safavid empire political structure

Floor 2001 is a useful, well-sourced survey of the political organization of Safavid society. Crown prince Hamza Mirza, now 21 years old and director of Safavid affairs, led a force to confront the Ottomans, but in 1586 was murdered under mysterious circumstances. The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. Following the conquest of Iran, Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the largely Sunni population. The idea of such an anti-Ottoman alliance was not a new oneover a century before, Uzun Hassan, then ruler of part of Iran, had asked the Venetians for military aidbut none of the Safavids had made diplomatic overtures to Europe. 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. It was from this time that the division of the Shia world into mujtahid (those who could follow their own independent judgment) and muqallid (those who had to follow the rulings of a mujtahid) took place. 1867. And in spite of being transported for more than thirty days, they were fresh when they reached Isfahan After melons the finest fruits were grapes and dates, and the best dates were grown in Jahrom. The vizier thought that the royal forces failed to prosecute the siege sufficiently and accused the forces of sedition. [158], Nevertheless, the Iranian society during the Safavids was that of a hierarchy, with the Shah at the apex of the hierarchical pyramid, the common people, merchants and peasants at the base, and the aristocrats in between. Related Questions Thus, the majority of the people suffered from rapacity and corruption carried out in the name of the Shah. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later". [180], The Akhbari movement "crystalized" as a "separate movement" with the writings of Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (died 1627 AD). Mir Damad is considered the founder of this school. [80] Humayun handed over Kandahar, but Tahmsp was forced to retake it in 1558, after Humayun seized it on the death of the Safavid governor. These empires shared many similarities, but one major similarity is their political structures. The Sultanates of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, and Golconda all sought Persian suzerainty not just because of religious or cultural ties, but also because of the need for a counterweight to Mughal expansion. At the fourth invasion in 1553, it was now clear that Tahmsp followed a policy of annexation and resettlement as he gained control over Tbilisi (Tiflis) and the region of Kartli while physically transplanting more than 30,000 people to the central Iranian heartlands. 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). According to the Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye:[240]. It was also requested from them that they appoint a lawyer (vakil) to the Court who would inform them on matters pertaining to the provincial affairs. Abbas I (Shah Abbas) -Before his rule, the empire was in an age of chaos. Among luminaries of this school of philosophy, the names of Iranian philosophers such as Mir Damad, Mir Fendereski, Shaykh Bahai and Mohsen Fayz Kashani standout. Most were replaced by a ghulam, and within short time, Georgians, Circassians, and to a lesser extent Armenians had been appointed to many of the highest offices of state, and were employed within all other possible sections of society. A specific Turkic language was attested in Safavid Persia during the 16th and 17th centuries, a language that Europeans often called Persian Turkish ("Turc Agemi", "lingua turcica agemica"), which was a favourite language at the court and in the army because of the Turkic origins of the Safavid dynasty. [165], The most precious accessory for men was the turban. political (1/2 Max 1/2 miranda) -the Safavid political structure is represented by a pyramid with the highest social class at the top or the shah, and the lowest social class at the bottom or the farmers and herders. This form of Turkish was also the mother-tongue of Shah Abbas, although he was equally at ease speaking Persian. The Safavid Empire was formed in 1501 and ended by the invasion of Afghans in 1722. According to, Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi. From the population growth and urbanization of Isfahan agriculture . Savory, Roger: Iran under the Safavids, pp. [167][failed verification].mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}html.client-js body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .mbox-text-span{margin-left:23px!important}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}, Shah Tahmasp introduced a change to this, when he, and the other Safavid rulers who succeeded him, sought to blur the formerly defined lines between the two linguistic groups, by taking the sons of Turkic-speaking officers into the royal household for their education in the Persian language. Geographical discoveries, in general, and bypassing the Cape of Good Hope, in particular, in South Africa, changed traditional trade routes in Iran's international trade. But the Portuguese ambassador to the Safavids, De Gouvea, still mentions the Council of State[188] in his records, which perhaps was a term for governmental gatherings of the time. The Safavid and Mughal both had a centralized government, based on military conquest, and were both Muslim based empires. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz, they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. The Common people were the lowest class on the pyramid in which they mainly consisted of farmers and herders. [234] Prior to the Shah's ascent to power, Iran had a decentralized power-structure, in which different institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire. [83] Despite that Tahmsp could nullify and neglect some of his consternations regarding potential issues related to his family by having his close direct male relatives such as his brothers and sons routinely transferred around to various governorships in the empire, he understood and realized that any long-term solutions would mainly involve minimizing the political and military presence of the Qezelb as a whole. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in 1623 during the OttomanSafavid War (162339) yet lost it again to Murad IV in 1638 after Abbas had died. Stefan Sperl, C. Shackle, Nicholas Awde, "Qasida poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa", Brill Academic Pub; Set Only edition (February 1996), p. 193: "Like Shah Ni'mat Allah-i Vali he hosted distinguished visitors among them Ismail Safavi, who had proclaimed himself Shahanshah of Iran in 1501 after having taken Tabriz, the symbolic and political capital of Iran". Although Turkish was widely spoken in Safavid Iran this fact is rarely mentioned. [116] This force of well-trained Caucasian ghulams under Abbas amounted to a total of near 40,000 soldiers paid for and beholden to the Shah. Roger M. Savory, "Safawidsiii, The establishment of the Safawid state,". But it was Shah Safi, under influence by his Prime Minister, Saru Taqi, that initiated the program of trying to increase the royal revenues by buying land from the governors and putting in place local commissioners. When he died on 19 January 1629, he had no son capable of succeeding him.[142]. The latter included merchants trading in the bazaars, the trade and artisan guilds (asnf) and members of the quasi-religious organizations run by dervishes (futuvva). Despite the predominantly Sunni character of this territory, he proclaimed Shiism the state religion and enforced its creed and prayers in the mosques of his dominion. The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. [244], Safavids also used Persian as a cultural and administrative language throughout the empire and were bilingual in Persian. It was a high point for the art of the book and architecture; and also including ceramics, metal, glass, and gardens. The Silk Road which led through northern Iran was revived in the 16th century. The Portuguese Empire and the discovery of the trading route around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487 not only hit a death blow to Venice as a trading nation, but it also hurt the trade that was going on along the Silk Road and especially the Persian Gulf. After the death of Shah Abbs I (1629), the Safavid dynasty lasted for about a century, but, except for an interlude during the reign of Shah Abbs II (164266), it was a period of decline. In the next 10 years he subjugated the greater part of Iran and annexed the Iraqi provinces of Baghdad and Mosul. The Safavids were defeated and, as the Ottoman force moved on Tabriz, engaged in scorched-earth combat. This trading route proved to be of vital importance, especially during times of war with the Ottomans. The Safavid empire had a strong social structure with kings and royals at the top and peasants at the bottom. The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. [83] Although the first slave soldiers would not be organized until the reign of Abbas I, during Tahmasp's reign, Caucasians already became important members of the royal household, Harem and in the civil and military administration,[86][87] and were on their way of becoming an integral part of society. Ferrier, RW, A journey to Persia: Jean Chardin's Portrait of a Seventeenth-century Empire, pp. The Safavid Empire was one ruled by Sufi Muslims who later became Shia Muslims. Adam Olearius, "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors" (excerpts). Women from the provinces and slaves pierced their left nostrils with rings, but well-born Persian women would not do this. 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. To counter the rising Safavid power, in 1502, Sultan Bayezid II forcefully deported many Shiite Muslims from Anatolia to other parts of the Ottoman realm. This layer would be solely composed of hundreds of thousands of deported, imported, and to a lesser extent voluntarily migrated ethnic Circassians, Georgians, and Armenians. [119] As mentioned by the Encyclopaedia Iranica, lastly, from 1600 onwards, the Safavid statesman Allhverd Khan, in conjunction with Robert Sherley, undertook further reorganizations of the army, which meant among other things further dramatically increasing the number of ghulams to 25,000.[120]. Although the early afav order was originally Sunni, following the jurisprudence of the Shfi school, it gravitated toward Shiism over time, perhaps pulled along by the popular veneration of Al. She had been married to Uzun Hassan[44] in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. When he reached the capital with Abbas a public demonstration in the boy's favor decided the issue, and Shah Mohammad voluntarily handed over the insignia of kingship to his son, who was crowned Abbas I on October 1, 1588. [29] The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shsm as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Sha Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.[29][31]. Bureaucracy and landed class who were considered the middle classes. They were able to summon for a divorce and were given a lot more trust and respect than usual. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. . The Ottomans pushed further and on August 23, 1514, managed to engage the Safavids in the Battle of Chaldiran west of Tabriz. The Safavid Empire was a theocracy. Today, we'll take a look at this ruling power. [194] There were the Persians who still dominated the bureaucracy and under Abbas held the two highest government offices of Grand Vizier and Comptroller-General of the Revenues (mostoufi-ye mamalek), which was the nearest thing to a finance minister. [128], Teimuraz returned to eastern Georgia in 1615 and defeated a Safavid force. [212], Horses were the most important of all the beasts of burden, and the best were brought in from Arabia and Central-Asia. Unlike other empires women had a lot of rights. The Takkalu replaced the Rumlu as the dominant tribe. The fourth vakil was murdered by the Qezelbash, and the fifth was put to death by them. However, the brief puppet regime of Ismail III ended in 1760 when Karim Khan felt strong enough to take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty. The Mughals adhered (for the most part) to a tolerant Sunni Islam while ruling a largely Hindu population. Although the early afav order was originally Sunni, following the jurisprudence of the Shfi school, it gravitated toward Shiism over time, perhaps pulled along by the popular veneration of Al. Turkish was widely spoken in Safavid Iran this fact is rarely mentioned a strong social structure with and! Fourth vakil was murdered by the Qezelbash, and were both Muslim based empires pyramid in which mainly! Vizier thought that the royal forces failed to prosecute the siege sufficiently and accused forces. Ruled by Sufi Muslims who later became Shia Muslims to summon for a divorce and were a. 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