User:Atabəy/Safavid Dynasty



The Safavids (1501-1722) (, Azerbaijani: Səfəvi) were a Shiite dynasty which established a unified Iranian state for the first time since the Islamic conquest of Persia and asserted the contemporary Iranian Shiite identity. Originated in Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan, Safavids were a predominantly Turkic-speaking dynasty, whose court languages were Azerbaijani and Persian. The Safavids ruled Iran from 1502 until 1722 (though several Safavid rulers were nominally reigning until 1736),, extending their empire well beyond the borders of modern Iran.

Origins
The Safavid dynasty had its origins in a long established Sufi order, called the Safaviyeh, which flourished in Iranian Azerbaijan and Anatolia since the early 14th century. Its founder was the Sufi saint Safi al-Din Is'haq of Ardabil (1252-1334), a man of obscure but probably Kurdish  and/or Persian origins. Initially, the Safaviyeh was a spiritual response to the upheavals and unrest in eastern Anatolia. Around 1400, the order changed its orientation from a Sunni to the extremist Shiite (ghulat). During the 15th century, the Safaviyeh gradually gain political and military clout in the Akkoyunlu state. After becoming the Safaviyeh leader in 1447, Sheikh Junayd - a descendant of Sheikh Safi al-Din, transformed the order into a revolutionary Shiite movement in the region.

Founder
The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by Shah Ismā'il I. Azerbaijani in origin, he was of mixed Turkic, Iranic, and Pontic Greek heritage and was a distant descendant of Safi al-Din. As such, Ismā'il was the last in line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh Sufi order, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty, and believed himself to be of divine Islamic descent. He was also deeply influenced by the Persian cultural identity, and particularly with the Shahnameh of Firdawsi, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after the Shahnameh characters. Ismā'il was also known as an Azerbaijani poet under the pen name of Khatai.

Ismā'il rise to power was predominantly due to the massive support from the powerful Turkoman tribes of Anatolia and Azerbaijan who, along with other supporters of the Safavid family, became collectively known as Qizilbash (Ottoman Turkish for "red head"). After the defeat of Akkoyunlu leader Alwand Mirza near Sharur, Ismā'il marched into Tabriz and enthroned himself as a Shah of Azerbaijan in July 1501    A year later, in 1502, Ismā'il claimed all of Iran.