Revision 8227331 of "Safavid dynasty" on simplewiki

{{Excessive citations|date=March 2022}}
The '''Safavid dynasty''', (Azerbaijani: Səfəvilər dövləti, Persian: دودمان صفوی, <small>romanized:</small> ''Dudmâne Safavi''<ref>* {{cite book|title=Tārīkh-i ʻʻālamārā-yi ʻʻAbbāsī|last1=Afšār|first1=ta·līf-i Iskandar Baig Turkmān. Zīr-i naẓar bā tanẓīm-i fihristhā wa muqaddama-i Īraǧ|date=2003|publisher=Mu·assasa-i Intišārāt-i Amīr Kabīr|isbn=978-964-00-0818-8|edition=Čāp-i 3.|location=Tihrān|pages=17, 18, 19, 79|language=fa}}
* p. 17: dudmān-i safavīa
* p. 18: khāndān-i safavīa
* p. 19: sīlsīla-i safavīa
* p. 79: sīlsīla-i alīa-i safavīa</ref>'')'' It was an Turkic dynasty,<ref>Blake, Stephen P., ed. (2013), "Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires", Time in Early Modern Islam: Calendar, Ceremony, and Chronology in the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman Empires, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 21–47, <nowiki>ISBN 978-1-107-03023-7</nowiki>. "The three Islamic empires of the early modern period – the Mughal, the Safavid, and the Ottoman – shared a common Turko-Mongolian heritage."</ref><ref>Laet, Sigfried J. de (1994-01-01). History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century. UNESCO. <nowiki>ISBN 978-92-3-102813-7</nowiki>. pp. 831; "Ṣafawids belonged to a Turkmen dynasty included Shaykh Ṣafī ud-Din, the ancestor of Shāh Ismā'īl 1. Ṣafī ud-Dīn was the founder of the Ṣafawīya Ṣūfī order, which became widespread among the Turkmen tribesmen."</ref><ref>Mazzaoui, Michel B; Canfield, Robert (2002). "Islamic Culture and Literature in Iran and Central Asia in the early modern period". Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 86–7. <nowiki>ISBN 0-521-52291-9</nowiki>, <nowiki>ISBN 978-0-521-52291-5</nowiki>. "The Safavid state, which lasted at least until 1722, was essentially a "Turkish" dynasty, with Azeri Turkish (Azerbaijan being the family's home base) as the language of the rulers and the court as well as the Qizilbash military establishment. Shah Ismail wrote poetry in Turkish."</ref> that ruled the Iran between 1501 and 1736.{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Safavid Empire
| common_name            = 
| native_name            = Xanədani Səfəviyyə (Safavid dynasty)<ref>İsgəndər bəy Münşi, "Tarix-i aləm Aray-i Abbasi", səh.28.</ref>
Dövləti Qızılbaş (Qizilbash State)<ref>İsgəndər bəy Münşi, "Tarix-i aləm Aray-i Abbasi", səh.109.</ref>
| image_flag             = File:Safavid Flag.svg
| flag_border            = no
| flag_caption           = Flag of Safavid Iran<br>(1576–1736)
| image_coat             = 
| symbol_type            = Imperial Coat of Arms
| national_anthem        = 
| image_map              = File:Safavid dynasty (greatest extent).svg
| capital                = Tabriz (1501–1555)<br>Qazvin (1555–1598)<br>Isfahan (1598–1736)
| official_languages     = 
| religion               = Shia Islam
| demonym                = 
| government_type        = Absolute monarchy
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
| currency               = 
| status                 = 
| year_end               = 1736
| year_start             = 1501
| image_map_caption      = The Safavid Empire under Abbas I the Great
| common_languages       = *Azerbaijani (poetry and army)<ref>Floor, Willem; Javadi, Hasan (2013). "The Role of Azerbaijani Turkish in Safavid Iran". Iranian Studies. 46 (4): 569–581. ISSN 0021-0862. "Turkic languages and dialects played a much more important role in Safavid Iran than is generally thought, while Azerbaijani Turkish in particular was widely spoken and written in Safavid Iran. It was not only the language of the court and the army, but it was also used in poetry, even by renowned poets who usually wrote in Persian. The Safavid shahs, many of whom wrote poetry in Turkish themselves, promoted its literary use. Also, Turkish was used in the court's official correspondence, for both internal and external affairs."</ref>
*Persian (official) <ref>Roemer, H. R. (1986). "The Safavid Period". The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 189–350. ISBN 0-521-20094-6, p. 331: "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 and of the present-day boundaries of the country, adherence to the Twelever Shiʻi, the monarchical system, the planning and architectural features of the urban centers, the centralised administration of the state, the alliance of the Shiʻi Ulama with the merchant bazaars, and the symbiosis of the Persian-speaking population with important non-Persian, especially Turkish speaking minorities".</ref>
| title_leader           = Shahanshah
| year_leader1           = 1501–1524
| leader1                = Ismail I (first)
| year_leader2           = 1732–1736
| leader2                = Abbas III (last)
| year_leader3           = 
| leader3                = 
| year_leader4           = 
| leader4                = 
| event_start            = 
| date_start             = 
| event_end              = 
| date_end               = 
| stat_area1             = 
| p1                     = 
| s1                     = Afsharid dynasty
| p2                     = 
| flag_s1                = Afsharid Imperial Standard (3 Stripes).svg
| flag_s2                = 
| s2                     = 
| s3                     = 
| today                  = 
| flag                   = 
}}

