1.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
2.
Kashan
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Kashan is a city of Isfahan, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 248,789, between the 12th and the 14th centuries Kashan was an important centre for the production of high quality pottery and tiles. In modern Persian, the word for a tile comes from the name of the town, Kashan is divided into two parts, mountainous and desert. In the east side of the city Kashan opens up to the desert of Iran which the city is famous for. Kashan is also known for Maranjab Desert and Caravanserai located near the namak lake, today Maranjab and the surrounding Shifting Sands is a popular destination at the weekends. On August 9,2007 Iran placed the Historical Axis of Fin, Sialk, hence, Kashan dates back to the Elamite period of Iran. The Sialk ziggurat still stands today in the suburbs of Kashan after 7,000 years, the artifacts uncovered at Sialk reside in the Louvre in Paris and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Irans National Museum. By some accounts, although not all, Kashan was the origin of the three men who followed the star that guided them to Bethlehem to witness the nativity of Jesus. Whatever the historical validity of this story, the attribution of Kashan as their original home testifies to the citys prestige at the time the story was set down and his tomb is one of Kashans conspicuous landmarks. Sultan Malik Shah I of the Seljuk dynasty ordered the building of a fortress in the middle of Kashan in the 11th century, the fortress walls, called Ghaleh Jalali still stand today in central Kashan. Kashan was also a vacation spot for Safavi Kings. Bagh-e Fin, specifically, is one of the most famous gardens of Iran and this beautiful garden with its pool and orchards was designed for Shah Abbas I as a classical Persian vision of paradise. The original Safavid buildings have been replaced and rebuilt by the Qajar dynasty although the layout of trees. The garden itself however, was first founded 7000 years ago alongside the Cheshmeh-ye-Soleiman, the garden is also notorious as the site of the murder of Mirza Taghi Khan known as Amir Kabir, chancellor of Nasser-al-Din Shah, Irans king in 1852. The earthquake of 1778 leveled the city of Kashan and all the edifices of Shah Abbas Safavi, but the city started afresh and has today become a focal tourist attraction via the numerous large houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, illustrating the finest examples of Qajari aesthetics. Notable towns around Kashan are Qamsar and Abyaneh, which attract tourists all year around, the nearby town of Niasar features a man-made cave and fireplace of historical interest. Kashan is internationally famous for manufacturing carpets, silk and other textiles, today, Kashan houses most of Irans mechanized carpet-weaving factories, and has an active marble and copper mining industry. Kashan and suburbs have a population of 400,000, there are more than 10,000 students currently studying in various fields at universities of kashan
3.
Safi of Persia
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Sam Mirza, better known by his dynastic name of Shah Safi was the sixth Safavid shah of Iran, ruling from 1629 to 1642. Safi was given the name Sam Mirza when he was born and he was the son of Mohammed Baqir Mirza, the eldest son of Shah Abbas I, and Dilaram Khanum, a Georgian wife. In 1615, Abbas had Mohammed Baqir killed, fearing he was plotting against his life, over the next few years, the suspicious Abbas killed or blinded his other sons, leaving his grandson Safi heir to the throne. Safi was crowned on 28 January 1629 at the age of eighteen and he ruthlessly eliminated anyone he regarded as a threat to his power, executing almost all the Safavid royal princes as well as leading courtiers and generals. He paid little attention to the business of government and had no cultural or intellectual interests, preferring to spend his time drinking wine or indulging in his addiction to opium. Supposedly, however, he abhorred tobacco smoke as much as his grandfather did, the dominant political figure of Safis reign was Saru Taqi, appointed grand vizier in 1634. Saru Taqi was incorruptible and highly efficient at raising revenues for the state, irans foreign enemies took the opportunity to exploit Safis perceived weakness. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Zuhab which ensued in 1639 put an end to all further wars between the Safavids and the Ottomans, in 1636 he received a trade delegation from Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, which included Adam Olearius. Adam wrote a book about this visit in 1647, which was published in Europe. In 1639, Safi sent a delegation to Holstein-Gottorp, bestowing gifts on the Duke. However, the Duke did not succeed in his ultimate aim - starting a trading relationship with Iran. Safi died on 12 May 1642 as a result of excessive drinking and he was succeeded by his son Abbas II. Safi I married numerous times, m. ca,1634, a daughter of Manuchar I Dadiani, mtavari of Principality of Mingrelia, by his wife, Princess Tamar. 1637, Princess Tinatin, younger daughter of Teimuraz I, King of Kartli and Kakheti, by his wife, Queen Khoreshan-Darejan, daughter of Giorgi X. M. a daughter of Bika, a Circassian and she was also the sister of Prince Mussal. M. a daughter of Urgurlu Beg, his former slave, M. a daughter of a Turkish or Persian court official from Nakhchivan. Newman, Andrew J. Safavid Iran, Rebirth of a Persian Empire, slaves of the Shah, New Elites of Safavid Iran. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Timurid and Safavid periods, Queen Hedwig Eleonora of Sweden, Dowager, Builder, and Collector
4.
Suleiman I of Persia
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Sam Mirza was born in February 1648, he was the elder son of the previous shah Abbas II and Circassian slave Nakihat Khanum. Sam Mirza had a brother named Hamza Mirza, as well as two other brothers named Ismail Mirza and Mirza Ali Naqi. He also had two unnamed sisters and he grew up isolated in the royal harem, where he was taken care of by a black eunuch named Agha Nazir. Because of this, his first language was and remained Azerbaijani, Abbas II died in Mazandaran on 25 September 1666, without revealing who should be his successor. Five days later, the spread to Isfahan, which made the eunuchs. The majority of them preferred Hamza Mirza, who was seven years old. However, in the end, Hamza Mirzas tutor made a statement in the court, one day later, on 1 October 1666, Sam Mirza was crowned as Safi II. The ceremony took place in the afternoon and was managed by Mohammad-Baqer Sabzavari, Safi II was given the heads of some dead Uzbeks, and in turn rewarded those who had given him the heads with money. He also gave money to 300 exiles from the Ottoman Empire who sought refuge in Iran to avoid being enrolled into the Ottoman army, all administrative positions were reconfirmed that same day. The name Abbas II was removed from royal stamps, and new coins were minted in Safi IIs name, the first year of his reign was markedly unsuccessful. The shah took the new name Suleiman I and he had little interest in the business of government, preferring retreat to the harem. He left political decision-making to his grand viziers or to a council of harem eunuchs, corruption became widespread in Persia and discipline in the army was dangerously lax. At the same time increased by the imposition of new taxes. This affected the economy and spread poverty, which resulted in many rebellions even in Suleimans capital Isfahan. In 1672, shah Suleiman offered the former vizier Mohammad Beg to become once again, which he agreed to. According to the French traveler Jean Chardin, Mohammad Beg had been poisoned by Suleimans vizier Shaykh Ali Khan Zangana, in 1676, Suleiman appointed the Georgian prince George XI as the ruler of Kartli. By the 1670s, Georgians came to make up a larger part of the actual Safavid fighting forces. Suleiman made no attempt to exploit the weakness of Safavid Persias traditional rival and he even refused the proposals from the European states to form a coalition against the Ottoman Empire
5.
Qazvin
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Qazvin is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was an ancient capital in the Persian Empire and nowadays is known as the capital of Iran. It is famous for its Baghlava, carpet patterns, poets, political newspaper, at the 2011 census, its population was 381,598. Located in 150 km northwest of Tehran, in the Qazvin Province, the climate is cold but dry, due to its position south of the rugged Alborz range called KTS Atabakiya. The city was a capital of the Persian Empire under Safavids in 1548-1598 and it is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history. Archeological findings in the Qazvin plain reveal urban agricultural settlements for at least nine millennia, Qazvin geographically connects Tehran, Isfahan, and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian seacoast and Asia Minor, hence its strategic location throughout the ages. The city today known as Qazvin is thought to have founded by Shapur II, King of Persia in 250 CE, under the name Shad Shahpur. Qazvin has sometimes been of importance at major moments of Iranian history. It was captured by invading Arabs and destroyed by Hulagu Khan, after the Ottoman capture of Tabriz, Shah Tahmasp made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire, a status that Qazvin retained for half a century until Shah Abbas I moved the capital to Isfahan. In the middle of the century the Babi movement had one of its centers here, in the second half of the 19th century Qazvin was one of the centers of Russian presence in northern Iran. A detachment of the Persian Cossack Brigade under Russian officers was stationed here, from 1893 this was the headquarters of the Russian Company for Road construction in Persia which connected Qazvin by roads to Tehran and Hamadan. The company built a hospital and the St. Nicolas Church, in 1920 Qazvin was used as a base for the British Norperforce. The 1921 Persian coup détat that led to the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty was launched from Qazvin and it became a state in 1996. In Autumn 2015 portions of Qazvin were struck by a meteorite, the majority of the people of the city of Qazvin are Persians. The majority language is Persian with a Qazvini accent, azerbaijanis and Tats are the other largest ethnic groups of the city of Qazvin. In the middle of the city lie the ruins of Meimoon Ghaleh, Qazvin contains several buildings from the Safavid era, dating to the period in which it was capital of Persia. Perhaps the most famous of the edifices is the Chehel sotoun, Qazvin. After Islam, the popularity of mystics, as well as the prominence of tradition, religious jurisprudence, and philosophy in Qazvin, led to the emergence of many mosques and religious schools
6.
