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Safavid dynasty

  • ملک وسیع‌الفضای ایران
    The Expansive Realm of Iran
  • مملکت ایران
    The Country of Iran
1501–1736
Emblem of Safavid dynasty
Emblem
The Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas the Great
The Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas the Great
Status Empire
Capital
Common languages
Religion
Twelver Shiʻa Islam
Government Monarchy
Shahanshah  
• 1501–1524
Ismail I (first)
• 1732–1736
Abbas III (last)
Grand Vizier  
• 1501–?
Mohammad Zakariya Kujuji (first)
• 1729–1736
Nader Qoli Beg (last)
Legislature Council of State
History  
• Establishment of the Safavid order by Safi-ad-din Ardabili
1301
• Established
1501
• Hotaki Invasion
1722
• Reconquest under Nader Shah
1726–1729
• Disestablished
8 March 1736
• Nader Shah crowned
1 October 1736
Currency Tuman, Abbasi (incl. Abazi), Shahi.
  • 1 Tuman = 50 Abbasi.
  • 1 Tuman = 50 French livres.
  • 1 Tuman = £3 6s 8d.
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Timurid Empire
Aq Qoyunlu
Shirvanshah
Marashiyan
Paduspanids
Mihrabanids
Afrasiab dynasty
Karkiya dynasty
Kingdom of Ormus
Hotaki dynasty
Afsharid dynasty
Russian Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the gunpowder empires and one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Iran. They established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history.

The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish ancestry but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries. 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 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, at their height, they controlled all of what is now Iran, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahrain, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, 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 their patronage for fine arts. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Twelver Islam in Iran, as well as major parts of the Caucasus, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Imperio safávida para niños

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