page_title: Safavid Iran
section_title: Iran prior to Ismāʻil's rule
hierarchical_section_title: Safavid Iran / History / Founding of the dynasty by Shāh Ismāʻil I (r. 1501–24) / Iran prior to Ismāʻil's rule
caption_attribution_description: Ismail_declares_himself_shah_by_entering_Tabriz
context_page_description: Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia, also referred to as the Safavid Empire, was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid shahs established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history.
  The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.
context_section_description: After the decline of the Timurid Empire (1370–1506), Iran was politically splintered, giving rise to a number of religious movements. The demise of Tamerlane's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shiʻi ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were a number of Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis, Nuqtavis and Musha'sha'iyyah. Of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Isma’il I gained political prominence in 1501. There were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by Ismāʻil. The most important local rulers about 1500 were:
  Huṣayn Bāyqarā, the Timurid ruler of Herāt
  Alwand Mīrzā, the Aq Qoyunlu Khan of Tabrīz
  Murad Beg, Aq Qoyunlu ruler of Irāq al-Ajam
  Farrokh Yaṣar, the Shah of Širvan
  Badi Alzamān Mīrzā, local ruler of Balkh
  Huṣayn Kīā Chalavī, the local ruler of Semnān
  Murād Beg Bayandar, local ruler of Yazd
  Sultan Mahmud ibn Nizam al-Din Yahya, ruler of Sistan
  Several local rulers of Mazandaran and Gilan such as: Bisotun II, Ashraf ibn Taj al-Dawla, Mirza Ali, and Kiya Husayn II.
  Ismāʻil was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian Empire he created.
caption: Ismail declares himself "Shah" by entering Tabriz; his troops in front of Arg of Tabriz, painter Chingiz Mehbaliyev, in private collection.
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