Fatima Masumeh Shrine
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The shrine of Fatema Mæsume is located in Qom which is considered by Shia Muslims to be the second most sacred city in Iran after Mashhad. Fatima Masumeh was the sister of the eighth Imam Ali al-Rida, in Shia Islam, women are often revered as saints if they are close relatives to one of the Twelver Imams. Fatima Masumeh is therefore honored as a saint, and her shrine in Qom is considered one of the most significant Shii shrines in Iran, every year, thousands of Shii Muslims travel to Qom to honor Fatima Masumeh and ask her for blessings. For more information on the history of Fatima Masumeh, see Fatima bint Musa, also buried within the shrine are three daughters of the ninth, Twelver Shī‘ah Imām, Muhammad at-Taqī. The mosque consists of a chamber, three courtyards and three large prayer halls, totalling an area of 38,000 m2. The three prayer halls are named, Tabātabāī, Bālā Sar, and A‘dham, though Shii theology formally states that the relatives of the Imams, or imamzadehs, hold a lower status than the Imams, popular Shiism still strongly venerates imamzadehs. In Iran, there are many burial places of the Imams relatives than there are for the Imams themselves. Imamzadehs are considered to be close to God and religiously pious because of their relation to Imams. Shiis commonly travel on pilgrimages to shrines of imamzadehs, such as the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh, men and women seek cures to ailments, solutions to problems, and forgiveness of sins at these sites. Fatima Masumehs Shrine in Qom is crowded every day of the year with Shii men, women, some stay for hours or days praying at the mosque and circumambulating her tomb. The economy of Qom has become reliant on pilgrimage for the tourism it brings. In turn, Qom has remained conservative and traditional to maintain an environment for pilgrims. Many miracles have been recorded as taking place at this shrine, some are published in the shrines monthly newspaper, the Payam-e Astan. Pilgrims at the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh follow rituals that have passed down for centuries. Imam Ali al-Rida, Fatima Masumehs brother, outlined these ritual acts as he described the way he visited her Shrine, the prayer Imam al-Rida dictated to his sister continues to be part of the pilgrimage. Since the beginning of Qoms history in the 7th century, the city has been associated with Shiism, many Shii hadiths referred to Qom as a place of refuge for believers, calling it a deeply religious place. After Fatima Masumehs death in Qom and the construction of her Shrine, scholars began to gather in Qom, today, Qom is still noted for its religious seminaries and organizations. Fatima Masumeh died in Qom in 201 A. H. as she travelled to join her brother, the caravan she travelled in was attacked in Saveh by enemies to the Shiis, and 23 of Fatima Masumehs family and friends were killed
7.
Qom
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Qom, also spelled as Ghom, is the eighth largest city in Iran. It lies 125 kilometres by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province, at the 2011 census its population was 1,074,036, comprising 545,704 men and 528,332 women. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River, Qom is considered holy by Shiʿa Islam, as it is the site of the shrine of Fatema Mæsume, sister of Imam Ali ibn Musa Rida. The city is the largest center for Shiʿa scholarship in the world, Qom is famous for a brittle toffee called “Sohan”, considered a souvenir of the city and sold by 2,000 to 2,500 “Sohan” shops. Qom has developed into an industrial centre owing in part to its proximity to Tehran. Qom gained additional prosperity when oil fields were discovered at Sarajeh near the city in 1956, Qom, the capital of Qom province, is located 125 kilometers south of Tehran, on a low plain. The shrine of Masoumeh, the sister of Imam Reza, is located in this city, the city is located in the boundary of the central desert of Iran. At the 2011 census its population was 1,074,036, Qom is counted as one of the focal centers of the Shiʿa both in Iran and around the globe. Since the revolution, the population has risen from around 25,000 to more than 45,000. Substantial sums of money in the form of alms and Islamic taxes flow into Qom to the ten marja-i taqlid or “Source of Imitation” that reside there. The number of schools in Qom is now over fifty. Its theological center and the Fatima al-Masumeh Shrine are prominent features of Qom, another very popular religious site of pilgrimage formerly outside the city of Qom but now more of a suburb is called Jamkaran. Qom’s proximity to Tehran has allowed the clerical establishment easy access to monitor the affairs, many Grand Ayatollahs possess offices in both Tehran and Qom, many people simply commute between the two cities as they are only 156 kilometres or 97 miles apart. Southeast of Qom is the ancient city of Kashan, directly south of Qom lie the towns of Delijan, Mahallat, Naraq, Pardisan City, Kahak, and Jasb. The surrounding area to the east of Qom is populated by Tafresh, Saveh, Qom has a hot desert climate with low annual rainfall due to remoteness from the sea and being situated in the vicinity of the subtropical anticyclone aloft. Except for its hot and extremely dry summers, which are due to the relatively low altitude among the hottest in inland Iran. The present town of Qom in Central Iran dates back to ancient times and its pre-Islamic history can be partially documented, although the earlier epochs remain unclear. Its true function is still a matter of dispute, but the contributions by Wolfram Kleiss point to a Parthian palace that served as a station on the highway and was used until Sasanian times
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
Safavid dynasty
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The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so-called gunpowder empires, the Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Shia Islam in Iran, as well as parts of the Caucasus, Anatolia. The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be Seyyeds, family descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Persian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, finally settling in the 11th century CE at Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, a massive migration of Oghuz Turks in the 11th and 12th centuries not only Turkified Azerbaijan but also Anatolia. The Azeri Turks are Shiʿites and were founders of the Safavid dynasty, by the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were native Turkish-speaking and Turkicized, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their native Turkish language. Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both Pontic Greek as well as Georgian lines, Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili. In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed the leadership of the Zahediyeh, due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. The Safavid order soon gained great influence in the city of Ardabil, after Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā. The leadership of the order passed from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khwādja Ali, when Shaykh Junayd, the son of Ibrāhim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. Savory, Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power, Junayd sought refuge with the rival of Kara Koyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu Khan Uzun Hassan, and cemented his relationship by marrying Uzun Hassans sister, Khadija Begum. Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi, Haydar married Martha Alamshah Begom, Uzun Hassans daughter, who gave birth to Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. Marthas mother Theodora—better known as Despina Khatun—was a Pontic Greek princess and she had been married to Uzun Hassan in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. After Uzun Hassans death, his son Yaqub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence, Yaqub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor, the Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi, according to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya. After the decline of the Timurid Empire, Persia was politically splintered, the demise of Tamerlanes political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shi’i ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were a number of Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis, Nuqtawis, of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Isma’il I gained political prominence in 1501
10.
Twelver
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Twelver Shia Islam or Imamiyyah is the largest branch of Shia Islam. Twelver belief is based on the Quran and the message of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad attested in hadith, according to Shia tradition, the Mahdis tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who is to assist the Mahdi against the Masih ad-Dajjal. Twelvers believe that the Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Iran is the only country with state religion as Shia Islam. They also differ in the role and overall definition of an Imam, alevis in Turkey and Albania and Alawis in Syria share belief in the Twelve Imams with Twelvers, but their theological doctrines are remarkably different. The Twelvers are also known by names, The Shiah is commonly used as a synonym for Twelvers since this branch comprises the majority group in Shia Islam. Shia refers to a group of Muslims who believe that the succession to Muhammad must remain in his family for specific members who are designated by a divine appointment, tabatabaei states that the word referred to the partisans of Ali at the time of Muhammad himself. Jafari refers exclusively to the Twelver Juridical school which is followed by the majority of Shias and it also refers to the minority Akhbaris who advocate a distinct juridical approach within Jafari Jurisprudence. The term is derived from the name of Jafar al-Sadiq who is considered by the Twelvers to be their Sixth Imām, Jafar al-Sadiq is also respected and referenced by the founders of the Sunni Hanafi and Maliki schools of jurisprudence. Imami or Imamiyyah or Imamite is a reference to the Twelver belief in the infallibility of the Imāms, Ali is quoted as arguing that unity of God means that he has no like, he is not subject to numeration and is not divisible either in reality or imagination. On another occasion, he is quoted saying, The first step of religion is to accept, understand, the correct form of belief in his unity is to realize that he is so absolutely pure and above nature that nothing can be added to or subtracted from his being. That is, one should realize there is no difference between his person and his attributes, and his attributes should not be differentiated or distinguished from his person. Sayyid Haydar Amuli a prominent Shia mystic and philosopher defines God as alone in being, along with his names, his attributes, his actions, the totality of being therefore is he, through him, comes from him, and returns to him. God is not a next to or above other beings, his creatures, he is being. The divine unitude does not have the meaning of a unity, among, next to. For, if there were being other than he, God would no longer be the Unique, as this Divine Essence is infinite, his qualities are the same as his essence, Essentially there is one Reality which is one and indivisible. According to Twelvers theology, Tawhid consists of several aspects including Tawhid of the Essence, the attributes, the creatorship, Tawhid of the essence of God means his essence is one and peerless. Regarding this, Quran 112 states, Say, He is Allah, One, Allah and he neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent. Tawhid of the attributes means Gods names and attributes have no other reality than His essence, Ali argues that Every attributes testifies to its being other than the object to which it is attributed, and every such object in turn testifies to its being other than the attribute
11.
