1.
Padishah
–
Its Arabized pronunciation as Badishah was used by Mughal emperors. The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires – were styled Padishah, The Shāhanshāh of Iran, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who used the Arabic version of the title, Badshah. Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud of the tiny Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926, ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian and Badcha Da Afghanistan in the Pashto language. The Sadozai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a restoration by Shah Shujah in 1839 with the help of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire. The last Basha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad VIII al-Amin, adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 –25 July 1957, the paramount prestige of this title, in Islam and even beyond, is clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empires dealings with the European powers. The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi is only recorded for two individual rulers, H. H, there is a large family of Turkish origin using the surname Badi in modern-day Libya. In 2008, a cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded. In India, Padishah is often a Muslim surname, from the trend of adopting titles as names by both royalty and commoners. In Frank Herberts 1965 novel Dune, the head of human space is styled Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. In the Pathfinder role-playing game, the ruler of the Empire of Kelesh is styled Padishah Emperor, baig Emir Rana Shah Sultan RoyalArk — Select present country, then choose dynasty from its menu WorldStatesmen idem, more cases but less thorough Bartbleby. com Dictionary & Etymology
Padishah
–
Royal and noble ranks in Iran, Turkey, Caucasus, Pakistan and Afghanistan
Padishah
–
At Padishah's order by
Franciszek Żmurko, 1881 (
National Museum, Warsaw)
2.
Tahmasp I
–
Tahmasp I was an influential Shah of Iran, who enjoyed the longest reign of any member of the Safavid dynasty. He was the son and successor of Ismail I and he came to the throne aged ten in 1524 and came under the control of the Qizilbash who formed the backbone of the Safavid Empire. The Qizilbash leaders fought among themselves for the right to be regents over Tahmasp, one of his most notable successors, the greatest Safavid emperor, Abbas I would fully implement and finalize this policy and the creation of this new layer in Iranian society. Tahmasps reign was marked by threats, primarily from the Safavids arch rival, the Ottomans. In 1555, however, he regularized relations with the Ottoman Empire through the Peace of Amasya, the frontier thus established ran across the mountains dividing eastern and western Georgia, through Armenia, and via the western slopes of the Zagros down to the Persian Gulf. The Ottomans, further, gave permission for Persian pilgrims to go to the places of Mecca. This peace lasted for 30 years, until it was broken in the time of Shah Mohammed Khodabanda, Tahmasp was the son of Shah Ismail I and Shah-Begi Khanum of the Turcoman Mawsillu tribe. He was only 10 years old when he succeeded his father Shah Ismail, too young to rule in his own right, Tahmasp came under the control of the Qizilbash. Some of the tribes recognised a Qizilbash leader, Div Sultan Rumlu, as regent to the shah, Div Sultan emerged victorious but his ally, Chuha Sultan Takkalu, turned against him and urged the shah to get rid of him. On 5 July 1527 as Div Sultan arrived for a meeting of the government, when it failed to kill him, the shahs supporters finished him off. Irans enemies, the Uzbeks, had taken advantage of the war to invade the north-eastern province of Khorasan. In 1528 Chuha Sultan and the shah marched with their army to control of the region. Although they defeated the Uzbeks in a battle near Jam, Tahmasp was disgusted at the cowardice Chuha Sultan had displayed during the combat, finally, in 1530/1, a quarrel broke out between members of the Takkalu and Shamlu Qizilbash factions and the Shamlus succeeded in killing Chuha Sultan. The Takkalus regained the advantage and some of them tried to kidnap the shah. Tahmasp lost patience and ordered a massacre of the Takkalu tribe. They never regained their influence in Iran, the leader of the Shamlu faction, Husayn Khan, now assumed the regency but, in 1533, Tahmasp suspected Husayn Khan was plotting to overthrow him and had him put to death. Tahmasb was now old enough and confident enough to rule in his own right, Tahmasp also responded by expressing his friendship to the Emperor. About the same time, envoys were sent to Iran by King Ferdinand, in the person of Pietro da Negro and Simon de Lillis
Tahmasp I
–
Painting of Shah Tahmasp I at
Chehel Sotoon palace.
Tahmasp I
–
The 16th century
Chehel Sotun pavillon in
Qazvin. It is the last remnant of the palace of Shah Tahmasb. It was heavily restored by the
Qajars in the 19th century.
Tahmasp I
–
Shah Tahmasp and the
Mughal Emperor Humayun in
Isfahan.
3.
Mirza Shah Husayn
–
Mirza Kamal al-Din Shah Husayn Isfahani, better simply known as Mirza Shah Husayn, was an Iranian nobleman, who served as the vakil and vizier of the Safavid Empire. The appointment of Mirza Shah to the office was because he had after the battle found Ismails favorite wife who was lost in Azerbaijan. Mirza Shah used the absence of the king as an opportunity to expand his authority, furthermore, Mirza Shah also became a close friend with Ismail and was alongside him during his period of drinking. This made Mirza Shah gain influence over the king himself, in 1521, Mirza Shah chose to confront his former master, Durmish Khan Shamlu, managing to send him far away from the Safavid court—to Herat in Khorasan, where he was forced to serve as its governor. However, Mirza Shah Husayn outsmarted himself in the end, and he was succeeded by Jalal al-Din Mohammad Tabrizi. Newman, Andrew J. Safavid Iran, Rebirth of a Persian Empire, the Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5, The Timurid and Safavid periods
Mirza Shah Husayn
4.
Ardabil
–
Ardabil is an ancient city in Iranian Azerbaijan. Ardabil is the center of Ardabil Province, at the 2011 census, its population was 564,365, in 156,324 families, where the dominant majority are ethnic Iranian Azerbaijanis. Ardabil is known for its silk and carpet trade tradition, Ardabil rugs are renowned and the ancient Ardabil Carpets are considered some of the best of the classical Persian carpet creations. Ardabil is also known as the seat of a World Heritage Site, the Ardabil Shrine, the name Ardabil comes from the Avesta Artavila which means a holy town or a holy place. Ardabil is located on the Baliqly Chay River, about 70 km from the Caspian Sea and it has an average altitude of 1,263 metres and total area of 18.011 km2. Neighboring on the Caspian Sea and the Republic of Azerbaijan, this city is and has been of political and economical significance throughout history. It is located on an open plain 1,500 metres above sea level, just east of Mount Sabalan, the province is believed to be as old as the Achaemenid era. It is mentioned in the Avesta, where prophet Zoroaster was born by the river Aras, during the Parthian era, the city had a special importance among the cities of Azerbaijan. Some Muslim historians attribute the foundation of Ardabil to king Peroz I of the Sassanid Empire, the Persian poet Ferdowsi also credits the foundation of the city to Peroz I. Ardabil suffered some damages caused by raids of Huns from the 4th to 6th century CE. Peroz repaired those damages and fortified the city, Peroz made Ardabil the residence of provincial governor of Azarbaijan. During the Islamic conquest of Iran, Ardabil was the largest city in north-western Iran, ahead of Derbent, Ardabilis fought the Mongols three times, however the city fell after the third attempt by Mongols, who massacred the Ardabilis. Incursions of Mongols and subsequently the Georgians, who, under Tamar the Great, Safavid king Ismail I, born in Ardabil, started his campaign to nationalize Irans government and land from there, but consequently announced Tabriz as his capital in 1501. Yet Ardabil remained an important city politically and economically until modern times. In the early Qajar period, crown prince Abbas Mirza, son of then incumbent king Fath Ali Shah Qajar was the governor of Ardabil. During the next and final war, the Russo-Persian War of 1826-28, the ramparts were stormed by the Russian troops, after the Russo-Persian Wars, Ardabil re-prospered. In 1872, when Max von Thielmann was in Ardabil, he noted in his book of 1875 the extensive activity at the towns bazaar as well. He estimated its population at 20,000, in the heart of the Ardabil city, this bazaar stands as old as the Islamic period
Ardabil
–
Tomb of
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
Ardabil
–
An Ardabil "glim" (
Ardabil rug)
Ardabil
–
Shah Ismail
Ardabil
–
Savalan 's honey.
