Who Was When

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Safavid Iran

Middle East & Central AsiaHeartland today: Iran

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Ismail I was proclaimed shah at Tabriz in 1501 and made Twelver Shi'ism the state religion. The Safavids lost to the Ottomans at Chaldiran, moved the capital to Isfahan under Abbas I, and lost Isfahan to Afghan forces in 1722.

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Key events

  1. Ismail I is proclaimed shah at Tabriz and makes Twelver Shi'ism the state religion

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  2. The Ottoman sultan Selim I defeats Ismail I at Chaldiran and briefly occupies Tabriz

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  3. – Maqsud Kashani oversees the Ardabil Carpet, the world's oldest dated carpet, believed to be made for the Safavid family shrine

    The carpet is dated A.H. 946, which spans 1539 and 1540. It was woven as one of a matched pair, now split between the V&A and LACMA. LACMA says it was possibly made in Tabriz.

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  4. – Abbas I moves the capital from Qazvin to Isfahan and builds a new city beside the old oneDisputed

    EBSCO gives 1598 for the move from Qazvin; Encyclopedia.com says only the 1590s. The date is given here as 1597 to 1598 to cover both.

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  5. Safavid forces, with English help, take Hormuz from the PortugueseDisputed

    World History Encyclopedia and EBSCO date the fall of Hormuz to 1622; the Library of Congress study says 1623. One World History Encyclopedia article calls the attackers Arabs; the other, and EBSCO, give the Persians with English naval help.

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  6. Afghan Ghilzai forces take Isfahan, ending effective Safavid rule
  7. Tahmasp Quli, who had ruled in the name of a Safavid prince, takes power in his own name as Nader Shah