Tughra
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A tughra is a calligraphic monogram, seal or signature of a sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. It was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted during his reign, the tughra was designed at the beginning of the sultans reign and drawn by the court calligrapher or nişancı on written documents. The first tughra belonged to Orhan I, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Tughras served a similar to the cartouche in ancient Egypt or the Royal Cypher of British monarchs. Every Ottoman sultan had his own individual tughra, the tughra has a characteristic form, two loops on the left side, three vertical lines in the middle, stacked writing on the bottom and two extensions to the right. Each of these elements has a meaning, and together they make up the form that is easily recognizable as a tughra. The name of the sultan is written out in the bottom section, depending on the period, this name can be as simple as Orhan, son of Osman in the first tughra in 1326. In later periods honorifics and prayers are added to the name of the tughra holder. The loops to the left of the tughra are called beyze, the vertical lines on the top of the tughra are called tuğ, or flagstaff. The lines to the right of the tughra are called hançer and signify a sword, symbol of power and might. Although the tughra is largely identified with the Ottoman Sultans, they have sometimes been used in other Turkic states, such as the Qajar dynasty, Safavid Empire. Later, tughras were used among the Tatars of Imperial Russia, there are modern artists of calligraphy that use the characteristic tughra form today. Examples are the tughras of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Akihito, the Emperor of Japan, created by artist Vladimir Popov
12.
Persian language
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Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
13.
Shah
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Shah is a title given to the emperors, kings, princes and lords of Iran. In Iran the title was used, rather than King in the European sense. The full, Old Persian title of the Achaemenid rulers of the First Persian Empire was Xšāyathiya Xšāyathiyānām or Šāhe Šāhān and this word is commonly confused with the unrelated and distinct Indian surname Shah, which is derived from the Sanskrit Sadhu or Sahu, meaning gentleman. Šāh, or Šāhanšāh to use the term, was the title of the Persian emperors. While the Ottoman Sultans never styled themselves as Shah, but rather Sultan, their male offspring received the title of Şehzade, or prince. The full title of the Achaemenid rulers was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām, literally King of Kings in Old Persian, corresponding to Middle Persian Šāhān Šāh, in Greek, this phrase was translated as βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλέων, King of Kings, equivalent to Emperor. Both terms were often shortened to their roots shah and basileus, in Western languages, Shah is often used as an imprecise rendering of Šāhanšāh. The term was first recorded in English in 1564 as a title for the King of Persia, for a long time, Europeans thought of Shah as a particular royal title rather than an imperial one, although the monarchs of Persia regarded themselves as emperors of the Persian Empire. In the twentieth century, the Shah of Persia, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, officially adopted the title شاهنشاه Šāhanšāh and, in western languages and he also styled his wife شهبانو Shahbānu. Iran no longer had a shah after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, from the reign of Ashot III, the Bagratid kings of Armenia used the title shahanshah, meaning king of kings. The title padishah was adopted from the Iranians by the Ottomans and by other monarchs claiming imperial rank. Another subsidiary style of the Ottoman and Mughal rulers was Shah-i-Alam Panah, meaning King, the Shah-Armens, used the title Shāh-i Arman. Georgian title mepetmepe was also inspired by the shahanshah title, however the precise full styles can differ in the court traditions of each shahs kingdom. This title was given to the princes of the Ottoman Empire and was used by the princes of the Mughal Empire in India. Thus, in Oudh, only sons of the sovereign shah bahadur were by birth-right styled Shahzada Mirza Bahadur, though this style could also be extended to individual grandsons, other male descendants of the sovereign in the male line were merely styled Mirza or Mirza. This could even apply to non-Muslim dynasties, for example, the younger sons of the ruling Sikh maharaja of Punjab were styled Shahzada Singh Bahadur. Shahbanu, Persian term using the word shah and the Persian suffix -banu, Empress, in modern times, shahdokht is also another term derived from shah using the Persian patronymic suffix -dokht daughter, female descendant, to address the Princess of the imperial households. Shahpur also been derived from using the archaic Persian suffix -pur son, male descendant
14.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
15.
Circassians
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The Circassians mainly speak the Circassian language, a Northwest Caucasian language with three main dialects and numerous sub-dialects. Many Circassians also speak Turkish, Russian, English, Arabic, and Hebrew, having been exiled by Russia to lands of the Ottoman Empire, about 800,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia, and others live in the Russian Federation outside these republics and krais. The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of whom 516,826 are Kabardian,124,835 are other Adyghe in Adygea,73,184 are Cherkess, the Circassians refer to themselves as Adyghe. The exonym Circassians is occasionally applied to Adyghe and Abaza from the North Caucasus, the Turkic peoples and Russians call the Adyghe Cherkess. Folk etymology usually explains the name Cherkess as warrior cutter or soldier cutter, from the Turkish words çeri, Cherkess, Circassians of Karachay-Cherkessia, one of two indigenous peoples of the republic who are mostly Besleney Kabardians. The name Cherkess is the Russian form of Circassian and was used for all Circassians before Soviet times, Adyghe, the indigenous population of the Kuban including Adygea and Krasnodar Krai. Shapsug, the historical inhabitants of Shapsugia. They live in the Tuapse District and the Lazarevsky City District of Sochi, genetically, the Adyghe have shared ancestry partially with neighboring peoples of the Caucasus, with some influence from the other regions. The Circassian language, also known as the Cherkess language, including West Adyghe, Kabardian Adyghe, archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in Northwest Caucasus region, indicate a megalithic culture in North West caucauses. Around the beginning of the 4th Millennium BCE, the North West Caucasus region, an Adyghe kingdom was founded in about 400 BCE. As a result of Greek and Byzantine influence, Christianity spread throughout the Caucasus between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE, during that period the Circassians began to accept Christianity as a national religion, but did not abandon all elements of their indigenous religious beliefs. From around 400 CE, wave after wave of invaders began to invade the lands of the Adyghe and they were conqered first by the Bulgars. Outsiders sometimes confused the Adyghe with the similarly-named Utigurs, and both peoples were sometimes conflated under misnomers such as Utige, the Bulgar state, with its capital at Phanagoria, reached the apex of its geopolitical sway in 632–668, as Old Great Bulgaria. Under pressure from the Khazars, Great Bulgaria declined quickly and collapsed, the Adyghe, following the dissolution of the Khazar state, were integrated by the Kingdom of Alania. Between the 10th and 13th centuries Georgia had influence on the Adyghe, in the 17th century, under the influence of the Crimean Tatars and of the Ottoman Empire, some Circassians started to adopt Islam. However, former Bahri Mamluk dynasty was composed mainly of Cumans, during the 13th century the Mamluks seized power in Cairo, and as a result the Mamluk kingdom became the most influential kingdom in the Muslim world. The majority of the leaders of the Mamluk kingdom were of Adyghe origin, even after the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517, the Adyghes continued to rule in Egypt until the 18th century. With the rise of Muhammad Ali Pasha, most senior Mamluks were killed, until the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt in the 1950s, the Adyghe formed an élite group in the country
16.
Abbas I of Persia
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Shāh Abbās the Great or Shāh Abbās I of Persia was the 5th Safavid Shah of Iran, and is generally considered the strongest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda. Although Abbas would preside over the apex of Irans military, political and economic power, under his weak-willed father, the country was riven with discord between the different factions of the Qizilbash army, who killed Abbas mother and elder brother. Meanwhile, Irans enemies, the Ottoman Empire and the Uzbeks, in 1588, one of the Qizilbash leaders, Murshid Qoli Khan, overthrew Shah Mohammed in a coup and placed the 16-year-old Abbas on the throne. But Abbas was no puppet and soon seized power for himself, under his leadership, Abbas created numerous opportunities for thousands of Circassians, Georgians, and Armenians to join the civil administration and the military. These actions, as well as his reforms of the Iranian army, enabled him to fight the Ottomans and Uzbeks and he also took back land from the Portuguese and the Mughals and expanded Iranian rule and influence in the North Caucasus, beyond the traditional territories of Dagestan. Abbas was a builder and moved his kingdoms capital from Qazvin to Isfahan. In his later years, following a court intrigue involving several leading Circassians, at the time of his birth, Abbas grandfather Shah Tahmasp I was the Shah of Iran. Abbas parents gave him to be nursed by Khani Khan Khanum, when Abbas was four, Tahmasp sent Abbas father to stay in Shiraz where the climate was better for his fragile health. In 1578, Abbas father became Shah of Iran, Abbas mother soon came to dominate the government, but she had little time for Abbas, preferring to promote the interests of his elder brother Hamza. Mohammad was a sovereign, incapable of preventing Irans main rivals, the Ottoman Empire. The young prince, Hamza, was promising and led a campaign against the Ottomans. At the age of 14, Abbas had come under the guardianship of Murshid Qoli Khan, when a large Uzbek army invaded Khorasan in 1587, Murshid decided the time was right to overthrow Shah Mohammad. He rode to the Safavid capital Qazvin with the young prince, Mohammad made no objection against his deposition and handed the royal insignia over to his son during the following year on 1 October 1588. The kingdom Abbas inherited was in a desperate state, the Ottomans had seized vast territories in the west and the north-west and the Uzbeks had overrun half of Khorasan in the north-east. Iran itself was riven by fighting between the factions of the Qizilbash, who had mocked royal authority by killing the queen in 1579. First, Abbas settled his score with his mothers killers, executing three of the ringleaders of the plot and exiling four others and his next task was to free himself from the power of Murshid Qoli Khan. Murshid made Abbas marry Hamzas widow and a Safavid cousin, and began distributing important government posts among his own friends, meanwhile, the Uzbeks continued their conquest of Khorasan
17.
