Safavid and Shi'i Iran: 1250 to 1920: Middle East

Marco Demichelis

The origins of the Safavid dynasty are not easily identifiable; it is assumed that the historical factors that led to the birth of this dynasty are at least twofold: the Mongol invasions of Genghis Khan and after Timur, during the 13th–15th centuries, and the establishment of numerous Sufi sects in northern Persia at the border with the Caucasus and Azerbaijan. The Safavid name come from a Sufi order called Safaviyeh , a priestly class, which was first related to the Shafii Sunni juridical school and only secondly became a politico-military group engaged with a heterodox vision of Shi'ism, moving his first steps under the founder's son, Khwaja 'Ali (d. 1429). The Mongol invasion of Persia and Near East from the 13th century caused a forced migration, an escape, in the direction of Azerbaijan of Turkish-Kurdish and Circassian clans that promoted a hybridization process of Azeri and north Armenian society. This ...

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