It was founded by Isml I, who, by converting his people from Sunnite to Shite Islam and adopting the trappings of Persian monarchy, planted the seeds of a unique national and religious identity. As the spiritual heir of Sheikh Zahed, Safi Al-Din transformed the inherited Zahediyeh Sufi Order into the Safaviyeh Order. READ: Mughal Empire (article) | Khan Academy Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls, and an inedible bitter almond hadam-talka used as a specie in India. Increased contact with distant cultures in the seventeenth century, especially Europe, provided a boost of inspiration to Iranian artists who adopted modeling, foreshortening, spatial recession, and the medium of oil painting (Shah Abbas II sent Zaman to study in Rome). Silk was akin to gold in this era, and Safavid silk was renowned for both the high quality of its raw silk, as well as the exquisite designs of their embroidered textiles. In the sixteenth century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. This left room for invasion by outside enemies, which is exactly what happened in 1722 when the Afghan army besieged the capital of Isfahan. BBC - Religions - Islam: Safavid Empire (1501-1722) Safavid miniature painting remains one of the most prized examples of visual art. Two distinct schools of painting developed: the Turkmen school in western Iran and the Timurid school based in Herat (in todays Afghanistan). The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. Then enter the name part His native language was Old Tati (zar), an extinct Iranian dialect of the north closely related to Persian. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Some Safavid ceramic artists went so far as to place a fake Chinese workshop stamp on the back of their products to increase their value. In their view of Islam, any pious man who followed the example of Muhammad could lead the Muslim community. Second, it brought the royal workshops closer to the silk route, making it easier for the Safavids to control the sale of Persian silk. citation tool such as, Authors: Ann Kordas, Ryan J. Lynch, Brooke Nelson, Julie Tatlock, Book title: World History Volume 2, from 1400. He had completely driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by 1730. This came after a wave of New York exhibitions dedicated to Persian art and culture in 1934, during the millenary celebration of the birth of Firdausi (the author of the previously discussed. Shah Tahmasp supported both schools at a royal painting workshop where artistic masters were invited to work with luxury materials such as gold leaf and ground lapis lazuli (Figure 4.25). When he declared Twelver Shiism to be the state religion of Iran, he hoped to unify his Iranian subjects by having them adopt a form of Islam that gave them a unique identity and distinguished them from their military and political enemies the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, who were both Sunni. 5.2: Safavid Empire - Humanities LibreTexts The two states finally laid down arms and declared a peace that lasted more than thirty years. 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. What might account for the differences in style between the Safavid and Mughal paintings? 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. The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Safavid Iran - Wikipedia 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). Shah Soltan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. Even those in hereditary positions had to prove themselves capable or be replaced. @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. By the seventeenth century, trade routes between East and West had shifted away from Iran, causing a decline in commerce and trade. While the study of Safavid art flourished in modern European cities like Paris, London, and Rome, courses in Persian art were not offered in American universities until the 1940s. 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. All levels of society could mix there, from members of the royal court whose pavilion overlooked the square, to the Shiite clergy whose mosque was at the squares southern end, to foreign dignitaries, members of the military, merchants, and commoners. The order in Ardabil was founded in the thirteenth century by the Sufi master Zahed Gilani, and little is known about its beliefs and practices in its . Detail, Sultan Muhammad, The Court of Gayumars, Shahnameh for Shah Tahmasp I, c. 152425, opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 45 x 30 cm, folio 20v (Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; photo: Brilliantly painted manuscripts. While strongly influenced by Persian miniatures, Mughal miniatures tended to represent a more realistic depiction of animals and humans. How are their styles similar? Abbas then returned to the issue his grandfather had taken up: taming the Qizilbash, whose disputes had plunged Iran into civil conflict that twice nearly brought the country to ruin. They sought to control these populations by enslaving or deporting their members, and nobles were often requested to convert to Shiism. Later, he conquered territories as far as east as Delhi, but did not fortify his Persian base and eventually, he exhausted his army's strength. then you must include on every physical page the following attribution: If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, He was declared Shah of Iran in 1502. Like that of many Sufi orders, their ideology incorporated elements of both Sunni and Shia doctrines to proclaim a universal message and attract followers from both sects. Miniatures were an important form of Persian art long before Islam appeared; Persian artists were prized at the court of the Abbasids, and artistic styles derived from their work, such as the nonfigurative elements used in the borders of miniatures, were later used to decorate manuscripts of the Quran. Abbas I was particularly lenient toward the Armenian Christian population of Isfahan, due to their participation in the lucrative manufacture and export of silk. The Safavids (Persian: ) were a native Iranian dynasty from Azarbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736, and which established Shi'a Islam as Iran's official religion and united its provinces under a single Iranian sovereignty in the early modern period. The Safavid Empire: Creation, Rulers, Characteristics & Shi'ism (credit: The Feast of Sada, Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp by Ferdowsi/Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970 /Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain), This miniature created in the Mughal Empire in 1594 shows a scene from the, https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction, https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/4-3-the-safavid-empire, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, Identify the factors that contributed to the rise of the, Discuss the similarities and differences between, Describe the political structure of the Safavid Empire. 