Saru Taqi
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Saru Taqi was born in ca.1579 in Tabriz to a poor middle-class Muslim family, which became disgraced after the death of his uncle Khwaja Qasim Ali. Saru Taqi served in the army during his youth in Isfahan, Saru Taqi later served in the same office in Ganja and Shirvan, but was some time later appointed as the vizier of the governor of Karabakh. In 1615, Saru Taqi was castrated by the Safavid shah Abbas I after having been accused by a furrier named Mumin of having forcibly had sex with him and his property was then taken, but it was later restored after Abbas I found out that the accusation was false. One year later, Saru Taqi was appointed as the governor of Mazandaran, during his governorship of those two provinces, he laid foundation to many buildings and towns, such as Farahabad and Ashraf. In 1629, Abbas I died and was succeeded by his grandson Safi, during the same year, Saru Taqi, along with other governors, suppressed the rebellion of Gharib Shah, which took place in Gilan and Mazandaran. In 1631, Saru Taqi was sent to Baghdad to take part in the renovation of the Shia shrines, two years later, Saru Taqi dishonored the Safavid vizier Mirza Talib Khan and secretly had him assassinated. Furthermore, Saru Taqi also took over the house of Mirza Talib Khan, which was in Isfahan, Safi then appointed Saru Taqi as his new vizier. During the same year, Saru Taqi made a conspiracy against the military officer Imam-Quli Khan. In 1634, Saru Taqi appointed his brother Muhammad Salih Beg as the governor of Mazandaran, thus reducing the power of the descendants of the Marashis, who were the elite of the province. In 1638, Saru Taqi, who aimed to having Ali Mardan Khan, after having been under pressure by Saru Taqi for some time, Ali Mardan Khan defected to the Mughal Empire of India, and then fled into India. On 12 May 1642, Safi died, on 15 May 1642, at Kashan, Muhammad Mirza was crowned as the shah of Iran and chose Abbas II as his dynastic name. Saru Taqi and Anna Khanum worked closely together, and under them Iran was in secure hands, the French traveller Jean Chardin said the following thing about them, In 1643, Saru Taqi accused the powerful military commander Rustam Khan of treason, and had him executed. During the same year, the daughter of Saru Taqis court ally Jani Khan, was given in marriage to his nephew, one year later, Saru Taqi enlarged the Ali Qapu Palace. When Anna Khanum heard about the murder of Saru Taqi, she became extremely angry, Jani Khan then insulted both Anna Khanum and Saru Taqi, which four days later resulted in his death by an assassin sent by Anna Khanum. The successor of Saru Taqi was a Marashi descendant named Khalifa Sultan, Saru Taqi took part in the construction of many buildings, and is one of the most important builders of the Safavid era. One of these buildings was the one of the most important Shia places, the Imam Ali Mosque, furthermore, he also spent his own revenue to construct commercial and religious buildings, a mosque and a bazaar in Isfahan being of the examples
18.
Qizilbash
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The word Kızılbaş is Ottoman Turkish, meaning Crimson/Red Head. The name was originally a pejorative label given to them by their Sunni Ottoman foes, the origin of the Qizilbash can be dated from the 15th century onward, when the spiritual grandmaster of the movement, Haydar, organized his followers into militant troops. Like the Qizilbash, the latter were an early Shii ghulat group and dressed in red, in this context, Turkish scholar Abdülbaki Gölpinarli sees the Qizilbash as spiritual descendants of the Khurramites. The Qizilbash were a coalition of different tribes of predominantly Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani background united in their adherence to Safavi Shia Islam. The Qizilbash adhered to heterodox Shi’i doctrines encouraged by the early Safavi sheikhs Haydar and they regarded their rulers as divine figures, and so were classified as ghulat extremists by orthodox Twelvers. When Tabriz was taken, there was not a book on Twelverism among the Qizilbash leaders. The book of the well known Iraqi scholar al-Hilli was procured in the library to provide religious guidance to the state. The imported Shii ulama did not participate in the formation of Safavid religious policies during the formation of the state. However, ghulat doctrines were later forsaken and Arab Twelver ulama from Lebanon, Iraq, in Turkey, Shia Muslim people belong to the Jafari jurisprudence Madhhab, which tracks back to the sixth Shia Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, are called as the Jafaris, who belong to Twelver Shia. Although the Qizilbash Turks are considered a part of Twelver Shia Islam, the Qizilbashes has a unique and perplex conviction tracing back to Kaysanites Shia and Khurramites which are considered as Ghulat Shia. This belief provides strong clues about their Kaysanites Shia and Khurramites origins, in addition, the Safaviyya Tariqah leader Ismail I is a highly regarded individual in the belief of Qizilbash-Tariqah associating them with the Imamah conviction of the Twelver Shia Islam. Not all of the members believe that the fasting in Ramadan is obligatory although some Alevi-Turks performs their fasting duties partially in Ramadan, Some beliefs of Shamanism still are common amongst the Qizilbash Alevi-Turkish people in villages. On the other hand, the members of Bektashi Order have a conviction of Batiniyya Ismailism and Hurufism with a belief in the The Twelve Imams. In conclusion, Qizilbash-Alevis are not a part of Jafari jurisprudence fiqh and their conviction includes Batiniyya-Hurufism and Sevener-Qarmatians-Ismailism sentiments. Today, the remnants of the Qizilbash confederacy are found among the Afshar, the Qashqai, Turkmen, Shahsevan, Some of these names consist of a place-name with addition of the Turkish suffix -lu, such as Shāmlu or Bahārlu. Other names are those of old Oghuz tribes such as the Afshār, Dulghadir, or Bayāt, the origin of the name Ustādjlu, however, is unknown, and possibly indicates a non-Turkic origin of the tribe. As V. Minorsky put it, friction between two groups was inevitable, because the Turcomans were no party to the national Persian tradition. Shah Ismail tried to solve the problem by appointing Persian wakils as commanders of Qizilbash tribes
19.
Harem
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The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygamy has varied depending on the familys personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. This private space has been understood as serving the purposes of maintaining the modesty, privilege. In former times, some harems were guarded by eunuchs who were allowed inside, there are several Renaissance paintings dating to the 16th century that defy Orientalist tropes and portray the women of the Ottoman harem as individuals of status and political significance. In many periods of Islamic history women in the harem exercised various degrees of political power, the word has been recorded in the English language since early 17th century. It comes from the Arabic ḥarīm, which can mean a sacred inviolable place, in English the term harem can mean also the wives of a polygamous man. The triliteral Ḥ-R-M appears in other terms related the notion of such as haram, mahram, ihram and al-Ḥaram al-Šarīf. In Turkish of the Ottoman era, the harem, i. e. the part of the reserved for women was called haremlık. Some scholars have used the term to refer to royal households throughout history. In Muscovite Russia the area of houses where women were secluded was known as terem. The idea of harem or seclusion of women did not originate with Muhammad or Islam and these practices were well established amongst the upper classes of Iraq, the Byzantine Empire, Ancient Greece and Persia for thousands of years before the advent of Islam. The practice of secluding women was common to many ancient near eastern communities, in pre-Islamic Assyria, Persia, and Egypt, most royal courts had a harem, where the ruler’s wives and concubines lived with female attendants, and eunuchs. The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under the Abbasid caliphate, Some scholars believe that Islamic culture adopted the custom of secluding women from the Byzantine Empire and Persia, and then read those customs back into the Quran. According to Eleanor Doumato, the practice of secluding women in Islam is based on both tradition and social custom. One verse in particular discusses hijab, in modern usage hijab colloquially refers to the religious attire worn by Muslim women, but its original meaning was a veil or curtain that physically separates female from male space. Leila Ahmed describes the ideal of seclusion as a a mans right to keep his women concealed-invisible to other men, Ahmed identifies the practice of seclusion as a social ideal and one of the four factors that shaped the lives of women in the Mediterranean Middle East. For example, contemporary sources from the Byzantine Empire describe the social mores that governed womens lives, Women were not supposed to be seen in public. They were guarded by eunuchs and could leave the home veiled. Some of these customs were borrowed from the Persians, but Greek society also influenced the development of patriarchal tradition, the ideal of seclusion was not fully realized as social reality
20.