5.
Ismail I
–
Ismail I, also known as Shah Ismail I was the founder of the Safavid dynasty, ruling from 1501 to 23 May 1524 as shah. Although many Iranian dynasties rose to power amidst this whole period and it also reasserted the Iranian identity in large parts of Greater Iran. One of his first actions, was the proclaimation of the Twelver sect of Shia Islam to be the religion of his newly-formed state. This extreme step, which had no principal in the history of Islamic states, was a rational one, Ismail was also a prolific poet who, under the pen name Khaṭāʾī contributed greatly to the literary development of the Azerbaijani language. He also contributed to Persian literature, though few of his Persian writings survive, Ismail was born to Martha and Shaykh Haydar on July 17,1487 in Ardabil. His father, Haydar, was the sheikh of the Safaviyya Sufi order, Ismail was the last in this line of hereditary Grand Masters of the order, prior to his ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismail was a grandson of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond. His mother Martha, better known as Halima Begum, was the daughter of Uzun Hasan by his Pontic Greek wife Theodora Megale Komnene, Despina Khatun was the daughter of Emperor John IV of Trebizond. Ismail grew up bilingual, speaking Persian and Azerbaijani, not only did Ismail have Kurdish ancestors, but he also had ancestors from various other ethnic groups such as Azeri, the majority of scholars agree that his empire was an Iranian one. In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed the leadership of the Zahediyeh, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. One genealogy claimed that Sheikh Safi was a descendant of Ali. Ismail also proclaimed himself the Mahdi and a reincarnation of Ali, in 1494 the Aq Qoyunlu captured Ardabil, killing Ali Mirza Safavi, and forcing the 7-year old Ismail to go into hiding in Gilan, where he received education under the guidance of scholars. When Ismail reached the age of 12, he out of hiding. Ismails rise to power was made possible by the Turkoman tribes of Anatolia and Azerbaijan, Qizilbash forces passed over the Kura River in December 1500, and marched towards the Shirvanshahs state. They defeated the forces of the Shirvanshah Farrukh Yassar near Cabanı or at Gulistan, thus, Shirvan and its dependencies were now Ismails. After the conquest, Ismail had Alexander I of Kakheti send his son Demetre to Shirvan to negotiate a peace agreement. After eventually conquering Tabriz and Nakhchivan, Ismail broke the promise he had made to Constantine II, in July 1501, Ismail was enthroned as Shah of Azerbaijan, choosing Tabriz as his capital. He appointed his guardian and mentor Husayn Beg Shamlu as the vakil of the empire
Ismail I
–
Shah Ismail I.
Ismail I
–
The battle between the young Ismail and Shah
Farrukh Yassar of
Shirvan
Ismail I
–
Ismail declares himself shah by entering
Tabriz, painter Chingiz Mehbaliyev, in private collectin.
Ismail I
–
The battle between Ismail I and
Muhammad Shaybani.
6.
Dynasty
–
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
Dynasty
–
Charles I of England and his son, the future
James II
7.
Shaykh Haydar
–
Shaykh Haydar or Sheikh Haydar was the successor of his father as leader of the Safaviyya from 1460-1488. Haydar maintained the policies and political ambitions initiated by his father, Haydar soon came into conflict with the Shirvanshahs, as well as the Ak Koyunlu, who were allied to the former. In a pitched battled that ensued, Shaykh Haydar and his men were defeated and killed and he was succeeded by his son Soltan-Ali as leader of the Safaviyya. Soltan-Ali was on his part succeeded by Haydars younger son, who would become the founder of the Safavid dynasty, Haydar was born in June–July 1459 to Shaykh Junayd by his wife Khadija Begum bt. Qara Othman, a sister of Uzun Hasan of the Ak Koyunlu and his parents had married on the eve Shaykh Junayd invaded Trabzon. Less than a later, his father was killed in the Battle of Tabasaran. Apart from Haydar, the surviving sons of Junayd were Khojeh Mohammad Safavi. The only sister of Haydar that survived, Shah-Pasha Khatun, was married off to Mohammad Beg Talish, the Safaviyya return to Ardabil prompted an influx of Haydar’s followers from northern Syria and eastern Anatolia to Ardabil to be beside him. Functioning as the leader of the Safaviyya tariqa, Haydar would engage into various alliances with the leaders of the Talish, Shirvan. Subsequently, he initiated three military campaigns against various rural areas and villages in the Northern Caucasus, according to Prof. Roger Savory, meant to drill his men, these raids targeted the infidels of Circassia and Dagestan. These were however probably the Christian Alans who roamed to the north of the Darial Pass as well as the Kabardian subgroup of Circassians. In order to reach the area, Haydar had to cross areas ruled by the Shirvanshah, therefore, Haydar ordered for the production of boats in Khalkhal and Astara, in order to avoid having to go by land. By using boats, Haydar and his men would be able to circumvent the Shirvanshahs, in particular, the towns of Agrica and Mian-Qeslaq seem to have been the main target at the time. In around 1473-3, Haydar and his men performed their first seaborne attack on Dagestan, Haydars first mainland campaign in Dagestan happened five years later, in 1478. However, the third and final of his campaigns in Dagestan, the Shirvanshah had allowed Haydars first two campaigns, but this time, on his way to the North Caucasus, he sacked the city of Shamakhi. The Ak Koyunlu then ordered for the beheading of Haydar, following his death, his tomb in Ardabil became a place of pilgrimage. Shaykh Haydar was married on two occasions and his first wife, whom he married in 1471-1472, named Halima was a daughter of Uzun Hasan by his wife Despina Khatun, daughter of John IV of Trebizond. This marriage produced three sons, Sultan Ali Safawi, Ibrahim Mirza and Ismail I, in 1473, he married a daughter of Shaykh Farid al-din Jafar b
Shaykh Haydar
–
Shaykh Haydar Tomb in
Meshginshahr
8.
Twelver
–
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
Twelver
–
18th century
mirror writing in
Ottoman calligraphy. Depicts the phrase 'Ali is the vicegerent of God' in both directions.
Twelver
–
Names of
The Fourteen Infallibles (Masūmeen - Descendants Of Muhammad) written in the form of
Arabic name على 'Ali'
Twelver
–
Imam Husayn Shrine in
Karbala,
Iraq, where the
Battle of Karbala took place
9.
Persian language
–
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
Persian language
–
Old Persian
Persian language
–
Ferdowsi 's
Shahnameh
Persian language
–
Kalilah va Dimna, an influential work in Persian literature.
10.