== Origins ==
Before the Safavids, Iran was ruled by the Aq Qoyunlu, a Turkic<ref>The Book of Dede Korkut (F.Sumer, A.Uysal, W.Walker ed.). University of Texas Press. 1972. p. Introduction. {{ISBN|0-292-70787-8}}. "Better known as '''Turkomans''' (...) the interim '''Ak-Koyunlu''' and Karakoyunlu dynasties (...)"</ref><ref>Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, vol. 1. Santa-Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio. p. 431. {{ISBN|978-159884-336-1}}. "His Qizilbash army overcame the massed forces of the dominant '''Ak Koyunlu''' (White Sheep) '''Turkomans''' (...)"</ref><ref>Quiring-Zoche, R. "AQ QOYUNLŪ". Encyclopædia Iranica. p. 163—168. "(...) a confederation of '''Turkman''' tribes who ruled in eastern Anatolia and western Iran (...)"</ref><ref>V. Minorsky. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1955), pp. 449—462: "There still remain many interesting and important problems connected with the emergence in the 14th century of the '''Turkman federations''' of the Qara-qoyunlu (780—874/1378-1469) and '''Aq-qoyunlu''' (780—908/1378-1502).''"''</ref> tribal confederation. The Safavids, unlike their predecessors, the Aq Qoyunlu, were not of Turkic descent. The Safavids, was of Iranian<ref name=":0">Blake, Stephen P., ed. (2013), "Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires", Time in Early Modern Islam: Calendar, Ceremony, and Chronology in the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman Empires, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 21–47, <nowiki>ISBN 978-1-107-03023-7</nowiki>. "The three Islamic empires of the early modern period – the Mughal, the Safavid, and the Ottoman – shared a common Turko-Mongolian heritage."</ref> (possibly Kurdish<ref>Matthee, Rudi (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500–1900. Princeton University Press. p. 18, "The '''Safavids''', as '''Iranians''' of '''Kurdish''' ancestry and of nontribal background (...)"</ref><ref>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. (...)"</ref><ref>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 (...)"</ref><ref name=":0222">Tapper, Richard (1997). Frontier nomads of Iran: a political and social history of the Shahsevan. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-58336-7}}. p. 39, "The '''Safavid''' Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from Sheikh Safi ad-Din of Ardabil (1252-1334). Sheikh Safi and his immediate successors were renowned as holy ascetics Sufis. Their own origins were obscure: probably of '''Kurdish''' or '''Iranian''' extraction (...)"</ref><ref>Matthee, Rudi (2008). "SAFAVID DYNASTY". Encyclopædia Iranica; "As Persians of '''Kurdish''' ancestry and of a non-tribal background, the '''Safavids''' did not fit this pattern, though the state they set up with the assistance of Turkmen tribal forces of eastern Anatolia closely resembled this division in its makeup."</ref><ref>Bowering, Gerhard (2015). Islamic Political Thought: An Introduction. Princeton University Press. p. 13, "The '''Safavids''', of '''Kurdish''' origin and Turkic-speaking, arose from the Sunni Sufi fraternity of the Safawis organized in Azerbaijan by Safı al-Din (d. 1334) (...)"</ref><ref>Bowering, Gerhard; Crone, Patricia; Kadi, Wadad; Mirza, Mahan; Stewart, Devin J.; Zaman, Muhammad Qasim (2013). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. p. xii, "The Turkic-speaking '''Safavids''' of '''Kurdish''' origin arose from a Sunni Sufi fraternity that was organized in Azerbaijan by Safı al-Din (d. 1334) (...)"</ref><ref>Manz, Beatrice Forbes (2021). Nomads in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. p. 169, "The '''Safavid dynasty''' was of '''Iranian''' – probably '''Kurdish''' – extraction and had its beginnings as a Sufi order located at Ardabil near the eastern border of Azerbaijan, in a region favorable for both agriculture and pastoralism."</ref>) origin. Also, the origin of the dynasty was based on Kurdistan.<ref>Lambton, Ann Katherine Swynford; Lewis, Bernard. (1984). The Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge University Press. p. 394, "Such evidence as we have seems to suggest that the family hailed from '''Kurdistān'''."</ref> 