Grand vizier
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In the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Vizier was the prime minister of the Ottoman sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissible only by the sultan himself. His offices were located at the Sublime Porte, the term “vizier” was originally a denomination used by the Abbasid Dynasty in the 8th century AD. This position then came to the Ottomans in the early 14th century by way of the Seljuks of Anatolia, during the nascent phases of the Ottoman state, vizier was the only title used. The first of these Ottoman viziers who was titled Grand Vizier was Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder, the purpose in instituting the title Grand Vizier was to distinguish the holder of the Sultans seal from other viziers. The initially more frequently used title of vezir-i âzam was gradually replaced by sadrazam, throughout Ottoman history, the grand viziers have also been termed sadr-ı âlî, vekil-i mutlak, sâhib-i devlet, serdar-ı ekrem, serdar-ı azam and zât-ı âsafî. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder reformed the role of the vizier in several ways, several before him held an equivalent but differently named office, he was the first who held the position of “Grand Vizier”, during the reign of Sultan Murad I. He was the first advisor with a military background – his forerunners had come from a more class of men. It is also significant that he was the first of a family that, at the time. Several of Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder’s kin went on to hold the office of Grand Vizier in the following his death. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, the grandson of Pasha the Elder, was highly influential in shaping the role of the Grand Vizier. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Younger opposed the siege of Constantinople, two days after the siege was won by Mehmed II, the Younger was executed for his opposition. After his death, the position of Grand Vizier was chosen nearly exclusively from the kul system, often and this was usually a political move, designed to appease powerful European factions to Ottoman supremacy. Grand Viziers gained immense political supremacy in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Power was centralized in the position of the Grand Vizier during the Köprülü era, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was a powerful political figure during the reign of Mehmed IV, and was appointed to the office of Grand Vizier in 1656. He consolidated power within the position and sent the Sultan away from the city on hunting trips, next, he forcibly removed any officers suspected of corruption, those who did not leave were executed. He also conducted campaigns against Venice and the Hapsburgs, as well as quelling rebellions in Anatolia, on his deathbed five years later, he convinced Mehmed to appoint his son as the next Grand Vizier, thus securing his dynasty a position of supreme power in the Empire. It was during the Köprülü era that the Ottoman Empire reached its largest geographic expansion across Europe, Asia Minor, in Ottoman legal theory, the Sultan was supposed to conduct affairs of state exclusively via the Grand Vizier, but in reality this arrangement was often circumvented. He might, too, be inclined to take the advice of his mother
21.
French people
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The French are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural, modern French society can be considered a melting pot. To be French, according to the first article of the French Constitution, is to be a citizen of France, regardless of origin, race. The debate concerning the integration of this view with the underlying the European Community remains open. A large number of foreigners have traditionally been permitted to live in France, indeed, the country has long valued its openness, tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries, the European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in the state sector. Seeing itself as a nation with universal values, France has always valued. However, the success of such assimilation has recently called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno-cultural enclaves, the 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration, the name France etymologically derives from the word Francia, the territory of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire, in the pre-Roman era, all of Gaul was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58-51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar, the area then became part of the Roman Empire. Over the next five centuries the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo-Roman culture, the Gaulish vernacular language disappeared step by step to be replaced everywhere by Vulgar Latin, which would later develop under Frankish influence into the French language in the North of France. With the decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture, the Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti, already during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present-day Netherlands, at the beginning, they served in the Roman army and reached high commands. Their language is spoken as a kind of Dutch in northern France. Another Germanic people immigrated massively to Alsace, the Alamans, which explains the Alemannic German spoken there and they were competitors of the Franks, thats why it became at the Renaissance time the word for German in French, Allemand. By the early 6th century the Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern-day France, the Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process
22.
Jean Chardin
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He was born in Paris, son of a wealthy merchant, jeweller of the Place Dauphine, and followed his fathers business. In 1664, he started for the East Indies with M. Raisin and they journeyed by Constantinople and the Black Sea, reaching Persia early in 1666. The same year the shah, Abbas II, made Chardin his agent for the purchase of jewels, in the middle of 1667, he visited India and returned to Persia in 1669. The next year he arrived in Paris and he issued an account of some events to which he was an eye-witness in Persia, entitled ‘Le Couronnement de Soleiman Troisième, Paris,1671. A learned nobleman, Mirza Sefi, a prisoner in his own palace at Ispahan, had entertained him, instructed him in the Persian language, peter de la Croix and Tavernier severely criticised it, while Ange de la Brosse as strongly defended it. Chardin again started for the East, August 1671 and he was at Constantinople from March to July 1672. At Sapias, he was robbed by the Mingrelians of all he possessed except two small bundles, worth £6,000. By these two journeys he realised a considerable fortune, and, deciding to return home, reached Europe in 1677 by a round the Cape of Good Hope. Of four volumes originally projected the first volume was published in 1686, Journal du Voyage. de Chardin en Parse et aux Indes Orientales, London, an English translation was issued concurrently. This volume contains the author’s journey from Paris to Ispahan, and has the authors half-length portrait by Loggan, with eighteen copper plates and his former work is reprinted there with a fulsome ‘Epistle Dedicatory to James II. ’ Chardin in his preface announced three other volumes to follow. The last, which was to contain a history of Persia, along with his diaries for 1675–77. The other three volumes were published at Amsterdam,1711, 4to, Voyages de Mons, Le Chevalier Chardin, as the complete work. In 1711 another edition, with his translation of La Relation des Mingreliens, by J. M, Zampi, Amsterdam, l2mo, and in 1735 another edition was published in four vols. 4to, containing a number of passages added from his manuscripts. The most complete reprint is that of M. L. Langles, Chardins style of writing is simple and graphic, and he gives a faithful account of what he saw and heard. Montesquieu, Rousseau, Gibbon, and Helvetius acknowledge the value of his writings, extracts from his works appear in all the chief collections of travels, but there is no complete English translation. In 1681, Chardin determined to settle in England because of the persecution of Protestants in France and he was well received at court, and was soon after appointed court jeweller. He was knighted by Charles II at Whitehall,17 November 1681, the same day he married a Protestant lady, Esther, daughter of M. de Lardinière Peigné, councillor in the Parliament of Rouen, then a refugee in London
23.
Isfahan
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Isfahan, historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan, Esfahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 kilometres south of Tehran. The Greater Isfahan Region had a population of 3,793,104 in the 2011 Census, the counties of Isfahan, Borkhar, Najafabad, Khomeynishahr, Shahinshahr, Mobarakeh, Falavarjan, Tiran o Karvan, Lenjan and Jay all constitute the metropolitan city of Isfahan. Isfahan is located on the main north–south and east–west routes crossing Iran and it flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory and it is famous for its Persian–Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets. This led to the Persian proverb Esfahān nesf-e- jahān ast, the Naghsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan is one of the largest city squares in the world. It has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the city also has a wide variety of historic monuments and is known for the paintings, history and architecture. Isfahan City Center is also the 5th largest shopping mall in the world, see also, Names of Isfahan The name of the region derives from Middle Persian Spahān. Spahān is attested in various Middle Persian seals and inscriptions, including that of Zoroastrian Magi Kartir, the present-day name is the Arabicized form of Ispahan. The region appears with the abbreviation GD on Sasanian numismatics, in Ptolemys Geographia it appears as Aspadana, translating to place of gathering for the army. It is believed that Spahān derives from spādānām the armies, Old Persian plural of spāda, the history of Isfahan can be traced back to the Palaeolithic period. In recent discoveries, archaeologists have found artifacts dating back to the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages. It is said that after Cyrus the Great freed the Jews from Babylon some Jews returned to Jerusalem whereas some others decided to live in Persia, but, actually this happened later in the Sasanid period when a Jewish colony was made in the vicinity of the Sasanid. They did not settle anywhere or in any city without examining the water. They did all along until they reached the city of Isfahan, there they rested, examined the water and soil and found that both resembled Jerusalem. Upon they settled there, cultivated the soil, raised children and grandchildren, under the Parthians, Arsacid governors administered a large province from Isfahan, and the citys urban development accelerated to accommodate the needs of a capital city. The next empire to rule Persia, the Sassanids, presided over changes in their realm, instituting sweeping agricultural reform and reviving Iranian culture. The city was called by the name and the region by the name Aspahan or Spahan. The city was governed by Espoohrans or the members of seven noble Iranian families who had important royal positions, extant foundations of some Sassanid-era bridges in Isfahan suggest that the kings were also fond of ambitious urban planning projects
24.
Rustam Khan (Sipahsalar)
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Rustam Khan or Rostom-Khan Saakadze was an Iranian Safavid military commander of Georgian origin, prominent in the service of the shahs Abbas I and Safi. He was accused of treason and executed under Shah Abbas II and he had two younger brothers named Aliqoli and Isa. Rustam Khan was brought up Muslim and entered the service under Shah Abbas I at the age of 11 in 1599. However, Rustam Khan Saakadzes excesses in dealing with the Georgian opposition, especially his devastating raid into the Tsitsishvili family estates, the contemporary Georgian accounts attribute Rustam Khans relentlessness to his painful childhood memories associated with the persecution of his family. Recalled from Kartli by the Iranian government, Rustam Khan Saakadze was commander in Khurasan at the accession of Shah Abbas II in 1642, in early 1643, he was based in Mashhad to organize an effort to retake Qandahar from the Mughal Empire. The new shahs vizier Saru Taqi considered him a personal rival, Rustam was executed in Mashhad, while his brother, the diwan-begi Ali Quli, was dismissed from his post. On the Ethno-Social Background of Four Gholām Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran, persia in Crisis, Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. Nasiri, Ali Naqi, Floor, Willem M. Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran, A Third Manual of Safavid Administration
25.