Azerbaijani language
–
The language has official status in Azerbaijan and Dagestan but it does not have official status in Iranian Azerbaijan, where the majority of Azerbaijanis live. It is also spoken to varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe. Azerbaijani is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, modern literature in Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iranian Azerbaijan region it is based on the Tabrizi one. Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe, Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian. By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region, the historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods, early and modern. Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained a larger number of Persian. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects, despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style. Despite the wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, after independence, Azerbaijan republic decided to switch back to the Latin script. The first examples of Azerbaijani literature date to the late 1200s following the Mongol conquest and were written in Arabic script, in the 1300s Kadi Burhan al-Din, Hesenoghlu, and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as a language through poetry and other literary works. In 1875 Akinchi became the first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire and it was started by Hasan bey Zardabi, a journalist and education advocate. Following the rule of the Qajar dynasty Iran was ruled by Reza Shah who banned the publication of texts in Azerbaijani, modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iranian Azerbaijan it is based on the Tabrizi dialect. Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry and his most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It was translated more than 30 languages. In the mid-19th century Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku, Ganja, Shaki, Tbilisi, since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all schools of Ganja, Shusha, Nukha, Shamakhi, Quba, Baku, Derbent, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Akhaltsikhe. Beginning in 1834, it was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian, in 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate. Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family, the International Organization for Standardization encodes North Azerbaijani and South Azerbaijani as distinct languages
Azerbaijani language
–
Garden of Pleasures by
Fuzûlî in Azerbaijani. Early 19th century. There is Shaki khan's seal on it. Museum of History of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani language
–
Location of Azerbaijani speakers in the
Caucasus
Azerbaijani language
–
Azerbaijani-language road sign.
11.
Safavid dynasty
–
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
Safavid dynasty
–
Flag [1]
Safavid dynasty
–
Manikin of a safavid
Qizilbash soldier, showing characteristic red cap (
Sa'dabad Palace, Teheran).
12.
Shah
–
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
Shah
–
Royal and noble ranks in Iran, Turkey, Caucasus, Pakistan and Afghanistan
13.
History of Iran
–
Iran is home to one of the worlds oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 7000 BC. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel names the Persians as the first Historical People, the Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. It was the largest empire yet seen and the first world empire and they were succeeded by the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Empires, who successively governed Iran for almost 1000 years and made Iran once again as a leading power in the world. Persias arch-rival was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, the Persian Empire proper begins in the Iron Age, following the influx of Iranian peoples. Iranian people gave rise to the Medes, the Achaemenid, Parthian, once a major empire of superpower proportions, having conquered far and wide, Iran has endured invasions too, by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Iran has continually reasserted its national identity throughout the centuries and has developed as a political and cultural entity. The Muslim conquest of Persia ended the Sasanian Empire and was a point in Iranian history. Islamization of Iran took place during the eighth to tenth centuries, however, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity and civilization. Iran, with its history of early cultures and empires, had suffered particularly hard during the late Middle Ages. Many invasions of nomadic tribes, whose leaders became rulers in this country, the earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran were found in the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites that are thought to date back to 100,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian stone tools made by Neandertals have also been found, in 1949, a Neanderthal radius was discovered by Carleton S. Coon in Bisitun Cave. Early agricultural communities such as Chogha Golan in 10,000 BC along with such as Chogha Bonut in 8000 BC, began to flourish in. Around about the time, the earliest-known clay vessels and modeled human and animal terracotta figurines were produced at Ganj Dareh. There are also 10, 000-year-old human and animal figurines from Tepe Sarab in Kermanshah Province among many ancient artifacts. The two main Neolithic Iranian settlements were the Zayandeh River Culture and Ganj Dareh, parts of what is modern-day northwestern Iran was part of the Kura–Araxes culture, that stretched up into the neighboring regions of the Caucasus and Anatolia. Susa is one of the settlements of Iran and the world. Based on C14 dating, the time of foundation of the city is as early as 4395 BC, the general perception among archeologists is that Susa was an extension of the Sumerian city state of Uruk. In its later history, Susa became the capital of Elam and it is one of the most artifact-rich archaeological sites in the Middle East
History of Iran
–
A gold cup at the
National Museum of Iran, dating from the first half of 1st millennium BC.
History of Iran
–
Arg-e Bam Before the 2003 earthquake.
History of Iran
–
Chogha Zanbil is one of the few extant
ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia and is considered to be the best preserved example in the world.
14.
Muslim conquest of Persia
–
The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, led to the end of the Sasanian Empire in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. The rise of Muslims coincided with a significant political, social, economic, once a major world power, the Sasanian Empire had exhausted its human and material resources after decades of warfare against the Byzantine Empire. The internal political situation quickly deteriorated after the execution of King Khosrau II on February 28,628, subsequently, ten new claimants were enthroned within the next four years, highlighting the political instability of the Sassanians prior to the Muslim invasion. Arab Muslims first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when general Khalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia, following the transfer of Khalid to the Byzantine front in the Levant, the Muslims eventually lost their holdings to Sassanian counterattacks. The second invasion began in 636 under Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, the Zagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Due to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered an invasion of the Sasanian empire in 642. By 651, most of the centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces. Many localities fought against the invaders, ultimately, none were successful, in fact, although Arabs had established hegemony over most of the country, many cities rose in rebellion by killing the Arab governor or attacking their garrisons. Eventually, military reinforcements quashed the insurgency and imposed Islamic control, however, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining Persian language and culture. Regardless, Islam was adopted by many for a multitude of reasons including by threat and extortion, for political and economic reasons, Islam would become the dominant religion late in the medieval ages. The most significant work was probably that of Arthur Christensen, and his L’Iran sous les Sassanides, published in Copenhagen, however recent scholarship, both Iranian and Western, has begun to question the traditional narrative. Another important theme of Pourshariatis study is a re-evaluation of the traditional timeline, since the 1st century BC, the border between the Roman and Parthian empires had been the Euphrates River. Most battles, and thus most fortifications, were concentrated in the regions of the north. The only dangers expected from the south were occasional raids by nomadic Arab tribesmen, both empires therefore allied themselves with small, semi-independent Arab principalities, which served as buffer states and protected Byzantium and Persia from Bedouin attacks. The Byzantine clients were the Ghassanids, the Persian clients were the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids and Lakhmids feuded constantly, which kept them occupied, but that did not greatly affect the Byzantines or the Persians. In the 6th and 7th centuries, various factors destroyed the balance of power that had held for so many centuries, the Byzantine clients, the Arab Ghassanids, converted to the Monophysite form of Christianity, which was regarded as heretical by the established Byzantine Orthodox Church. The Byzantines attempted to suppress the heresy, alienating the Ghassanids, the Lakhmids also revolted against the Persian king Khusrau II. Numan III, the first Christian Lakhmid king, was deposed and killed by Khusrau II in 602, after Khusraus assassination, the Persian Empire fractured and the Lakhmids were effectively semi-independent
Muslim conquest of Persia
–
Ancient Iranians attached great importance to music and poetry, as they still do today. This 7th century plate depicts
Sassanid era musicians.
Muslim conquest of Persia
–
Map of Persia and its surrounding regions on the eve of the Muslim invasions.
Muslim conquest of Persia
–
Sassanid King
Khosrau II submitting to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, from a plaque on a 12th-century French cross.
Muslim conquest of Persia
–
Winged
sphinx from the palace of
Darius the Great at
Susa, captured by
Rashidun general
Abu Musa in 641.
15.
Arabs
–
Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
Arabs
Arabs
–
Schoolgirls in
Gaza lining up for class, 2009
Arabs
–
Syrian immigrants in New York City, as depicted in 1895
Arabs
–
Lebanese–Mexican billionaire
Carlos Slim has been ranked by Forbes as the
second richest person in the world.
16.
