Iran[change | change source]
| Name | Portrait | Title | Reign years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ismail I | 
|
Shahanshah | 1501–1524 |
| 2 | Tahamsp I | 
|
Shah | 1524–1576 |
| 3 | Ismail II | 
|
Shah | 1576–1577 |
| 4 | Mohammad Khodabanda | — | Shah, Sultan |
1578–1587 |
| 5 | Abbas I | 
|
Shah, Zell'ollah, Ṣāḥebqerān-e-ʿAlāʾ |
1588–1629 |
| 6 | Safi | 
|
Shah | 1629–1642 |
| 7 | Abbas II | 
|
Shah | 1642– 1666 |
| 8 | Suleiman I | — | Shah, Sultan | 1666–1694 |
| 9 | Soltan Hoseyn | 
|
Shah, Sultan | 1694–1722 |
| 10 | Tahmasp II | — | Shah | 1729–1732 |
| 11 | Abbas III | — | Shah, Sahib-i-Qiran, Sultan bar Salatin |
1732–1736 |
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Savory 1970, p. 394.
- ↑ Matthee 2005, p. 17; Matthee 2008.
- ↑ Amoretti & Matthee 2009.
- ↑ Savory 2008, p. 8.
- ↑ Roemer 1986, p. 331.
- ↑ Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties? RM Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), p. 3.
- ↑ Alireza Shapur Shahbazi (2005), "The History of the Idea of Iran", in Vesta Curtis ed., Birth of the Persian Empire, IB Tauris, London, p. 108: "Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name "Iran" disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or "Iranian lands", which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations".
Sources[change | change source]
- Matthee, Rudi (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. Princeton Universty Press. p. 18.
The Safavids, as Iranians of Kurdish ancestry and of nontribal background (...)
- Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi (2009). "Ṣafavid Dynasty". In Esposito, John L. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford University Press.
Of Kurdish ancestry, the Ṣafavids started as a Sunnī mystical order (...)
- Matthee, Rudi (2008). "SAFAVID DYNASTY". Encyclopædia Iranica.
As Persians of Kurdish ancestry and of a non-tribal background, the Safavids (...)
- Savory, R. M (1970). "Safavid Persia". In P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis (ed.). The Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-521-29135-4.
What does seem certain is that the Safavids were of native Iranian stock, and spoke Āzarī, the form of Turkish used in Āzarbāyjān.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - Savory, Roger (2008). "EBN BAZZĀZ". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. VIII. Fasc. 1. p. 8.
This official version contains textual changes designed to obscure the Kurdish origins of the Safavid family and to vindicate their claim to descent from the Imams.
- Roemer, H. R (1986). "The Safavid Period". The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Cambridge University Press. p. 331. ISBN 0-521-20094-6.
Depressing though the condition in the country may have been at the time of the fall of Safavids, they cannot be allowed to overshadow the achievements of the dynasty, which was in many respects to prove essential factors in the development of Persia in modern times. These include the maintenance of Persian as the official language (...)