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. 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. In spite of all this, however, the general population of Iran remained mostly Sunni until the Safavid period. The princes had Turcoman, Persian, Kurdish, and even Armenian, Indian, Afghan, or Georgian mothers. They outlawed it at the turn of the century. Here, Bihzad helped establish the birth of a new Safavid aesthetica hybrid of the colorful expressionism and naturalistic rendering of the dynasties that preceded the Safavids. Due to his fear of assassination, Shah Abbas either put to death or blinded any member of his family who aroused his suspicion. In the fifteenth century, the Safaviyeh gradually gained political and military clout in the power vacuum precipitated by the decline of the Timurid dynasty. His grandfather had acquired over thirty thousand enslaved people employed as civil servants and palace administrators; turning to the Caucasus region again, Abbas decided to also create an enslaved soldier corps like the Ottoman Janissaries. The patterns on Tahmasps robe have been embellished with gold. Nevertheless, Safavid rulers were aggressive toward the Armenians, Georgians, and other Christians in the Caucasus region, whom they considered potentially rebellious. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Shah Ismail I himself wrote many poems in Azerbaijani, as well as in Persian and Arabic, while Shah Tahmasp was a painter. The pope also hoped Abbas would allow the construction of a cathedral in his new capital city of Isfahan, but on their arrival his emissaries found three Roman Catholic churches already there (Figure 4.24). After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured. (PDF) The Rise of the Safavids as a Political Dynasty: The Revolution Posted 7 months ago. The emergence of the Safavids marked the first time the region was ruled by Persian kings since the. The Shia believe Ali, who finally succeeded Uthman to become the leader of the Muslim community in 656, was the first legitimate imam, the title they give their spiritual leader rather than caliph. They view the line of Muhammad that descends through Ali and his wife Fatima, Muhammads daughter, as the only source of definitive religious guidance. After becoming the Safaviyeh leader in 1447, Sheikh Junayda descendant of Sheikh Safi Al-Dintransformed it into a revolutionary Shi'a movement with the goal of seizing power in Iran. In the meantime, the navy-less Safavids lost the island of Hormuz to the Portuguese in 1507. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. @free.kindle.com emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. Safavid dynasty | History, Culture, Religion, & Facts | Britannica Thirdly, military and political power in Persia was generally in the hands of ethnic Turks, while ethnic Persians, called Tajiks, were dominant in the areas of administration and culture. The article analyses the social and political structure of the Safavid Empire. They sustained one of the longest running empires of Iranian history, lasting from 1501 to 1736. 6 - THE SAFAVID ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM - Cambridge Core The Safavid era witnessed a political, religious and military reorganisation and unification of which Iran as it stands today is in no small degree the legacy. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 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. Many of these are now symbols of Iranian nationhood. Thus, the end of his reign, 1666, marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. 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. 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. To save content items to your account, In this portrait of Shah Ismail by an Italian painter of the sixteenth century, for example, the shahs reddish hair, possibly an inheritance from his Greek grandmother, is clearly visible. 4.3 The Safavid Empire - World History Volume 2, from 1400 | OpenStax The Turkmen tribes ( uymaq) that followed the Safavid rulers were known as the . The subjects, even if they sponsored the work, are generally idealized rather than actual persons. The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524). Iran also continued to face threats from outside. Throughout the rest of the decade, Ismail I fended off attacks from the Ottomans, stamped out the remnants of a rival faction, called the Ak Koyunlu, and continued to expand his territoryHamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, Khorasan and Herat in 1510. Mar 31, 2023 OpenStax. 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). (credit: Portrait of Shah Ismail I of Persia by Uffizi Gallery/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain), This detail from a series of seventeenth-century paintings decorating the walls of the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, Iran, depicts Shah Abbas I, who ruled over Iran at the height of the Safavid dynastys power. 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. PDF The Safavid Empire 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. Even after their decline, the Safavids left an influential legacy with far reaching implications for Iranian art, religion, and culture. Render date: 2023-04-30T14:46:17.907Z } At the time, he governed only Azerbaijan and part of the Caucasus. Mirror mosaics were used in religious spaces as well, especially in Shia mosques and shrines to important Shia saints. 4, p. 14. Under the Peace of Amasya, concluded in 1555, Armenia and Georgia were divided between the two empires; the Ottomans gained control over Iraq and access to the Persian Gulf, while Irans control over Azerbaijan was guaranteed. Safavid dynasty, (1501-1736), 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. Based in Iran, the Safavid Empire at its height ruled over much of what is now Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, and Iraq, as well as parts of several neighboring countries including Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (Figure 4.19). The empire's rulers, like the Ottoman rulers, were Muslim, yet the Safavid Empire used religion differently to promote order and stability within its realm. They wanted to spread "Shiism by military means." They viewed the leader of the Empire with reverence, and they. Tahmasps desire to fend off the Turkish threat led him to ally himself with a rising European power, the Habsburg Empire. on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Total loading time: 0 An attempt to recapture the territory in 1618 resulted in a devastating loss for the Ottomans. There had been, however, Shi'a communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as eighth century. 