Iranian peoples
–
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse Indo-European ethno-linguistic group that comprise the speakers of the Iranian languages. Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a branch of the Indo-Iranians in Central Asia in the mid 2nd millennium BC. In the 1st millennium AD, their area of settlement was reduced as a result of Slavic, Germanic, Turkic and Mongol expansions and many being subjected to Slavicisation. The Iranian peoples include Balochs, Kurds, Gilaks, Lurs, Mazanderanis, Ossetians, Pashtuns, Pamiris, Persians, Tajiks, Talysh people, the term Iran derives directly from Middle Persian Ērān and Parthian Aryān. The Middle Iranian terms ērān and aryān are oblique plural forms of gentilic ēr- and ary-, there have been many attempts to qualify the verbal root of ar- in Old Iranian arya-. The following are according to 1957 and later linguists, Emmanuel Laroche, Old Iranian arya- being descended from Proto-Indo-European ar-yo-, meaning assembler. Harold Walter Bailey, ar- to beget, unlike the Sanskrit ā́rya-, the Old Iranian term has solely an ethnic meaning. Today, the Old Iranian arya- remains in ethno-linguistic names such as Iran, Alan, Ir, in the Iranian languages, the gentilic is attested as a self-identifier included in ancient inscriptions and the literature of Avesta. The earliest epigraphically attested reference to the word occurs in the Bistun Inscription of the 6th century BC. The inscription of Bistun describes itself to have composed in Arya. As is also the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, in royal Old Persian inscriptions, the term arya- appears in three different contexts, As the name of the language of the Old Persian version of the inscription of Darius I in the Bistun Inscription. As the ethnic background of Darius the Great in inscriptions at Rustam Relief and Susa, as the definition of the God of Iranians, Ohrmazd, in the Elamite version of the Bistun Inscription. In the Dna and Dse, Darius and Xerxes describe themselves as an Achaemenid, a Persian, son of a Persian, although Darius the Great called his language arya-, modern scholars refer to it as Old Persian because it is the ancestor of the modern Persian language. The trilingual inscription erected by the command of Shapur I gives a clear description. The languages used are Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek, tou Arianon ethnous despotes eimi, which translates to I am the king of the kingdom of the Iranians. In Middle Persian, Shapur says ērānšahr xwadāy hēm and in Parthian he says aryānšahr xwadāy ahēm, the Avesta clearly uses airiia- as an ethnic name, where it appears in expressions such as airyāfi daiŋˊhāvō, airyō šayanəm, and airyanəm vaējō vaŋhuyāfi dāityayāfi. In the late part of the Avesta, one of the homelands was referred to as Airyanəm Vaējah which approximately means expanse of the Iranians. The homeland varied in its range, the area around Herat
Iranian peoples
–
Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent
Iranian peoples
–
The
Andronovo,
BMAC and
Yaz cultures have been associated with Indo-Iranians.
Iranian peoples
–
Persepolis -Persian guards
Iranian peoples
–
Geographic distribution of modern Iranian languages
17.
Caliphate
–
A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph
Caliphate
–
Mustansiriya University in
Baghdad
Caliphate
–
Caliphate خِلافة
Caliphate
–
Abdülmecid II was the last Caliph of Islam from the
Ottoman dynasty.
18.
Seljuk Empire
–
The Seljuk Empire or Great Seljuk Empire was a medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia, from their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. The Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037, Tughril was raised by his grandfather, Seljuk-Beg, who was in a high position in the Oghuz Yabgu State. Seljuk gave his name to both the Seljuk empire and the Seljuk dynasty, the Seljuks united the fractured political scene of the eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuks also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, the Seljuqs were allied with the Persian Samanid shahs against the Qarakhanids. The Samanid fell to the Qarakhanids in Transoxania, however, whereafter the Ghaznavids arose, the Seljuqs became involved in this power struggle in the region before establishing their own independent base. Tughril was the grandson of Seljuq and brother of Chaghri, under whom the Seljuks wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids, initially the Seljuqs were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm, but Tughril and Chaghri led them to capture Merv and Nishapur. Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with his successors across Khorasan and Balkh, in 1040 at the Battle of Dandanaqan, they decisively defeated Masud I of the Ghaznavids, forcing him to abandon most of his western territories to the Seljuqs. In 1055, Tughril captured Baghdad from the Shia Buyids under a commission from the Abbasids, arslans decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 effectively neutralized the Byzantine resistance to the Turkish invasion of Anatolia. He authorized his Turkmen generals to carve their own out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia. Malikshāh moved the capital from Rey to Isfahan and it was during his reign that the Great Seljuk Empire reached its zenith. The Iqta military system and the Nizāmīyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizām al-Mulk, the Abbasid Caliph titled him The Sultan of the East and West in 1087. The Seljuq power was at its zenith under Malikshāh I, the Seljuq dominion was established over the ancient Sasanian domains, in Iran and Iraq, and included Anatolia as well as parts of Central Asia and modern Afghanistan. The Seljuk rule was modelled after the organization common in Turkic and Mongol nomads. Under this organization, the member of the paramount family assigned family members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages. When Malikshāh I died in 1092, the split as his brother. Malikshāh I was succeeded in Anatolia by Kilij Arslan I, who founded the Sultanate of Rum, and in Syria by his brother Tutush I. In Persia he was succeeded by his son Mahmud I, whose reign was contested by his three brothers Barkiyaruq in Iraq, Muhammad I in Baghdad, and Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan
Seljuk Empire
–
History of the Turkic peoples Pre-14th century
Seljuk Empire
–
Great Seljuq Empire in its zenith in 1092, upon the death of
Malik Shah I
Seljuk Empire
Seljuk Empire
–
Head of male royal figure, 12–13th century, found in
Iran.
19.
Sultan
–
Sultan is a noble title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning strength, authority, rulership, derived from the verbal noun سلطة sulṭah, the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a sultanate. A feminine form of sultan, used by Westerners, is Sultana or Sultanah, but Turkish and Ottoman Turkish also uses sultan for imperial lady, because Turkish grammar uses the same words for women and men. However, this styling misconstrues the roles of wives of sultans, in a similar usage, the wife of a German field marshal might be styled Frau Feldmarschall. The female leaders in Muslim history are known as sultanas. Special case in Brunei, the Queen Consort is known as Raja Isteri with suffix Pengiran Anak if the queen consort is a royal princess. Among those modern hereditary rulers who wish to emphasize their secular authority under the rule of law and these are generally secondary titles, either lofty poetry or with a message, e. g. g. Sultan ul-Mujahidin as champion of jihad, ghaznavid Sultanate Sultans of Great Seljuk Seljuk Sultanate of Rum Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, the Osmanli Elisu Sultanate and a few others. A Sultan ranked below a Khan and this usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Western tradition knows the Ottoman ruler as sultan, but Ottomans themselves used padişah or hünkar to refer to their ruler, the emperors formal title consisted of sultan together with khan. In formal address, the children were also entitled sultan, with imperial princes carrying the title before their given name. Example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan, son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent, henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non imperial blood to carry the title sultan. In Kazakh Khanate a Sultan was a lord from the ruling dynasty elected by clans, the best of sultans was elected as khan by people at Kurultai. See ru, Казахские султаны In a number of states under Mongol or Turkic rule. These administrations were often decimal, using originally princely titles such as khan, malik, in the Persian empire, the rank of sultan was roughly equivalent to that of a modern-day captain in the West, socially in the fifth-rank class, styled Ali Jah
Sultan
–
Royal and noble ranks in Iran, Turkey, Caucasus, Pakistan and Afghanistan
Sultan
–
Sultan
Mehmed II is considered one of the most famous
Ottoman sultans.
Sultan
–
Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed IV attended by a eunuch and two pages.
Sultan
–
Artistic representation of
Saladin, the first
Ayyubid sultan of
Egypt and
Syria.
20.
