At a glance
Era 9- Dates
- 1571-1629 CE; ruled 1588-1629 CE
- Who
- The greatest Safavid shah, who rebuilt the army and made Isfahan his capital
- Era
- The Safavids & the Mughals
ProfileShah Abbas I
Abbas became shah in 1588, at about seventeen, in a time of disorder, with the Ottomans holding much of the west of Iran and the Uzbeks raiding the east. He built a new army of soldiers loyal to him alone, many of them from the Caucasus, armed with muskets and cannon, to balance the power of the tribal chiefs.
With it he drove back the Uzbeks and won back Tabriz and other lands from the Ottomans. In about 1598 he moved his capital to Isfahan and rebuilt it around a vast square, the Naqsh-e Jahan, with the royal mosque, the mosque of Shaykh Lutfallah, the palace gate and the great bazaar on its sides. He encouraged trade in silk and welcomed merchants from Europe and India.
He was a capable and often harsh ruler, suspicious even of his own sons. He died in 1629.
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