E.J. van Donzel says;<ref>E. J. van Donzel (1994). Islamic desk reference. BRILL. p. 222.</ref> <blockquote>Several dynasties, such as the Marwanids of Diyarbakir, the Ayyubids, the Shaddadis and possibly the '''Safawids''', as well as prominent personalities, were of '''Kurdish''' origin.</blockquote>

== History ==
The state was founded by Ismail I in July 1501 in Tabriz, declaring himself Shah.<ref>Ismāʿīl I, in Britannica, (2011).</ref> Ismail's rule is one of the most vital in Iranian history. Prior to accession to the throne in 1501, Iran had not existed as a unified country under native Iranian rule since it was conquered by the Arabs eight and a half centuries ago, but was controlled by a number of Arab caliphs, Turkic sultans and Mongol khans. Although many Iranian dynasties came to power during all this time (Tahirids,<ref>Frye, R. N.; Fisher, William Bayne; Frye, Richard Nelson; Avery, Peter; Gershevitch, Ilya; Boyle, John Andrew; Yarshater, Ehsan; Jackson, Peter (1975). The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-20093-6}}. p. 90, "The '''Tāhirids''' were culturally highly Arabicized, but they were nevertheless '''Persians'''."</ref> Saffarids,<ref>Robert E. Bjork (2010). (ed.). Saffarid dynasty. The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780198662624}}, "One of the first indigenous '''Persian''' dynasties to emerge after the Arab Islamic invasions."</ref><ref>Daftary, Farhad. Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis. p. 51, "The '''Saffarids''', the first '''Persian''' dynasty, to challenge the Abbasids (...)"</ref><ref>Meisami, Julie Scott; Starkey, Paul (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. 2. p. 674, "'''Saffarids''': A '''Persian''' dynasty (...)"</ref><ref>Aldosari, Ali. Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. p. 472, "There were many local '''Persian''' dynasties, including the Tahirids, the '''Saffarids''' (...)"</ref> Samanids<ref>Frye, R. N.; Fisher, William Bayne; Frye, Richard Nelson; Avery, Peter; Gershevitch, Ilya; Boyle, John Andrew; Yarshater, Ehsan; Jackson, Peter (1975). The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-20093-6}}. p. 160, "The memory of the '''Sāmānids''', not only as the last '''Iranian''' dynasty in Central Asia, but that dynasty which unified the area under one rule and which saved the legacy of ancient Iran from extinction, lasted long in Central Asia..."</ref><ref>Bosworth, C. E.; Crowe, Yolande (2012), "Sāmānids", Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Brill, "(...) a '''Persian''' dynasty which ruled in Transoxania and then in Ḵh̲urāsān (...)"</ref> etc.) it was only during the Buyids period that most of Iran returned to Iranian rule (945–1055).<ref>Savory, Roger (1998). "ESMĀʿĪL I ṢAFAWĪ". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 6. pp. 628–636.</ref> Founded by Ismail I, the state was one of the largest Iranian empires and among the most powerful of its time;  present-day Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia and most of Georgia;  He ruled parts of the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as present-day Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.<ref>Helen Chapin Metz. ''Iran, a Country study''. 1989. University of Michigan, p. 313.</ref><ref>Emory C. Bogle. ''Islam: Origin and Belief''. University of Texas Press. 1989, p. 145.</ref><ref>Stanford Jay Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. 1977, p. 77.</ref><ref>Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: ''Rebirth of a Persian Empire'', I.B. Tauris (March 30, 2006).</ref> 