Ilkhanate
–
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate, was established as a khanate that formed the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire, ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu. It was founded in the 13th century and was based primarily in Iran as well as neighboring territories, such as present-day Azerbaijan and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey. The Ilkhanate was originally based on the campaigns of Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219–24 and was founded by Hulagu Khan, with the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate. At its greatest extent, the state expanded into territories that comprise most of Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, western Afghanistan. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, would convert to Islam, according to the historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Kublai Khan granted Hulagu the title of Ilkhan after his defeat of Ariq Böke. The term il-Khan means subordinate khan and refers to their initial deference to Möngke Khan, the title Ilkhan, borne by the descendants of Hulagu and later other Borjigin princes in Persia, does not materialize in the sources until after 1260. When Muhammad II of Khwarezm executed a contingent of merchants dispatched by the Mongols, the Mongols overran the empire, occupying the major cities and population centers between 1219 and 1221. Persian Iraq was ravaged by the Mongol detachment under Jebe and Subedei, Transoxiana also came under Mongol control after the invasion. The undivided area west of the Transoxiana was the inheritance of Genghis Khans Borjigin family, thus, the families of the latters four sons appointed their officials under the Great Khans governors, Chin-Temür, Nussal, and Korguz, in that region. Muhammads son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu returned to Iran in c.1224 after his exile in India, the rival Turkic states, which were all that remained of his fathers empire, quickly declared their allegiance to Jalal. He repulsed the first Mongol attempt to take Central Persia, however, Jalal ad-Din was overwhelmed and crushed by Chormaqans army sent by the Great Khan Ögedei in 1231. During the Mongol expedition, Azerbaijan and the southern Persian dynasties in Fars and Kerman voluntarily submitted to the Mongols, to the west, Hamadan and the rest of Persia was secured by Chormaqan. The Mongols invaded Armenia and Georgia in 1234 or 1236, completing the conquest of the Kingdom of Georgia in 1238 and they began to attack the western parts of Greater Armenia, which was under the Seljuks, the following year. In 1236 Ögedei was commanded to raise up Khorassan and proceeded to populate Herat, the Mongol military governors mostly made camp in the Mughan plain in what is now Azerbaijan. Realizing the danger posed by the Mongols, the rulers of Mosul, Chormaqan divided the Transcaucasia region into three districts based on the Mongol military hierarchy. In Georgia, the population was divided into eight tumens. By 1237 the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia, Armenia, Georgia, as well as all of Afghanistan and Kashmir. After the battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, the Mongols under Baiju occupied Anatolia, while the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Empire of Trebizond became vassals of the Mongols
Ilkhanate
–
Ilkhanate flag (roughly featuring its official square stamp at the center)
Ilkhanate
–
Hulagu Khan, founder of the Ilkhanate, with his Christian queen
Doquz Khatun
Ilkhanate
–
A
Mongol horse archer in the 13th century.
21.
Khan (title)
–
Khan is originally a title for a sovereign or a military ruler, widely used by Turkic and later medieval nomadic Mongolian tribes living to the north of China. Khan also occurs as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289, the Rourans were the first people who used the titles khagan and khan for their emperors. Subsequently the Ashina adopted the title and brought it to the rest of Asia, in the middle of the sixth century the Iranians knew of a Kagan – King of the Turks. Khan now has many equivalent meanings such as commander, leader, as of 2015 khans exist in South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Turkey. The female alternatives are Khatun, Khatoon and Khanum and these titles or names are sometimes written as Han, Kan, Hakan, Hanum, or Hatun and as xan, xanım. Khagan is rendered as Khan of Khans and it was the title of Chinese Emperor Emperor Taizong of Tang, and also the title of Genghis Khan and of the persons selected to rule the Mongol Empire. For instance Möngke Khan and Ogedei Khan would be Khagans but not Chagatai Khan, some managed to establish principalities of some importance for a while, as their military might repeatedly proved a serious threat to such empires as China and kingdoms in Central Asia. One of the earliest notable examples of such principalities in Europe was Danube Bulgaria, Khan was the official title of the ruler until 864 AD, when Kniaz Boris adopted the Eastern Orthodox faith. The title Khan became unprecedently prominent when the Mongol Temüjin created the Mongol empire, the greatest land empire the world has ever seen and his title was khagan, or Khan of Khans, but has often been abbreviated to Khan or described as Great Khan. The great leader was regarded as a khan in the middle east, ming Dynasty Chinese Emperors also used the term Xan to denote brave warriors and rulers. The title Khan was used to designate the greatest rulers of the Jurchens, while most Afghan principalities were styled emirate, there was a khanate of ethnic Uzbeks in Badakhshan since 1697. For example, in present Armenia and nearby territories to the left and right, diverse khanates existed in Dagestan, Azerbaijan, including Baku, Ganja, Jawad, Quba, Salyan, Shakki and Shirvan=Shamakha, Talysh, Nakhichevan and Karabakh. The most important of these states were, Khanate of Kazan, sibir Khanate Astrakhan Khanate Crimean Khanate. The ruling descendants of the branch of Genghis Khans dynasty are referred to as the Great Khans. The title Khan of Khans was among numerous titles used by the Sultans of the Ottoman empire as well as the rulers of the Golden Horde and its descendant states. The title Khan was also used in the Seljuk Turk dynasties of the near-east to designate a head of multiple tribes, clans or nations, jurchen and Manchu rulers also used the title Khan, for example, Nurhaci was called Genggiyen Han. Rulers of the Göktürks, Avars and Khazars used the higher title Kaghan, see the main article for more details. Khan-i-Khanan was a given to the commander-in-chief of the army of the Mughals
Khan (title)
–
Eurasia on the eve of the Mongol invasions, c. AD 1200.
Khan (title)
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Navaanneren, Minister of the Interior, who along with the 23rd Tushiyetu Khan Dorjsurenkhoroljav (1908-1937) was the last Khan in Mongolia. He was executed during the
great purges of 1937.
Khan (title)
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Mongol Empire's largest extent outlined in red; the
Timurid Empire is shaded
Khan (title)
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Two Khans in Turkoman Tribal Costume, One of 274 Vintage Photographs.
Brooklyn Museum.
22.
