Safavid Persia

The dynasty that made Iran Shia, which is the single most consequential religious decision in the region's modern history. Ismail I, a teenage leader of a Sufi order with a militant Turkmen following, took Tabriz in 1501 and imposed Twelver Shiism on a population that was then largely Sunni, importing clerics from Lebanon and Bahrain because Iran had too few of its own. The conversion took generations and force, and it created the sectarian frontier with the Ottomans that has shaped the region ever since. Defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, where Ottoman artillery destroyed Safavid cavalry, set the border roughly where Iran and Turkey still meet. Abbas I rebuilt the state from 1588, creating a standing army of slave soldiers to balance the tribal cavalry, and moved the capital to Isfahan, which he filled with the square, mosques and bridges that make it one of the great planned cities. Silk was a royal monopoly traded to Europe. Persian miniature painting and carpet weaving reached their height. Afghan invaders took Isfahan in 1722 and the dynasty never recovered. Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan square is among the largest in the world and a World Heritage site. The dynasty ruled from 1501 to 1736. Its shahs claimed descent from the seventh Shia imam. Armenian merchants were resettled at New Julfa in Isfahan and given the silk trade. The Safavid state and the Ottomans fought intermittently for over two centuries. Persian became the court language of Mughal India partly through Safavid influence, and Safavid artists worked at Mughal courts.

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