The Safavid shahs established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire.<ref>Roger Savory, "Safavids", Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed.</ref>

== Family tree ==
Paternal lineage of the Safavid dynasty;

* Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah (a Kurdish<ref>Syed, Muzaffar Husain; Akhtar, Syed Saud; Usmani, B. D. (2011). Concise History of Islam. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. {{ISBN|978-93-82573-47-0}}. p. 204, "(...) a '''Kurdish''' noble man named '''Firuz Shah Zarin Kolah''' the '''Kurd''' of Sanjan."</ref> noble man.)
* Avaad 
* Qotb al-Din Mohammad 
* Salah al-Din Rashid 
* Qotb al-Din Abu Bakr
* Amin al-Din Jebrail 
* Safi-ad-din Ardabili (a Kurdish<ref name=":1">Maisel, Sebastian (2018). The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society. ABC-CLIO. {{ISBN|978-1-4408-4257-3}}. p. 7, "(...) Safavids, a Sufi religious order founded by a '''Kurdish''' mystic, '''Safi ad-Din Ardabili''' (1252–1334)."</ref><ref name=":2">Kamal, Muhammad (2006). Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0754652717}}. p. 24, "(...) '''Shaykh Safi al-Din''', a Sunni Sufi master descended from a '''Kurdish''' family (...)"</ref><ref name=":3">Gelvin, James L. (2008), The Modern Middle East: A History, Oxford University Press, p. 331, "Shah Isma'il (reigned 1501-1520) Descendent of the '''Kurdish''' mystic '''Safi ad-Din''' (...)"</ref><ref name=":4">Tapper, Richard. (1997), Frontier nomads of Iran: a political and social history of the Shahsevan, Cambridge University Press, p. 39, "The Safavid Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from '''Sheikh Safi ad-Din''' of '''Ardabil''' (1252-1334). [...] Their own origins were obscure: probably of '''Kurdish''' or Iranian extraction (...)"</ref><ref name=":5">Lapidus, Ira M. (2012). Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. p. 492, "'''Shaykh Safi al—Din''' [...] a Sunni/Sufi religious teacher descended from a '''Kurdish''' family (...)"</ref><ref name=":6">V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shāh Ismā‘īl I," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.</ref> poet, mystic teacher and Sufi master.)
* Sadr al-Din Musa
* Sheikh Khvajeh Ali Safavi
* Sheikh Ibrahim Shāh
* Sheikh Junāyd
* Sheikh Ḥaydar
* Shah Ismail I (Founder of Safavid dynasty, grandson of Kurdish mystic Safi-ad-din Ardabili.<ref>Gelvin, James L. (2008), The Modern Middle East: A History, Oxford University Press, p. 331, "'''Shah Isma'il''' (reigned 1501-1520) Descendent of the '''Kurdish''' mystic '''Safi ad-Din''' (...)"</ref>)
* Shah Tahmasp I
* Shah Ismail II{{Efn|One of Shah Tahmasp's two sons.}}
* Shah Mohammad Khodabanda{{Efn|One of Shah Tahmasp's two sons.}}
* Shah Abbas I/Abbas the Great 
* Mohammad Baqer Mirza
* Shah Safi
* Shah Abbas II
* Shah Suleiman I/Sam Mirza/Safi II
* Sultan Husayn
* Shah Tahmasp II
* Shah Abbas III

==References==
{{reflist}}
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
[[Category:History of Iran]]
[[Category:History of Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:History of Islam]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani dynasties]]
[[Category:Royal dynasties]]
[[Category:1500s establishments]]
[[Category:18th-century disestablishments in Asia]]
[[Category:16th-century establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:1722 disestablishments]]