Buyid dynasty
–
The Buyid dynasty or the Buyids, also known as Buwaihids, Bowayhids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, was an Iranian Shia dynasty of Daylamite origin. As Daylamite Iranians the Buyids consciously revived symbols and practices of Persias Sassānid dynasty, in fact, beginning with Adud al-Dawla they used the ancient Sassānid title Shāhanshāh, literally king of kings. At its greatest extent, the Buyid dynasty encompassed most of todays Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria, along parts of Oman. The word Būya is a Middle Persian name ending in the diminutive ـویه, the Buyids were descendants of Panah-Khusrau, a Zoroastrian from Daylam. He had a son named Buya, who was a fisherman from Lahijan, Buya later had three sons named Ahmad, Ali, and Hasan, who would later carve the Buyid kingdom together. Most historians agree that the Buyids were Daylamites, the Buyids claimed royal lineage from Bahram V, 15th king of the Sasanian Empire. Ali was later joined by his two brothers, Hasan ibn Buya and Ahmad ibn Buya. In 932, Ali was given Karaj as his fief, however, Alis independent actions made Mardavij plan to have him killed, but fortunately for Ali, he was informed of Mardavijs plan by the latters own vizier. The Buyids brother, with 400 of their Daylamite supporters, then fled to Fars, however, the Buyids and the Abbasid general Yaqut shortly came into a struggle for the control of Fars, which the Buyids eventually emerged victorious in. This victory opened the way for the conquest of the capital of Fars, Ali also made an alliance with the landowners of Fars, which included the Fasanjas family, which would later produce many prominent statesmen for the Buyids. Furthermore, Ali also to enlist more soldiers, which included the Turks, Ali then sent his brother Ahmad on an expedition to Kirman, but was forced to withdraw from them after opposition from the Baloch people and the Qafs. In addition to the territories the Buyids had conquered, Kirman was conquered in 967, Oman, the Jazira, Tabaristan. After this, however, the Buyids went into a decline, with pieces of the confederation gradually breaking off. When he made the death of his public, he was given the title of Samsam al-Dawla. However, Aduds other son, Shirdil Abul-Fawaris, challenged the authority of Samsam al-Dawla, meanwhile, a Marwanid chieftain named Badh, seized Diyabakr and forced Samsam al-Dawla to recognize him as the vassal ruler of the region. During the same period, Samsam al-Dawla also managed to seize Basra and Khuzistan, during the mid-11th century, the Buyid amirates gradually fell to the Ghaznavid and Seljuq Turks. In 1029, Majd al-Dawla, who was facing an uprising by his Dailami troops in Ray, when Sultan Mahmud arrived, he deposed Majd al-Dawla, replaced him with a Ghaznavid governor and ended the Buyid dynasty in Ray. In 1055, Tughrul conquered Baghdad, the seat of the caliphate, like the Buyids, the Seljuqs kept the Abbasid caliphate as the titular ruler
Buyid dynasty
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The Buyid dynasty in 970
Buyid dynasty
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Dailamite soldier
Buyid dynasty
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Buyid era art: Painted, incised, and glazed earthenware. Dated 10th century,
Iran.
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
23.
Azerbaijan Republic
–
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
Azerbaijan Republic
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Petroglyphs in
Gobustan dating back to 10,000 BC indicating a thriving culture. It is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site considered to be of "outstanding universal value"
Azerbaijan Republic
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Flag
Azerbaijan Republic
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The
Maiden Tower in
Old Baku is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the 11th–12th century.
Azerbaijan Republic
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The siege of Ganja Fortress in 1804 during the
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) by the Russian forces under leadership of general
Pavel Tsitsianov.
24.
Armenia
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Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
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Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
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Flag
Armenia
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The Armenian pagan
Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman
colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire
former Soviet Union.
Armenia
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The
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
25.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
Georgia (country)
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It is said that
Georgians were so named because they revered
Saint George.
Georgia (country)
–
Flag
Georgia (country)
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Ancient Georgian states of
Colchis and
Iberia, 500-400 BC
Georgia (country)
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Queen
Tamar of Georgia presided over the "Golden Age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy. Her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title "Mepe mepeta" ("King of Kings").
26.
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
North Caucasus
–
The village of Tindi, in
Dagestan, in the late 1890s.
North Caucasus
–
North Caucasus regions within the Russian Federation.
27.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
Iraq
–
Cylinder Seal, Old Babylonian Period, c.1800 BCE,
hematite. The king makes an animal offering to
Shamash. This seal was probably made in a workshop at
Sippar.
Iraq
–
Flag
Iraq
–
Victory stele of
Naram-Sin of Akkad
Iraq
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Bill of sale of a male slave and a building in
Shuruppak, Sumerian tablet, circa 2600 BCE
28.
Kuwait
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Kuwait /kuːˈweɪt/, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq. As of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.2 million people,1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates, expatriates account for 70% of the population. Oil reserves were discovered in 1938, from 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability, in 1990, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. The Iraqi occupation came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by coalition forces, at the end of the war, there were extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure. Kuwait is a constitutional emirate with a political system. It has an income economy backed by the worlds sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world, according to the World Bank, the country has the fourth highest per capita income in the world. The Constitution was promulgated in 1962, making Kuwait the most democratic country in the region, in the Arab world, Kuwait is frequently dubbed the Hollywood of the Gulf due to the popularity of its soap operas and theatre. During the Ubaid period, Kuwait was the site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic Eastern Arabia, mainly centered in As-Subiya in northern Kuwait. The earliest evidence of habitation in Kuwait dates back 8000 B. C. where Mesolithic tools were found in Burgan. As-Subiya in northern Kuwait is the earliest evidence of urbanization in the whole Persian Gulf basin area, mesopotamians first settled in the Kuwaiti island of Failaka in 2000 B. C. Traders from the Sumerian city of Ur inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business, the island had many Mesopotamian-style buildings typical of those found in Iraq dating from around 2000 B. C. The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the worlds earliest maritime traders, one of the worlds earliest reed-boats was discovered in northern Kuwait dating back to the Ubaid period. In 3rd century BC, the ancient Greeks colonized the bay of Kuwait under Alexander the Great, according to Strabo and Arrian, Alexander the Great named Failaka Ikaros because it resembled the Aegean island of that name in size and shape. Remains of Greek colonization include a large Hellenistic fort and Greek temples, in 224 AD, Kuwait became part of the Sassanid Empire. At the time of the Sassanid Empire, Kuwait was known as Meshan, Akkaz was a Partho-Sassanian site, the Sassanid religions tower of silence was discovered in northern Akkaz
Kuwait
–
Oil fires in Kuwait in 1991, which were a result of the
scorched earth policy of
Iraqi military forces retreating from Kuwait.
Kuwait
–
Flag
Kuwait
–
Kuwait National Assembly Building
Kuwait
–
Satellite image of Kuwait
29.
Afghanistan
–
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
Afghanistan
–
History of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
–
Flag
Afghanistan
–
Bilingual (
Greek and
Aramaic)
edict by Emperor
Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE discovered in the southern city of
Kandahar
Afghanistan
–
One of the
Buddhas of Bamiyan.
Buddhism was widespread in the region before the
Islamic conquest of Afghanistan.
30.
Syria
–
Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
Syria
–
Female figurine, 5000 BC.
Ancient Orient Museum.
Syria
–
Flag
Syria
–
God head, the kingdom of
Yamhad (c. 1600 BC)
Syria
–
Ebla royal palace c. 2400 BC
31.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
32.
Uzbekistan
–
Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Located in Central Asia, it is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries, Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Once part of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the region that includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population, however, Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and others. A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims, Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, UN, and the SCO. While officially a republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Uzbekistans economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic import substitution. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometres and it is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the 4th largest by area, Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres from west to east and 930 kilometres from north to south, Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country and it is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world, the other being Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert and mountains, the climate in the Republic of Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually. The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C, while the winter low temperature is around −23 °C. Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than 50% of its former area, reliable, or even approximate data, have not been collected, stored or provided by any organization or official agency
Uzbekistan
–
Comparison of the
Aral Sea between 1989 and 2014.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
–
Female statuette wearing the
kaunakes. Chlorite and limestone,
Bactria, beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.
Uzbekistan
–
Alexander the Great at the
Battle of Issus.
33.
