Safavid Empire
Amira, Marjorie, DJ
Who:
Shi Ismail
• The Safavid dynasty was founded about 1501 by Shāh Ismāil I
• The Empire was founded by the Safavids, A Sufi order that goes back to Safi al-Din (1252-1334).
• Safi al-Din converted to Shi’ism and was a Persian nationalist.
• The Safavid brotherhood was originally a religious group.
• The Safavids came to power in 1501 when Shah Ismaili (d. 1524) marched into the city of Tabriz with the
historical warriors, and had himself crowned king. This marked the beginning of a long era of Safavid rule
that witnessed many formative developments in the fields of religion, art, and politics. These changes can
best be traced alongside the continually transforming religion-political spheres as each succeeding Safavid
ruler further separated temporal power from religious authority.
• Before the Safavid Dynasty came into existence, there was a Sufi order (Tariq) named the Safaviyya founded by Shaykh
Safi al-Din al-Ardabil in the city of Ardabil.
• After the death of Shah Ismaili in 1524, he was succeeded by his son Shah Tahmasp whose long time in the throne
began under the heavy influence of various leaders
WHAT
Safavid Flag
• Religion: The state religion was Shi'a Islam
• One major aspect of the Safavid Empire is that they were Shi'ite. This helped lead them to come into major conflict with
Sunni states such as the Ottomans.
• Culturally, this was a time of great artistic development. Things like architectural and building techniques, ways of
weaving silk, carpet making and painting all thrived during the Safavid Empire.
• The Safavid dynasty actually ruled the greatest Persian Empire since the Muslim conquest of Persia,
• one of their key religious contributions was their establishment of the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official empire
religion
• The Safavid Empire at its height controlled Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan and the Caucasus, as
well as significant tracts of Pakistan, and Turkey.
• Safavid Empire had the possession of gunpowder
•
Allowing their empire to stay in power as long as it did
Where
Map Of Safavid Empire
• Safavid empire was located in the Middle east.
• It used to be what is now currently Iran.
When
• •The Safavid empire was founded in 1501,when it declared
independence from the Ottoman empire
• This was when Ismail declared him self Shah
• •The Safavid empire existed from 1501 to 1722
Why
• The Safavid Empire was significant because of its strategic
placement in-between Europe and Asia
• The Safavid Empire had a geographical position at the center of
the trade routes of the ancient world.
• Europe traded with the Islamic civilisations of central Asia and India.
• Because Europe utilized this trading zone they refrained from
conquering the area
• The Safavid Empire rued the largets trading center of their time
Safavid trading
post
How
• Rise
• The founder of the Safavid Empire was Shi Ismail
• his forces seized much of Iran and Iraq
• Made shi'ite as state religion
• The next significant ruler of the Safavid was Shah Abbas
• established similar system to janissaries, the army, and attempted to regain lost
territories
• Begun to militarize the empire
• The main factor that played a role in the rising of the Safavid Empire
was the land that they acquired
• Trading aided the empire in growth during their time
• Textiles were mainly traded
• The Empire was led by religion, Shi’ite
Safavid Textile
how
• Fall
• Dutch east India and later the british started to used maritime and
violence to obtain control over the trade routs that the Safavids once
controlled
• This cut off the empire from trading with Eaat Africa, the Arabian peninsula,
and south asia
• Drained the Iranian government of its metal supplies
• After the death of Shah Abbas is 1666 the rulers that came after him were unfit
to rule which further led to the decline of the empire
• Other countries began to notice that the empire was falling apart and began to
attack the frontiers of the empire
• The empire officially ended when Karim Khan ended it
Works Cited
Ghasemi. Sapour. “Safavid Empire 1502 – 1736” Iran Chamber Society. Copyright © 20012005. Web. Feb 7 2015. <http://www.iranchamber.com/history/safavids/safavids.php>
“Safavid Decline and Fall”. Macrohistory and World Timeline. Copyright © 2001-2014 by Frank
E. Smitha. Web. Feb 7 2015. <http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h21saf-3.htm>
“Safavid Empire (1501-1722)” BBC. BBC © 2014. web. Feb 7 2015.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/safavidempire_1.shtml>
“Ottoman Decline”. Macrohistory and world timeline. Copyright © 2001-2014. Web. Feb 7
2015 <http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h21-ot.html>