Mashhad
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Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country, close to the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan and its population was 2,749,374 at the 2011 census and its built-up area was home to 2,782,976 inhabitants including Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh cities. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv in the East, the city is most famous and revered for housing the tomb of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine, the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid is also buried within the shrine. Mashhad has experienced the rise and fall of many governments over the course of history, many Arab, Turkish, and especially Mongolian and Afghan tribes have brought great changes in the language, ethnicity and culture of the people each in their own time. Surprisingly, Mashhad enjoyed relative prosperity in its economy in the Mongol period, Mashhad is mistakenly known as the city of Ferdowsi, the Iranian poet of Shahnameh, which is considered to be the national epic of Iran. Ferdowsi and Akhavan Sales are both buried in Tus, an ancient city that is considered to be the origin of the current city of Mashhad. On 30 October 2009, Irans then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad as Irans spiritual capital, the name Mashhad comes from Arabic, meaning the place of martyrdom the place where Ali ar-Ridha, the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims, suddenly died and so his shrine was placed there. At the beginning of the 9th century, Mashhad was a village called Sanabad. There was a palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba, the governor of Khurasan. In 808, when Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph, was passing through there to quell the insurrection of Rafi ibn al-Layth in Transoxania, he became ill and he was buried under the palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba. Due to this event, the Dar al-Imarah was known as the Mausoleum of Haruniyyeh. Several years later in 818 Ali al-Ridha was martyred by al-Mamun and was buried beside the grave of Harun. Although some believe that after this event, the city was called Mashhad al-Ridha, it seems that Mashhad, as a place-name, first appears in al-Maqdisi, about the middle of the 14th century, the traveller Ibn Battuta uses the expression town of Mashhad al-Rida. Shias started visiting there for pilgrimage of his grave, by the end of the 9th century, a dome was built on the grave and many buildings and bazaars sprang up around it. During more than a millennium it has been devastated and reconstructed several times, in 1161 however, the Ghuzz Turks succeeded in taking the place, but they spared the sacred area in their pillaging. Thus the survivors of the migrated to Mashhad. The only well-known food in Mashhad, sholeh Mashhadi or Sholeh, dates back to the era of the Mongolian invasion when it is thought to be cooked with any food available and be a Mongolian word
26.
Bakhtiari people
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The Bakhtiari are a southwestern Iranian tribe, and a subgroup of the Lurs. They speak the Bakhtiari dialect, a southwestern Iranian dialect, belonging to the Lurish language, Bakhtiaris primarily inhabit Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari and eastern Khuzestan, Lorestan, Bushehr, and Isfahan. In Khuzestan, Bakhtiari tribes are concentrated primarily in the part of the province. A small percentage of Bakhtiari are still nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters and winter quarters, numerical estimates of their total population vary widely. In Iranian mythology, the Bakhtiaris are considered to be descendants of Fereydun and they are also considered to be directly descended from Cyrus the Great. The Southwest Eurasian haplogroups F, G, and T1a also reach substantial frequency among Bakhtiaris. The term bakhtiari can be best translated as companion of chance or bearer of good luck The term has deep Persian roots and is the result of two smaller words bakht and yar complied together. Bakht is the Persian word for chance and yar, iar, the latter designation largely relates to the nature of the tribes annual migration. This has to do with the nature of Bakhtiari life. In this sense, Bakhtiaris view themselves as a tribe, facing numerous obstacles everyday. Nevertheless, the origins of Bakhtiaris are ancient and it may have well been the case that the tribe underwent a series of name changes throughout its history. However It is mostly claimed that the designation Bakhtiari came largely into use some time in antiquity, Constitutional Revolution, In Irans contemporary history, the Bakhtiari have played a significant role, particularly during the advent of the countrys Constitutional Revolution. This event was largely secured through the Bakhtari campaign, which eventually deposed Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. The Bakhtiari tribesmen, under the leadership of the Haft Lang khans Sardar Assad and his brother Najaf Qoli Khan Bakhtiari- Saad ad-Daula, captured Tehran and, as a result and these events eventually led to the abdication of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar in 1909 and his exile to Russia. This incident secured Saad ad-Daula the position of Prime Minister in the period followed the abdication of the Qajar Shah. Nonetheless, with Russian backing, the Shah would soon return in 1911 by landing with a coalition of forces at Astarabad, however, his efforts to reclaim his throne would bear no fruit. In this sense, the Bakhtiaris played a role in saving the revolution from the Qajar forces. Pahlavi Period, With the expansion of Bakhtiari influence, urban elites began to worry in regards to a potential Bakhtiari takeover of Persias affairs, prior to this point, the Bakhtiari had largely remained within their own territorial boundaries
27.
Kandahar
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Kandahar or Qandahar is the second-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 491,500 as of 2012. Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia, the city is named after Alexander the Great, Kandahar is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at an altitude of 1,010 m above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city, the city of Kandahar has a population of 557,118. It has 15 districts and a land area of 27,337 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61,902, Kandahar is one of the most culturally significant cities of the Pashtuns and has been their traditional seat of power for more than 200 years. It is a trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit, the area is believed to be the birthplace of cannabis indica. The region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known human settlements, Alexander the Great had laid-out the foundation of what is now Old Kandahar in the 4th century BC and gave it the Ancient Greek name Αλεξάνδρεια Aραχωσίας. Many empires have long fought over the city due to its location along the trade routes of southern, central. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom, in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the last Afghan empire, made it the capital of modern Afghanistan. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, Ibn Batutta mentions Kandahar in the 14th century by describing it as a large and prosperous town three nights journey from Ghazni. It has been then mentioned extensively by Mughal Emperor Babur and others, an alternative story describes Khandahar as Gandhara in Mahabharata ruled by Suvala and later by Shakuni. The princess of Hastinapur, Gandhari was born in Gandhara, a folk etymology offered is that the word kand or qand in Persian and Pashto means candy. The name Candahar or Kandahar in this form probably translates to candy area and this probably has to do with the location being fertile and historically known for producing fine grapes, pomegranates, apricots, melons and other sweet fruits. Ernst Herzfeld claimed Kandahar perpetuated the name of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, excavations of prehistoric sites by archaeologists such as Louis Dupree and others suggest that the region around Kandahar is one of the oldest human settlements known so far. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan ca.5000 B. C. or 7000 years ago, deh Morasi Ghundai, the first prehistoric site to be excavated in Afghanistan, lies 27 km southwest of Kandahar. Another Bronze Age village mound site with multiroomed mud-brick buildings dating from the same period sits nearby at Said Qala, Bronze Age pottery, copper and bronze horse trappings and stone seals were found in the lowermost levels in the nearby cave called Shamshir Ghar. In the Seistan, southwest of these Kandahar sites, two teams of American archaeologists discovered sites relating to the 2nd millennium B. C, while the Diadochi were warring amongst themselves, the Mauryan Empire was developing in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent
28.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River
29.
Lashkargah
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Lashkargah, historically also called Bost, is a city in southern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah district, and situated between the Helmand and Arghandab rivers, the city has a population of 201,546 as of 2006. Lashkargah is linked by roads with Kandahar to the east, Zaranj to the west. It is mostly arid and desolate. However, farming does exist around the Helmand and Arghandab rivers, Bost Airport is located on the east bank of the Helmand River, five miles north of the junction of the Helmand and Argahandab rivers. Lashkargah means army barracks in Persian language, the area was part of the Saffarids in the 9th century. It grew up a thousand years ago as a barracks town for soldiers accompanying the Ghaznavid nobility to their grand winter capital of Bost. The ruins of the Ghaznavid mansions still stand along the Helmand River, the city of Bost and its communities were sacked in successive centuries by the Ghorids, Mongols. However, the region was later rebuilt by Timur, by the late 16th century the city and region was governed by the Safavid dynasty. It became part of the Afghan Hotaki Empire in 1709 and it was invaded by the Afsharid forces in 1738 on their way to Kandahar. By 1747 it became part of the Durrani Empire or modern Afghanistan, the British arrived in or about 1840 during the First Anglo-Afghan War but left about year later. The city was used by Ayub Khan in the Second Anglo-Afghan War until 1880 when the British helped return it to Abdur Rahman Khan and it remained peaceful for the next 100 years. Lashkargah was built using American designs, with broad tree-lined streets, in the wake of the Soviet invasion and the long Afghan civil war, the trees mostly came down and walls went up. The project focused on three large canals, the Boghra, Shamalan, and Darweshan, responsibility for maintaining the canals was given to the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority, a semi-independent government agency whose authority rivaled that of the provincial governors. After the Communist takeover of Afghanistan, Sam Sloan escaped from custody in June 1978. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 and the collapse of Mohammad Najibullahs government in 1992, in the mid-1990s it fell to the Taliban government. In late 2001, the Taliban were removed from power by the United States armed forces, since 2002, the city and region was occupied by United States Marine Corps and the International Security Assistance Force. In 2008, Taliban forces attacked the city heavily but the Afghan National Army, after training and equipping Afghan security forces, the foreign armies transferred security responsibility to the military of Afghanistan and Afghan National Police in 2011
30.