Turkmenistan
–
Turkmenistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. In medieval times, Merv was one of the cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan later figured prominently in the movement in Central Asia. In 1924, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmenistan possesses the worlds fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert, since 1993, citizens have received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president in 2007. According to Human Rights Watch, Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most repressive countries, after suspending the death penalty, the use of capital punishment was formally abolished in the 2008 constitution. Historically inhabited by the Indo-Iranians, the history of Turkmenistan begins with its annexation by the Achaemenid Empire of Ancient Iran. In the 8th century AD, Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into present-day Central Asia, part of a powerful confederation of tribes, these Oghuz formed the ethnic basis of the modern Turkmen population. In the 10th century, the name Turkmen was first applied to Oghuz groups that accepted Islam, There they were under the dominion of the Seljuk Empire, which was composed of Oghuz groups living in present-day Iran and Turkmenistan. Turkmen soldiers in the service of the played a important role in the spreading of Turkic culture when they migrated westward into present-day Azerbaijan. In the 12th century, Turkmen and other tribes overthrew the Seljuk Empire, in the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where the Turkmens had settled, scattering the Turkmens southward and contributing to the formation of new tribal groups. The sixteenth and eighteenth centuries saw a series of splits and confederations among the nomadic Turkmen tribes, by the 16th century, most of those tribes were under the nominal control of two sedentary Uzbek khanates, Khiva and Bukhoro. Turkmen soldiers were an important element of the Uzbek militaries of this period, in the 19th century, raids and rebellions by the Yomud Turkmen group resulted in that groups dispersal by the Uzbek rulers. According to Paul R. Spickard, Prior to the Russian conquest, Russian forces began occupying Turkmen territory late in the 19th century. From their Caspian Sea base at Krasnovodsk, the Russians eventually overcame the Uzbek khanates, in 1916 the Russian Empires participation in World War I resonated in Turkmenistan, as an anticonscription revolt swept most of Russian Central Asia. In 1924 the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was formed from the tsarist province of Transcaspia, by the late 1930s, Soviet reorganization of agriculture had destroyed what remained of the nomadic lifestyle in Turkmenistan, and Moscow controlled political life. The Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 killed over 110,000 people, during the next half-century, Turkmenistan played its designated economic role within the Soviet Union and remained outside the course of major world events
Turkmenistan
–
Turkmen helmet (15th century).
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
–
Russians attack a Turkmen caravan 1873 (during the "
The Great Game ").
Turkmenistan
–
A Turkmen man of Central Asia in traditional clothes. Photo by
Prokudin-Gorsky between 1905 and 1915.
34.
Culture of Iran
–
The culture of Iran or culture of Persia is one of the oldest in the world. Thus an eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Persian spirit, furthermore, Irans culture has manifested itself in several facets throughout the history of Iran as well as the Caucasus, Central Asia, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. They are not the same and the cultures of the peoples of Greater Persia are the focus of this article, Iran has one of the richest art heritages in world history and encompasses many disciplines including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and stonemasonry. There is also a very vibrant Iranian modern and contemporary art scene, Iranian art has gone through numerous phases. The unique aesthetics of Iran is evident from the Achaemenid reliefs in Persepolis to the paintings of Bishapur. The Islamic era brought drastic changes to the styles and practice of the arts, the Qajarid era was the last stage of classical Persian art, before modernism was imported and suffused into elements of traditionalist schools of aesthetics. Several languages are spoken in different regions of Iran, the predominant language and national language is Persian, which is spoken across the country. Smaller languages spread in other regions notably include Talysh, Georgian, Armenian, Assyrian, Persian literature inspired Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others, and it has been often dubbed as a most worthy language to serve as a conduit for poetry. Dialects of Persian are sporadically spoken throughout the region from China to Syria to Russia, Zoroastrianism was the national faith of Iran for more than a millennium before the Arab conquest. It has had an influence on Iranian philosophy, culture. Followers of the Bahai faith comprise the largest non-Muslim minority in Iran, followers of the Bahai faith are scattered throughout small communities in Iran, although there seems to be a large population of people who follow the Bahai faith in Tehran. Most of the Bahai are of Persian descent, although there seem to be many among the Azerbaijani, thus, Christians that live in Iran are primarily descendants of indigenous Christians that were converted during the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to Christianity and Judaism, Zoroastrianism is another officially recognized religion in Iran, in addition, although there have been isolated incidences of prejudice against Zoroastrians, most followers of this faith have not been persecuted for being followers of this faith. The Persian year begins in the vernal equinox, if the astronomical vernal equinox comes before noon, if the equinox falls after noon, then the next day is the official first day of the Persian year. The Persian Calendar, which is the calendar of Iran, is a solar calendar with a starting point that is the same as the Islamic calendar. According to the Iran Labor Code, Friday is the day of rest. Government official working hours are from Saturday to Wednesday, additional holidays include The Anniversary of the Uprising Against the Shah, Ashoura, Victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Sizdah-Bedar—Public Outing Day to end Nowrooz, and Islamic Republic Day. There are two stages in a wedding ritual in Iran
Culture of Iran
–
Safavid-era painting kept at The Grand Shah Abbas
Caravanserai Hotel in Isfahan
Culture of Iran
–
Persian arts
Culture of Iran
–
Mihr 'Ali (Iranian, active ca. 1800-1830). Portrait of
Fath Ali Shah Qajar, 1815.
Brooklyn Museum
Culture of Iran
–
A
Persian miniature depicting a polo-match, 1546.
35.
Greater Iran
–
It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains. It is also referred to as Greater Persia, while the Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term Iranian Cultural Continent. The term Iran is not limited to the state of Iran. The concept of Greater Iran has its source in the history of the Achaemenid Empire in Persis, the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 resulted in Iran ceding Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia. After the Russo-Persian War, the Turkmanchey Treaty of 1828 ended centuries of Iranian control of its Caucasian provinces, in 1935, the endonym Iran was adopted as the official international name of Persia by its ruler Reza Shah. The name “Irān“, meaning “land of the Aryans”, is the New Persian continuation of the old genitive plural aryānām, the Avestan evidence is confirmed by Greek sources, Arianē is spoken of as being between Persia and the Indian subcontinent. However, this is a Greek pronunciation of the name Haroyum/Haraiva, a land listed separately from the homeland of the Aryans. While up until the end of the Parthian period in the 3rd century CE, the idea of “Irān“ had an ethnic, linguistic, the idea of an “Iranian“ empire or kingdom in a political sense is a purely Sasanian one. It was the result of a convergence of interests between the new dynasty and the Zoroastrian clergy, as we can deduce from the available evidence and this convergence gave rise to the idea of an Ērān-šahr “Kingdom of the Iranians, ” which was “ēr“. Richard Nelson Frye defines Greater Iran as including much of the Caucasus, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, with influences extending to China. According to Frye, Iran means all lands and peoples where Iranian languages were and are spoken, and this view, even though common among serious scholars, is almost certainly overstated. To the Ancient Greeks, Greater Iran ended at the Indus, according to J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams most of Western greater Iran spoke Southwestern Iranian languages in the Achaemenid era while the Eastern territory spoke Eastern Iranian languages related to Avestan. In the words of Richard Nelson Frye, Only in modern times did western colonial intervention, as Patrick Clawson states, ethnic nationalism is largely a nineteenth century phenomenon, even if it is fashionable to retroactively extend it. Greater Iran however has more of a cultural super-state, rather than a political one to begin with. A detailed list of these follows in this article. Greater Iran is called Iranzamin which means The Land of Iran, Iranzamin was in the mythical times opposed to the Turanzamin the Land of Turan, which was located in the upper part of Central Asia. In the pre-Islamic period, Iranians distinguished two main regions in the territory they ruled, one Iran and the other Aniran, by Iran they meant all the regions inhabited by ancient Iranian peoples, this region was more extensive in the past
Greater Iran
Greater Iran
–
An 1814 map of
Persia, depicting the large western province of
Irak (Persian Iraq), bordered on the west by
Irak Arabi (Arabic Iraq) – under
Georgian Mamluk rule at the time, and
Kourdistan – under direct
Ottoman rule at the time.