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. Safavid military history had three phases. At the same time, however, the Safavids conversion policy brought tensions between Sunni and Shia to a level not seen since Muhammads death. 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. It is axiomatic that such a ruler would command instant and unquestioning obedience from his subjects. The maximum extent of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I ( CC BY-SA 4.0) The Safavids were a dynastic family that ruled over modern-day Iran. Prior to the rise of the Safavids, the region was broken up into a mosaic of autonomous states, all governed by local rulers. Initially, like most of Irans population, the Safavids were primarily Sunni Muslims. When Ismail crowned himself Shah in 1501, most of Irans population was Sunni. In the east, the Mughal dynasty of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking Kandahar and Herat. Later, in 1722, an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son, Mahmud, marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud "Shah" of Persia. The conversion efforts of the Safavids have left long legacies in the Islamic world. Haydar was killed in battle in 1488. Want to cite, share, or modify this book? The net result of these various Safavid theories of kingship was absolutism. The Safavids unified much of Iran under single political control. However the brief puppet regime of Ismail III ended in 1760, when Karim Khan felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty. 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. Outside of Iran, Safavid art was the portal to the wider world of Persian art and architecture when art historians first began studying Islamic art in the early nineteenth century. They invested a great deal of their capital into the building and decoration of shrines of Shia saints. (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. The Shia movement originated with a dispute over Muhammads successor after his death in 632. View images of the famous Ardabil carpet at the Victoria and Albert Museum website to see it in detail and also get a sense of its enormous size. Later, during the Safavid and especially Qajar period, the role of Shi'a ulema increased and they were able to exercise a role in social and political life independent of the government. Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 The Safavid Empire at its 1512 borders. The art of the Safavids is simply magnificent. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org Although a majority of the people in the kingdom were Iranians, there were also some Arabs, Turks, and Armenians. While the decoration of each of these buildings varied, the structural composition remained much the same, consisting of domes surrounded by four, Fresco, c. 1597 C.E., Ali Qapu Palace (photo: reibai, CC BY 2.0). The Middle Ages had seen a series of invasions of Iran by Turks, Mongols, and others. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox. Iskander Beg Monshis History of Shah Abbas the Great, written a few years after its subject's death, achieved a nuanced depth of history and character. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. The more than century of tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. Bureaucracy and landed class who were considered the middle classes. Tabriz was taken but the Ottoman army refused to follow the Safavids into the Persian highlands and by winter, retreated from Tabriz. Government - Safavid Empire & Sikhism Review Shi'a's sacred sites were much closerin Iraq, captured by the Safavids in 1623 (but surrendered again to the Ottomans in 1639). [6] It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, [7] but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, [8] Georgian, [9] Circassian, [10] [11] and Pontic Greek [12] dignitaries, nevertheless they . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Like Europe, it has a long history of big empires and small states. He recognized the ineffectualness of his army, which was consistently being defeated by the Ottomans who had captured Georgia and Armenia and by Uzbeks who had captured Mashhad and Sistan in the east. By agreement, the Safavids would attack the Ottomans whenever the Ottomans attacked the Habsburgs to divide the Ottoman army between two fronts of battle and thereby weaken it. At the height of their reign, the Safavids controlled not . Tahmasp faced several challenges at home and abroad, however. Christians elsewhere in the Safavid realm, however, were given considerable freedom to build churches and honor their own customs and beliefs. While used primarily in mosques and shrines, fragments of these mirror mosaics can still be seen in the outdoor portals of the Chehel Sotoun palace, as well as on the columns of the Ali Qapu palace. The Qizilbash were largely Turcoman, another Turkic group with its own language. 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. what succession rules was followed by the Safavids? Using traditional forms and materials, Reza Abbasi (15651635) introduced new subjects to Persian paintingsemi-nude women, youths, lovers. The art of the Safavids is simply magnificent. Abbas I first fought the Uzbeks, recapturing Herat and Mashhad, in 1598. During his reign, the official language at the royal court was Azerbaijanian. By the time the seventeen-year-old Abbas was crowned shah in 1588, Iran was in chaos. Adam Olearius, "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors" (excerpts). The most popular of these themes was the Persian, The Ardabil Carpet, Maqsud of Kashan, Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. The entry of European ships to the Indian Ocean trade cut off much of Irans direct access to Africa and South Asia. This warfare pattern repeated itself under Shah Tahmasp I and Sultan Suleiman I. During the fifteenth century, the Ottomans expanded across Anatolia and centralized control by persecuting Shi'ism. (credit: Abbas I of Persia by Unknown/TRAJAN 117/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain), The Shah Mosque, built by Abbas I, is located on the south side of, In this image from a Persian history of his reign written about 1650, the Safavid ruler Shah Ismail (dressed in white) stands on the steps of a mosque prior to his coronation, having the sermon read in the name of the Twelve Imams and effectively declaring Shiism to be the state religion of Iran in 1501.
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