1. What were the Characteristics & Achievements of Safavid Dynasty
10th Grade Global History
Br. Siraj | Saturday, November 17, 2018

2. Who were the Safavids?
Descendants of Safi al-Din, a Persianized Azerbaijani Turk, who was a sufi Sheikh following the Sunni Shafi'i school.
Shah Ismail in 1501 conquered Mesopotamia and Iran and proclaimed to be the Shah.
He became a Shi'ite and 1508 massacred Sunni Muslims in Baghdad.
Sultan Selim later on took over Mesopotamia and Azerbaijan, but Shah Ismail got back Tabriz, Safavid Capital in Azerbaijan.

3. Safavid Rise and Control of Iran
Safavids were ardent followers of Shi'ism.
They used shi'ism to integrate the Turkic and Persian peoples of Iran.
Shah Ismail, like Sultan Selim I, claimed to be the successor of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), thus spiritual leader of all the Muslims.
In 1580s Ottomans took over Azerbaijan and Caspian sea areas, which forced Shah Abbas to move the Capital to Isfahan from Tabriz.

4. Glory and Decline
Shah Abbas's rule from is considered the high point of Safavid Empire.
With new army and European help Shah Abbas fought the Ottomans and in a peace treaty in 1629 gained back Azerbaijan from the Ottomans.
After Shah Abbas the religious orthodoxy dominated the state.
The Afghans seized the Capital Isfahan in 1722 during Shah Hussein's rule.
Safavids then retreated to Azerbaijan.

5. Political & Social Structures
It was Turko-Persian mixed society.
Society was sturctured like a Pyramid
The Shah
Bureaucracy & Landed Elite
Common People

6. Homework
Questions 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 on page 471