Georgians
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The Georgians or Kartvelians are a nation and ethnic group who constitute a majority of the population in Georgia. Large Georgian communities are present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States. Georgians arose from the ancient Colchian and Iberian civilizations, there are also small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara, as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians. By the early 11th century they formed a unified Kingdom of Georgia and inaugurated the Georgian Golden Age and this lasted until being weakened by Mongol invasions, as well as internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure Georgias survival, in 1783 Heraclius II of Georgia forged an alliance with the Russian Empire, the Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex the troubled kingdom in 1801. Georgians briefly reasserted their independence from Russia under the First Georgian Republic from 1918-1921, Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi, their land Sakartvelo, and their language Kartuli. According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, however, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the latter being one of the proto-Georgian tribes that emerged as a dominant group in ancient times. Ancient Greeks and Romans referred to western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians, the term Georgians is derived from the country of Georgia. Starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian tribes, the Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians. East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE, however, western Georgian tribes established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east. According to the scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation. The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel, diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by scholars as ancestors of the Georgians. Modern Georgians still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, some people there still speak the Georgian language. Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribed and they are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and are also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians. Iberians, also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, lived in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia, both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation
31.
Ghulam
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Ghulam is an Arabic word meaning servant, boy, youth. It is used to describe young servants in paradise and it is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesser extent, Mughal empires, as described in the article Ghilman, which is the plural form of the word. It can be used as the first element of a Muslim male given name, or, in modern times, as an independent surname. Ghulam Mohammad, also Ghulam Mohammed, Ghulam Muhammad etc, Ghulam Mohiuddin, also other spellings Ghulam Murtaza Ghulam Mustafa Ghulam Nabi Ghulam Rabbani Ghulam Rasul, also Ghulam Rasool Gholam Reza
32.
Mihrab Khan
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Mihrab Khan was a military commander in Safavid Iran. A member of the Mirimanidze clan, he is first mentioned as serving as the governor of Bost during an unknown date. Later, he was appointed as the governor of Astarabad, and in 1649 was appointed as the governor of the captured city of Qandahar. In Qandahar, he was succeeded by his Georgian kinsman Otar Beg, from The Mongol Invasion Through the Safavid Era. Slaves of the Shah, New Elites of Safavid Iran
33.
Shah Jahan
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Shahab-ud-Din Muḥammad Khurram better known by his regnal name, Shah Jahan, was the fifth Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1628 to 1658. Emperor Jahangirs death, in late 1627, was a signal for a last paroxysm of fighting among his sons and these fratricidal conflicts were carried out with ruthlessness and Jahangirs third son, Khurram, proved the most ruthless of all. He was crowned at Agra and his name, Shah Jahan, was read at the Jama Masjid there in January 1628. Shah Jahan maintained an aggressive military pressure along the frontiers of the Mughal Empire, as his predecessors had. His building programme was capped by the new capital in Delhi named for himself Shahjahanabad. Here, he erected a new fortress-palace, the Red Fort, in matters of religion, his plain straightforward creed permitted no licence, although he never became a bigot. In 1633, Shah Jahan ordered the demolition of Hindu temples which had begun in the previous reign. These orders were followed by a prohibition of the erection of new shrines or the repair of older buildings, intermarriage between Hindus and Muslims was forbidden in 1634. Shah Jahan, himself, sustained the established alliances at a level and did not marry Hindu women, like his father. Mass conversions of Hindus to Islam were also encouraged, and in cases were forcibly effected. All these acts, however, were dictated rather by the desire to maintain the strict tenets of Islam than to pursue the course of iconoclasm which was adopted by his son Aurangzeb. In September 1657, Shah Jahan fell seriously ill, which set off a war of succession among his sons, Shah Jahan recovered from his illness, but Aurangzeb kept his father under house arrest in Agra Fort from June 1658 until his death in 1666. On 31 July 1658, Aurangzeb crowned himself emperor with the title of Alamgir, the Mughal Empire reached the pinnacle of its glory during Shah Jahans reign and he is widely considered to be one of the greatest Mughal emperors. His reign is described as the Golden Age of the Mughals. Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram was born on 5 January 1592 in Lahore to Prince Salim and his second wife, the name Khurram was chosen for the young prince by his grandfather, Akbar, with whom he shared an extremely close relationship. Just prior to Khurrams birth, a soothsayer had predicted to the childless Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum that the still unborn child was destined for imperial greatness. Ruqaiya assumed the responsibility for Khurrams upbringing and he grew up under her care. Her step-son, Jahangir, noted that Ruqaiya had loved his son, Khurram, Khurram remained with her until he had turned 13
34.
Aurangzeb
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Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his regnal title Alamgir, was the sixth, and widely considered the last effective Mughal Emperor. He ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent during some parts of his reign, Aurangzeb was a notable expansionist and during his reign, the Mughal Empire temporarily reached its greatest extent. During his reign,4.6 million people were said have died due to war, Aurangzebs policies partly abandoned the legacy of pluralism, which remains a very controversial aspect of his reign and led to the downfall of the Mughal Empire. Rebellions and wars led to the exhaustion of the imperial Mughal treasury and he was a strong-handed authoritarian ruler, and following his death the expansionary period of the Mughal Empire came to an end. Nevertheless, the territory of the Mughal Empire still remained intact more or less until the reign of Muhammad Shah. Aurangzeb was born on 3 November 1618, in Dahod, Gujarat and he was the third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. In June 1626, after a rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb. His daily allowance was fixed at Rs.500 which he spent on religious education, on 28 May 1633, Aurangzeb escaped death when a powerful war elephant stampeded through the Mughal Imperial encampment. He rode against the elephant and struck its trunk with a lance, Aurangzebs valour was appreciated by his father who conferred him the title of Bahadur and had him weighed in gold and presented gifts worth Rs.200,000. This event was celebrated in Persian and Urdu verses and Aurangzeb said, If the fight had ended fatally for me, death drops the curtain even on Emperors, it is no dishonor. The shame lay in what my brothers did, by arrangement, Aurangzeb stayed in the rear, away from the fighting, and took the advice of his generals as the Mughal Army gathered and commenced the Siege of Orchha in 1635. The campaign was successful and Singh was removed from power, Aurangzeb was appointed viceroy of the Deccan in 1636. In 1637, Aurangzeb married the Safavid princess, Dilras Banu Begum and she was his first wife and chief consort. He also had an infatuation with a girl, Hira Bai. In his old age, he was under the charms of his concubine, the latter had formerly been a companion to Dara Shikoh. In the same year,1637, Aurangzeb was placed in charge of annexing the small Rajput kingdom of Baglana, in 1644, Aurangzebs sister, Jahanara, was burned when the chemicals in her perfume were ignited by a nearby lamp while in Agra. This event precipitated a crisis with political consequences. Aurangzeb suffered his fathers displeasure by not returning to Agra immediately, Shah Jahan had been nursing Jahanara back to health in that time and thousands of vassals had arrived in Agra to pay their respects
35.
Uzbeks
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The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group, the largest Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan but are found as a minority group in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia. Uzbek diaspora communities also exist in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the origin of the word Uzbek remains disputed. One view holds that it is named after Oghuz Khagan, also known as Oghuz Beg. Another states that the name means independent or the lord itself, from Oʻz, before, 5th century, what is todays Uzbekistan was part of Sogdia, mainly inhabited by Sogdians, an Indo-Iranian people. It was part of the Achaemenid Empire and later part of Sasanian Empire, from 5th to 6th century, what is todays Uzbekistan was part of the Hephthalite Empire. From 6th to 8th century, what is todays Uzbekistan was under the rule of Göktürk Khanate, Turkic and Chinese migration into central Asia occurred during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, and Chinese armies commanded by Turkic generals stationed in large parts of central Asia. But Chinese influence ended with the An Lushan rebellion, from the 9th century on, Transoxania was under the rule of Turkic Kara-Khanid Khanate, their arrival in Transoxania signalled a definitive shift from Iranian to Turkic predominance in Central Asia. Kara-Khanid ruler Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan was the first Turkic ruler to convert Islam, in the 12th century, Transoxania was conquered by Qara Khitai, a sinicized Khitan dynasty, they brought to Central Asia the Chinese system of government. In the 13th century, Kara-Khanid Khanate was destroyed by the Turkic Khwarazmian dynasty, the language-shift from Middle Iranian to Turkic and New Persian was predominantly the result of an elite dominance process. This process was boosted during the Mongol conquest when millions were either killed or pushed further south to the Pamir region. The modern Uzbek language is derived from the Chagatai language which gained prominence in the Timurid Empire. The modern Uzbek population represents varying degrees of diversity derived from the high traffic routes through Central Asia. Once populated by Iranian tribes and other Indo-European people, Central Asia experienced numerous invasions emanating out of Mongolia that would affect the region. According to recent genetic genealogy testing from a University of Oxford study, high levels of haplogroup 10 and its derivative, haplogroup 36, are found in most of the Altaic-speaking populations and are a good indicator of the genetic impact of these nomadic groups. The difference could be due to the density of the different geographical areas. Eastern regions of Central Asia must have had a low density at the time. Thus, the estimate from North-East Asia is high in the east
36.
