Safavid+Empire

=**Political:**= =**Economic:**= =**Religion:**= =**Social:**= =**Innovations:**= =**Art:**=
 * started by Ismail who took the name of Shah and traced his lineage back to a Sufi leader
 * government kept account of their rise to power for propaganda
 * capital: Tabriz
 * Ismail (Shiite) ruled Sunnis
 * tried to convert people in the Ottoman empire to Shia Islam
 * Enemy with Sunni Ottomans --> battle of Chaldiran (Ottomans won because they used gunpowder)
 * Merchants had influence in government because of their wealth
 * at its height the Safavids controlled Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Georgia, and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
 * fueled by location between Europe and Central Asia
 * main imports spices and textiles
 * lower divisions of Agriculture
 * based on agriculture and taxation of agriculture crops
 * land granted to qizilbash so they would remain loyal to the government
 * trade encouraged by Shah Abbas
 * Shah Abbas allowed trading privileges to foreign merchants in Isfahan
 * traded silk, ceramics, textile, and carpets metals, sugar, coffee, and spices
 * traded with Europe especially English and Dutch
 * population growth occurred due to intense agriculture not due to new crops
 * Shah Abbas attacked Ottomans with the help of the Europeans
 * Ismail said Safavid religion was Twelver Shiism
 * Twelver Shiism followers known as qizilbash (red heads) who believed Ismail made them invincible in battle
 * associated military leaders with divinity
 * Ismail forced Shiite religion on his subjects
 * religiously diverse with Christians, Jewish, Zoroastrians, as well as Muslims
 * center of Christian mission in Portuguese Goa where Christians established schools for Indian boys
 * Shiite leaders pressured Shahs to persecute Sunnis
 * Sunni Muslims were massacred in Baghdad
 * Shah owned all land and granted use to peasant families who then had to pay taxes
 * Shahs had murderous struggles to the throne
 * women were not supposed to have power but the mother and first wife of the Shah had influence with him
 * Dominated in the beginning by military elites
 * Power then moved to the merchant class
 * Patriarchal
 * divorce could be caused by either women or men but after the death of Shah Abbas women lost some rights and had to wear a veil
 * Social hierarchy
 * King and royal class
 * Nobility (administrators)
 * Rich merchant class
 * Artisans
 * Peasants
 * little to no slavery
 * Medicine- doctors
 * Reguarded highly by society
 * Often appointed counselors of Shahs
 * The Safavids did not want to use gunpowder originally
 * Shah Abbas started the use of gunpowder
 * gained coffee and tobacco from Colombian Exchange
 * City planning- sewage and irrigation
 * multistory buildings
 * did not mind depicting humans in art
 * used floral scroll work designs
 * domes
 * arches
 * Ceramics, metal, glass
 * drew inspiration from the royal painting workshop
 * textiles and carpets manufactured for court
 * architecture: mosques, mausolea, and place complexes, shrines, sontrubuted to sites of veneration and pilgramage