The Safavid Period

The Safavid Period, 1501 to 1736, was the era of the Safavid dynasty's rule over Persia, founded by Ismail I, whose conquest reunified Iran as an independent state for the first time in nearly nine centuries and established Twelver Shia Islam as the state religion, a decision that gave Iran a distinct religious identity setting it apart from its Sunni Ottoman and Uzbek neighbors ever since. Under Shah Abbas the Great the dynasty reached its cultural and political peak, rebuilding the capital Isfahan into one of the era's most celebrated cities and fostering achievements in miniature painting, carpet weaving and architecture, while Safavid Persia also fought recurring wars with the Ottoman Empire over control of Iraq and the Caucasus. The dynasty declined through the early eighteenth century and finally collapsed in 1722 when Afghan invaders sacked Isfahan, though the Safavid religious and territorial legacy shaped Iran's identity for centuries afterward.