The Great Empires of Asia by Masselos Jim;

Author:Masselos, Jim;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames & Hudson, Limited
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Persia: The Safavids 1501–1722

SUSSAN BABAIE

The Safavid Empire of 1501–1722 was the longest-lasting Persian polity in the history of Islamic Iran. Its alignment of ancient Persian ideas of kingship with Imami Shia doctrines of Islam created a distinctive culture whose powerful legacy can be traced in the later history of the region.1

The Safavid Empire grew out of a messianic venture in the north west of Persia, which became the anchor for the reemergence of a distinctly Persian empire not seen since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. Imami or Twelver Shiism (named for the twelve Shia imams) became the dominant religion, although Sunni Islam was prominent along with large communities, native or imported, of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. The territorial gains and losses of the Safavid period settled to an area more or less contiguous with the political boundaries of modern Iran. The Persian and Shia cultural identity of the Safavid Empire grew out of continual conflict or competition with neighbouring Sunni empires – the Ottomans, the Mughals and the Uzbeks – and political alliances and trade partnerships with Europe and Asia. A cultural synthesis, forged out of the ethnic, linguistic and religious groupings in Safavid society, revived the political concept of Iran, rooted in its long history, as a proto-nationalist phenomenon.2

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