Bukhara
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Bukhara, is one of the cities of Uzbekistan. Bukhara is a city-museum, with about 140 architectural monuments, the nations fifth-largest city, it had a population as of 31 August 2016 of approximately 247,644. Humans have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, the mother tongue of the majority of people of Bukhara is yet Persian Language. Located on the Silk Road, the city has served as a center of trade, scholarship, culture. UNESCO has listed the center of Bukhara as a World Heritage Site. Bukhara was known as Bokhara in 19th- and early 20th-century English publications, according to the Encyclopædia Iranica the name Bukhara is possibly derived from the Soghdian βuxārak Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi in his History of Bukhara mentions, Bukhara has many names. One of its name was Numijkat and it has also been called Bumiskat. It has 2 names in Arabic, one is Madinat al Sufriya meaning - the copper city and another is Madinat Al Tujjar meaning - The city of Merchants. But, the name Bukhara is more known than all the other names, in Khorasan, there is no other city with so many names Since the Middle Ages, the city has been known as Buḫārā / بخارا in Arabic and Persian sources. The modern Uzbek spelling is Buxoro, the history of Bukhara stretches back millennia. It is now the capital of Bukhara Region of Uzbekistan, located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. During the golden age of the Samanids, Bukhara became an intellectual center of the Islamic world. The historic center of Bukhara, which contains numerous mosques and madrassas, has been listed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites, Bukhara has been one of the main centres of world civilisation from its early days in 6th century BCE. From the 6th century CE, Turkic speakers gradually moved in and its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the pillars of Central Asian history and art. The region of Bukhara was a part of the Persian Empire for a long time, the origin of many of its current inhabitants goes back to the period of Aryan immigration into the region. The Samanid Empire seized Bukhara, the capital of Greater Khorasan, Genghis Khan besieged Bukhara for fifteen days in 1220 CE. Bukhara was the last capital of the Emirate of Bukhara and was besieged by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. During the Bukhara operation of 1920, an army of well-disciplined, on 31 August 1920, the Emir Alim Khan fled to Dushanbe in Eastern Bukhara
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Kabul
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Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan as well as its largest city, located in the eastern section of the country. According to a 2015 estimate, the population of the city was around 3,678,033 which includes all the ethnic groups. Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the worlds 64th largest city and the fifth fastest-growing city in the world, Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. The city is at a location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia. It has been part of the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Mauryans, Kushans, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Later, it was controlled by the Mughal Empire until finally becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The city is located high up in a valley between the Hindu Kush mountains. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, in the early 19th century, the British occupied the city but were compelled to abandon it. Relations between Afghanistan and Great Britain were later established, the city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed. A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties, since the removal of the Taliban from power in late 2001, the city gradually began rebuilding itself with assistance by the international community. Despite the many terrorist attacks by elements, the city is growing and developing. The city is divided into about 18 districts, the Kabul International Airport is located in the Wazir Akbar Khan district a few miles from the foreign embassies. The Parliament of Afghanistan, built by India, is located in the Kārte Seh district, Kabul, also spelled Cabool, Caubul, Kabol, or Cabul. The word Kubhā is mentioned in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism, and the Avesta. The Rigveda praises it as a city, a vision of paradise set in the mountains. The area in which the Kabul valley sits was ruled by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids, there is a reference to a settlement called Kabura by the rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, It became a center of Zoroastrianism followed by Buddhism and Hinduism. The region became part of the Seleucid Empire but was given to the Indian Maurya Empire. The Greco-Bactrians captured Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. Some historians ascribe Kabul the Sanskrit name of Kamboja and it is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical writings
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Tsardom of Russia
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From 1551 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 per year. After a military victory over Sweden and Poland, he implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721. While the oldest endonyms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow used in its documents were Rus and the Russian land, in the 1480s Russian state scribes Ivan Cherny and Mikhail Medovartsev mention Russia under the name Росиа, Medovartsev also mentions the sceptre of Russian lordship. In England of the 16th century, it was both as Russia and Muscovy. In Northern Europe and at the court of the Holy Roman Empire, however, muscovites refute this, saying that their country was originally called Russia. When they are asked what nation they are, they respond Russac, which means Russians, and when they are asked what place they are from, by the 16th century, the Russian ruler had emerged as a powerful, autocratic figure, a Tsar. By assuming that title, the sovereign of Moscow tried to emphasize that he was a ruler or emperor on par with the Byzantine emperor or the Mongol khan. At first, the Byzantine term autokrator expressed only the meaning of an independent ruler. Ivan IV was crowned Tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Russian Orthodox Church and that concept was to resonate in the self-image of Russians in future centuries. The development of the Tsars autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, Ivan strengthened the position of the Tsar to an exceptional degree, demonstrating the risks of unrestrained power in the hands of a mentally unstable individual. Although apparently intelligent and energetic, Ivan suffered from breakdowns of paranoia and depression, Ivan IV became Grand Prince of Moscow in 1533 at the age of three. The Shuysky and Belsky factions of the boyars competed for control of the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547, reflecting Moscows new imperial claims, Ivans coronation as Tsar was a ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. With the continuing assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms, in the 1550s, he declared a new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare, the key documents prepared by the so-called Select Council of advisors and promulgated during this period are as follows. Muscovy remained a fairly unknown society in Western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii in 1549 and this provided a broad view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, the Russian Tsardom was visited by Adam Olearius, whose lively, further information about Russia was circulated by English and Dutch merchants. One of them, Richard Chancellor, sailed to the White Sea in 1553, upon his return to England, the Muscovy Company was formed by himself, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and several London merchants. Ivan the Terrible used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I, despite the domestic turmoil of the 1530s and 1540s, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand
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North Caucasus
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The North Caucasus or Ciscaucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Sea of Azov and Black Sea on the west and the Caspian Sea on the east, within European Russia. Geopolitically, the Northern Caucasus includes the Russian republics and krais of the North Caucasus, the outer border of the Soviet Unions North Caucasus Krai was the same as that of present-day North Caucasus Economic Region which includes an oblast, two krais, and seven republics. The former North Caucasus Military District also included Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, and its administrative center was Rostov-on-Don until 10 January 1934, Pyatigorsk until January 1936, then Ordzhonikidze and, from 15 December 1936, Voroshilovsk. Geographically, the term North Caucasus also refers to the slope and western extremity of the Caucasus Major mountain range. The Forecaucasus steppe area is also encompassed under the notion of Ciscaucasus, thus the northern boundary of the Forecaucasus steppe is generally considered to be the Manych River. Ciscaucasus was historically covered by the Pontic steppe, mostly on fertile calcareous chernozyom soils and it is bounded by the Sea of Azov on the west, and the Caspian Sea on the east. According to the Concise Atlas of the World, Second Edition, shaw, Institute of British Geographers Media related to North Caucasus at Wikimedia Commons North Caucasus travel guide from Wikivoyage Relations between The North and South Caucasus. Articles in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No.27
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Terek River
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The Terek River, a major river in the Northern Caucasus, flows through Georgia and Russia into the Caspian Sea. It turns east to flow through Chechnya and Dagestan before dividing into two branches which empty into the Caspian Sea, below the city of Kizlyar it forms a swampy river delta around 100 kilometres wide. The river is a key asset in the region, providing irrigation. The main cities on the Terek include Vladikavkaz, Mozdok, several minor hydroelectric power stations dam the Terek, Dzau electrostation, Bekanskaya and Pavlodolskaya. Construction has started of the Dariali Hydropower Plant, with an installed capacity of 108 MW. Leo Tolstoys novel The Cossacks is set on the Terek and amongst its Cossacks, the Terek drains most of the northeast Caucasus east into the Caspian just as its sister, the Kuban River, drains the northwest Caucasus west into the Black Sea. Its major tributaries are the following, in the west a fan of rivers flows east and northeast into the Terek. These are the east-flowing Malka River, the Baksan River, the Chergem River and these three join the Malka just before it reaches the Terek. Then there is the part of the Terek with the Darial Pass. The great northwest bend of the Terek is cut off by the northeast-flowing Sunzha River which catches most of the north-flowing rivers and these are the north-flowing upper Sunzha, the Assa River, the Argun and Khukhulau. East of these are the Aksay River and the Aktash River which formerly dried up in the lowlands between the Sulak and the Terek, in the east the Sulak River drains most of interior Dagestan and turns east to the Caspian before it reaches the Terek. The capital of Khazaria, Samandar, may have stood on the banks of the river Terek, also on the river Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in 1395. The Terek Cossack Host had its base in the Terek basin, during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus it was part of the North Caucasus Line
