Ch15/Sec3: The Rule of the Safavids

Rise of the Safavid Dynasty:in the 16th c.: a dynasty known as the Safavidstook control of the areaextending from Persia into C. Asia.

  • Founder: Shah Ismail, the descendant of Safi al-Din, whohad been the leader of Turkish ethnic groups in Azerbaijan (hence the name, Safavids)
  • The Safavids were Shiite Muslims (as opposed to Sunni Muslims)
  • In 1501, Ismail seized Iran and Iraq

-Called himself the shah(king) of a newPersian state

-Sent Shiite preachers into Anatolia to convert Turks in the OttomanEmpire

-Massacred Sunni Muslims when he conquered Baghdad in 1508

  • Alarmed by the Safavids, the Ottoman ruler Selim I won a major battle against themnear Tabriz, BUT, w/ina few years, Ismail regained control of Tabriz

  • Faced with integrating different peoples under their rule, the Safavids tried to use theShiite faith as a unifying force the shah claimed to be the spiritual leader of all Islam (as did the Ottoman sultan)

  • The Ottomans went on the attack in the 1580s, conquering Azerbaijan and controllingthe Caspian Sea.
  • Abbas, the Safavid shah, signed a peace treaty and lost much territory.
  • The Safavid capital moved east from Tabriz to Isfahan

Glory and decline:

-The Safavids reached their high point under Shah Abbas, who ruled from 1588 to1629.

-He created a system similar to the Ottoman janissaries and strengthened hisarmy with the latest weapons.

-In the early 17th c., w/ the help of European allies concerned about theOttomans, Abbas moved against the Ottomans to regain lost territories not much success but, in 1612, a peace treaty returned Azerbaijan to theircontrol

-The Safavid dynasty lost its vigor after Abbas’s death (1629): his successors lacked his talent and political skills

-Shiite religious power increased at court and in society

-The pressure to conform to traditional religious beliefs, or religious orthodoxy,increased and curbed the empire’s earlier intellectual freedom.

-Persian women werenow forced into seclusion and forced to adopt the veil.

-Early 18th c.: the Afghans seized Isfahan the Safavid rulers retreated to their original homeland, Azerbaijan

-The Turks also seized territoriesPersia sank into a long period of political and social anarchy(lawlessness and disorder)

Political and Social Structures:

  • Persia under the Safavids was a mixed society of Turks & Persians
  • The Turks werenomadic peoples, the Persians were farmers & townspeople
  • The pyramid-shaped Safavid social system:
  • Shah
  • Bureaucracy
  • Landowners
  • Commoners
  • Shiites eagerly supported the Safavid rulers because they believed the founder of theempire was a direct successor of MuhammadShia Islam was the state religion
  • The shahs wereaccessible to their subjects
  • Most of the shahs controlled the power of the landed aristocracy by bringing lands under the crown’s control
  • Appointment to the bureaucracy was by merit, not birth
  • Abbas hired neighboring foreigners to avoid competition between Turkish and non-Turkish elements among his people
  • The shahs, along w/ a large, affluent middle class alsoparticipated in trade
  • Most goods in the empire traveled by horse or camel
  • Rest stopswere provided on roads, which were kept clear of bandits
  • The Safavid Empire was not as prosperous as the Ottoman or the Mogul(its positionwith the Ottomans on the west made trade with Europe difficult)

Safavid Culture

  • Knowledge of science, medicine, and mathematics under the Safavids equaled that ofother societies of the region
  • Persia had an extraordinary flowering of the arts under Shah Abbas

  • Isfahan was agrandiose planned city with wide spaces and a sense of order.
  • Palaces, mosques, andbazaars surrounded a huge polo ground
  • Craftspeople adorned the buildings w/ metalwork, elaborate tiles, and delicate glass
  • Silk weaving based on new techniques flourished: gold & silver threads w/ patterns of birds, animals, flowers.
  • Carpet weavingflourished, stimulated by a large demand in the West (these wool carpetsare still prized throughout the world)
  • Riza-i-Abbasiwas the most famous artist of the period: he painted simple subjectssuch as oxen plowing, hunters, and lovers
  • Soft colors flowing movement were thedominant features of this period’s painting