REV: Lesson - The Gunpowder Empires: Safavid

A map showing the Safavid EmpireThe Safavid Empire

Timur the Lame granted an equal land inheritance to each of his sons, and they did the same. Within 100 years, Timur the Lame’s central Asian empire was a collection of semi-independent city-states, like the one Babur was from. Ismail I (at only 13) took over those city-states within 10 years to start the fundamentalist Shia Safavid Empire. He was ruthless against any Sunni Muslims. But because the Safavid Empire was stuck between the Sunni Ottoman Empire and the Sunni Mughal Empire, for generations, Ismail’s family had been building relationships with the non-Muslim Byzantines, Italians, Russians, French, and Polish – namely, any country that also felt threatened by Ottoman expansion.

Arts and Culture in the Safavid Empire

A Persian rug from the Safavid empire

Shah Ismail I was a poet and art lover. The Safavid Empire upheld his example of international diplomacy and art patronage. At its peak under later Abbas the Great, Isfahan (the Safavid capital) was the home of over one hundred mosques, dozens of religious schools, hundreds of shops, and over two hundred public baths.

The streets were landscaped, the parks manicured, and the libraries and public buildings stunned visiting Europeans. He also had thousands of pieces of Chinese art in his palace. The Safavids also developed a unique style of calligraphy and rug production – Persian rugs (see example to the left) are still valued worldwide today. 

Tilework of a Safavid lady receiving gifts from a European while being waited on by attendants.

Tilework of a Safavid lady receiving gifts from a European while being waited on by attendants. Safavid art included attention to nature – this scene takes place in a garden.

Fall of the Gunpowder Empires

All 3 Gunpowder Empires (Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid) grew in power due to their strong militaries, centralized governments, and devotion to the arts. However, they also all fell for similar reasons: weak leadership and European influence. The Safavid Shahs grew militarily and diplomatically lax when they agreed on peace with their rivals, the Ottoman Empire. When European explorers took over the Indian Ocean trade routes, they bypassed the Safavids, and the empire crumbled without trading partners. The Mughal Emperors fought each other, became less religiously tolerant, and spent money on construction projects (like the beautiful Taj Mahal) instead of on the military, which led to the rise of independent states. When the British invaded, the military was too religiously and ethnically divided to win in the face of Britain’s superior military technology. Ottoman Sultans encouraged fratricide (brother murder) to gain power, rejected technological advancements like the printing press, and ignored growing social unrest. The Ottoman Empire ended when they lost World War I.

Practice Activity

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