The Safavids began as a sufi order and were transformed into a dynasty that rule all of Iran, parts of Central Asia, and the Caucasus for over 200 years. The Safavid Empire, along with the Ottoman Empire and Mughal Empire were the great Islamic states of the middle periods. They unified what was to become Iran, instituted the Shia branch of Islam as the state religion, and initiated many new building projects. Shah Ismail I captured Tabriz and transformed the sufi order into a dynasty. The next three sultans sustained defended the Safavid empire. Shah Abbas made the Safavid Empire both a strong as well as culturally developed. He built the new capital at Isfahan, one of the major Safavid legacies. After the reign of Shah Abbas the Safavid Empire was never as strong. The empire was affected by internal problems as well as external threats. One of the external threats, the Afghans, eventually captured the capital, Isfahan and overthrew the Safavids. Some members of the Safavid dynasty attempted to come back to power after the Afghans left but they were unsuccessful.

Shah Ismail I and the Origins of the Safavid Dynasty
The Safavids began as a Islamic sufi order, which appeared among the Turkic speaking peoples, their home base was at Ardabil, west of the Caspian Sea. The Safavid order survived the coming of Timur (Tamerlane) to that part of the world in the 1300s. By 1500 the Safavids had adopted the Shi'a branch of Islam. They were eager to advance Shi'ism by military means. In the year 1500, the thirteen-year-old leader of the order began to create an empire. In 1501 the Safavids seized Tabriz from the Akkoyunlu and made it their capital. They conquered and took control of most of northern Iran. The Safavids became the strongest force in Iran, eventually controlling all of it and their leader, Isma'il, was declared Shah, at the age of fifteen.At Isma'il's Persian culture was adopted and Persian became the official language of the empire. To help organize the state the Safavids used Persian bureaucrats with a tradition in administration and tax collecting, and they tried to create religious unity. Shi'ism was adopted as the state religion, which was difficult to enforce due to the fact that the majority of the population were Sunnis and Ismail did not have complete control of his empire.

With so many Shi'ite Muslims in Anatolia under the rule of the Ottoman sultan, the sultan was concerned about the power of the Safavids and concerned about the Shi'a Muslims under his authority. The new sultan, Selim I, warred against these Shi'a, killing thousands and relocating others. Then Selim turned against the Safavids. In August 1514, at Chaldiran, Selim's army defeated the Safavid army, which had mainly cavalry armed with spears, bows and swords, while the Ottoman army had artillery and muskets. Isma'il and his Safavid followers believed that God was on their side, and they were amazed by their defeat. He died ten years later, at the age of thirty-seven.

Ismail’s descendents and the consolidation of the Empire
His offspring, or dynasty, recovered some of the original Safavid confidence. The shahs Tahmasp, Isma'il II and Muhammad Khadabandeh, ruling in succession until 1587, expanded eastward toward the Uzbeks, as far a the Oxus River. And they confronted Ottoman power and fought for control over Tabriz,Baghdad and the Caucasus
These shahs tightened controls over their subjects, each district having its own Safavid leader, a kizilbash chief, answerable to the shah. In time of war the kizilbash chiefs were responsible for providing soldiers for the shah's army and to collect revenues to pay for war. The local kizilbash chiefs grew wealthy in land and in collecting taxes.
Isma'il based his political authority on two claims. The first was his claim to inherit the Persian monarchy; the title of the Persian monarch.

Shah Abbas I
The reign of Shah Abbas I (1588-1629) was the greatest period in Safavid history and culture. He turned back the Ottoman tide and reseized vast amounts of territory, including Azerbaijan and Iraq One of his greatest achievements, however, was economic prosperity. He forged incredibly productive commercial ties with Great Britain and the Netherlands. As a result, the Safavid court and territories benefited from a period of great prosperity

This increasing prosperity brought about an energetic period of cultural development The greatest of the Safavid arts was architecture; the Safavid mosques, palaces, and parks built during the reign of Abbas I are among the greatest architectural achievements in the world. The greatest of these architectural triumphs are the monumental buildings built in Isfahan, which became Shah Abbas’ new capital Abbas drew from his family's experience with the local kizilbash chiefs, and he broke their power and confiscated their wealth. He extended state-owned lands and lands owned by the Shah. He strengthened his government's bureaucracy and managed to relocate tribes in order to weaken their power. Having eliminated kizilbash chiefs as a source of military recruitment, he established a strong military force of his own A new force, the ghulams were armed with artillery and muskets and were recruited principally from Georgians and Armenians of the empire, this force became the backbone of Shah Abbas’ power.

Decline
The later Shahs were never as strong as Abbas I, and the Empire slowly disintegrated due to the external pressures from the Ottoman, the Afghans, and the Mughals and the internal problems of economic stagnation and arguing factions in the government. In 1722, the Afghans seized Isfahan and forced Shah Husayn I to abdicate. From this point onwards, the Safavids no real control, but some of them did try to reestablish the dynasty throughout the 18th century.

Shaybanid Uzbeks 1500-1599
The Uzbeks were descendents of Shayban, who was a general in the Mongol army. 1428 Abdul Khayr, who was a Shaybanid prince unified may of the Uzbek tribes. As the empire as etablished by Timur began to decline, the Shaybanid Uzbeks took control of many its old territories in what is known as Transoxiana. But, Abdul Khayr was defeated in battle and only his grandson Shaybani Khan survived. Shaybani Khan estblished the Uzbeks in Samarkand and controlled what is now Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He also forced Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, into India. The other important Shaybanid ruler was Abdullah II, he gave the Shaybanid Uzbeks a lot of stability. The Shaybanid Uzbeks were a confederation and not a centralized empire like their neighbors. They were in competition and at war with both the Safavids and Mughals throughout their existence. They were allied with the Ottoman Empire against the Safavids. The Shaybanid Uzbeks power significantly after the death of the last Khan, but some Shaybanid Uzbeks continued to rule until the 18th century.

Mughals 1526-1858
Descendents of Timur, who settled in northern India. Babur the founder of the Muhgal Empire was forced from Central Asia by the Uzbeks. Babur toppled the existing islamic dynasty and established his own state. After the death of Babur there was a traumatic period for the empire, but it was eventually restored by under the reignof Humayun. Under Huymayun’s successor Akbar the Mughal Empire was increasingly administered by various groups Turks, Afghans, Persians, and Hindus. The Mughals built many new cities and filled many of the old cities with mosques and public buildings including the Taj Mahal. By the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the Mughals under Auwrangzeb, controlled nearly all of India and parts of Central Asia, but after this period problems began to appear. Many groups within the empire were not satisfied with Mughals and they rebelled. Several of the provinces fromed new Muslim and Hindu states and were lost until the Mughals controlled only a small amount of territory. The British finally removed the last Mughal emperor in 1858 bring the dynasty to an end.

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Terms:
Shah
Kizilbash
Akkoyunlu
Sufi
Place Names
Tabriz
Chaldiran
Baghdad
Ardabil
Caspian Sea

Personal Names (w/Links):
Shah Ismail I
Shah Tahmasp
Sha Ismail II
Muhammad Khadabandeh
Shah Abbas
Timur
Selim I