Greater Iran
–
The
Cyrus Cylinder, written in
Babylonian cuneiform in the name of the
Achaemenid king,
Cyrus the Great. It describes the Persian takeover of
Babylon (the ancient name of Iraq).
Greater Iran
–
The
Imām Husayn Shrine in
Karbalā,
Iraq is one of
Shīa Islām 's
holiest sites and a place of great annual
pilgrimage, receiving tens of millions of visitors each year.
36.
Shia Islam
–
Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
Shia Islam
Shia Islam
–
The Investiture of
Ali at
Ghadir Khumm (
MS Arab 161, fol. 162r, AD 1309/8
Ilkhanid manuscript illustration)
Shia Islam
–
The
Imam Hussein Shrine in
Karbala, Iraq is a holy site for Shia Muslims.
Shia Islam
–
Zulfiqar with and without the shield. The
Fatimid depiction of
Ali 's sword as carved on the Gates of Old Cairo, namely Bab al-Nasr. Two swords were captured from the temple of the pagan polytheist god
Manāt during the
Raid of Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali. Muhammad gave them to Ali, saying that one of them was
Zulfiqar, which became the famous sword of Ali and a later symbol of Shiism.
37.
Sunni
–
Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
Sunni
Sunni
–
Malaysian Sunni Muslims in a
Mawlid procession in capital
Putrajaya, 2013.
Sunni
–
The
Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) was, in particular during the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, an important center of Islamic learning with an emphasis on the
Maliki Madh'hab. It is located in the city of
Kairouan in
Tunisia
38.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
39.
Shaybanids
–
The Shaybanids were a Persianized dynasty of Turco-Mongol origin in Central Asia. They were the descendants of Shiban, the fifth son of Jochi. Until the mid-14th century, they acknowledged the authority of the descendants of Batu Khan and Orda Khan, the Shaybanid led grey horde, also known as the Uzbegs, was converted to Islam in 1282. At its height, the khanate included parts of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and their rivals were the Timurid dynasty, who claimed descent from Jochis thirteenth son by a concubine. Several decades of strife left the Timurids in control of the Great Horde and its states in Europe, namely, the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan. Under Abul-Khayr Khan, the dynasty began consolidating disparate Ozbeg tribes, first in the area around Tyumen, another state ruled by the Shaybanids was the Khanate of Sibir, seizing the throne in 1563. Its last khan, Kuchum, was deposed by the Russians in 1598 and he escaped to Bukhara, but his sons and grandsons were taken by the Tsar to Moscow, where they eventually assumed the surname of Sibirsky. Apart from this branch, several other noble families from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan petitioned the Russian imperial authorities to recognise their Shaybanid roots. Khans of significance highlighted in Bold, grousset, René The Empire of the Steppes, a history of central Asia Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, pp. 478–490 et passim, ISBN 0-8135-0627-1 Bosworth, C. E. “The Poetry of the Nomads and Shaybani Rulers of Transition to a Settled Society”, in, Central Asia on Display, Proceedings of the VII. Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies
Shaybanids
–
The trellis-walled yurt of
Muhammad Shaybani Khan.
Shaybanids
–
Muhammad Shaybani.
40.
Secular
–
Secularity is the state of being separate from religion, or of not being exclusively allied with or against any particular religion. Historically, the secular was not related or linked to religion. The idea of a dichotomy between religion and the secular originated in the 18th century European Enlightenment, one can regard eating and bathing as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them. Nevertheless, some religious traditions see both eating and bathing as sacraments, therefore making them religious activities within those world views, saying a prayer derived from religious text or doctrine, worshipping through the context of a religion, and attending a religious school are examples of religious activities. The secular is experienced in diverse ways ranging from separation of religion and state to being anti-religion or even pro-religion, a related term, secularism, involves the principle that government institutions and their representatives should remain separate from religious institutions, their beliefs, and their dignitaries. Many businesses and corporations, and some operate on secular lines. This stands in contrast to theocracy, government with deity as its highest authority, Secular and secularity derive from the Latin word saeculum which meant of a generation, belonging to an age or denoted a period of about one hundred years. In the ancient world, saeculum was not defined in contrast to any sacred concerns and had a usage in Latin. It was in Christian Latin of medieval times, that saeculum was used for distinguishing this temporal age of the world from the realm of God. The Christian doctrine that God exists outside time led medieval Western culture to use secular to indicate separation from specifically religious affairs and involvement in temporal ones. This does not necessarily imply hostility to God or religion, though some use the term this way, routinization — institutionalizing through integration into the society. Differentiation — a redefined place such as when accepting its status as one religion in a plural religious field or morphing into a more generic, disengagement — the detachment of certain facets of social life from religion. Transformation — gradual change over time in a sense that Protestantism became for Christianity. Generalization — a particular kind of change in which it becomes less specific, more abstract, has moderation of controversial and divisive claims. Desacralization — culture and rationality guide people while leaving out religious beings, segmentation — the development of specialized religious institutions, which take their place beside other specialized social institutions. Secularism — the only form that leads to rejection of religion. Examples of secular used in this way include, Secular authority, which involves legal, police, and military authority, as distinct from clerical authority, or matters under church control. Secular clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, who, traditionally, do not live the lives of the regular clergy and are therefore, in a sense
Secular
–
A
Laïcité parade in
Beirut Central District,
Lebanon. See
Secularism in Lebanon.
41.
Persian literature
–
Persian literature is one of the worlds oldest literatures. It spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the material has been lost. For instance, Mowlana Rumi, one of best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh or Vakhsh, wrote in Persian, the Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the following the Islamic conquest of Iran c.650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power, the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic empire and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons——the early Iranian dynasties such as Tahirids and Samanids were based in Khorasan, Iranians wrote in both Persian and Arabic, Persian predominated in later literary circles. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Sadi, Hafiz, Attar, Nezami, Rumi, very few literary works of Achaemenid Iran have survived, due partly to the destruction of the library at Persepolis. Most of what remains consists of the inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I. Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, the Parsis who fled to India, however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations, no single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from Pre-Islamic Iran. However, some essays in Pahlavi, such as Ayin-e name nebeshtan, some researchers have quoted the Shoubiyye as asserting that the Pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as Karvand. No trace remains of such books, there are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism. While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became a literary language again of the Central Asian, in short, the ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicennas medical writings are in verse, works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage, an extravagance of panegyrics, and what is known as سبک فاخر exalted in style. The tradition of patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era. The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, khorasani style, whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan, is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi, Farrukhi Sistani, Unsuri, panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verse abounding with evocative descriptions
Persian literature
–
Persian arts
Persian literature
–
Kelileh va Demnehh Persian manuscript copy dated 1429, depicts the Jackal trying to lead the Lion astray.
Topkapi Palace Museum in
Istanbul, Turkey.
Persian literature
–
A scene from the Shanama describing the valour of Rustam
Persian literature
–
Bahram Gur and Courtiers Entertained by
Barbad the Musician, Page from a manuscript of the
Shahnama of
Ferdowsi.
Brooklyn Museum.
42.
Farrukh Yassar
–
Farrukh Yassar was the last independent Shirvanshah of Shirvan. In 1500, the first Safavid ruler, Ismail I, decisively defeated and killed Farrukh Yassar during his conquest of the area and he averted strategy of his ancestors - alliance with Timurids, instead he moved towards Uzun Hasan. He married his daughter to Uzun Hasans son Sultan Yagub, on 31 January 1468 the combined forces of Shirvanshahs and Ak Koyunlu defeated Timurid khan Abu Said Mirza. Future sultans of Ak Koyunlu - Baysonqor and Murad were his grandsons and he sent his Khalaf ul umarah and akabir Ziyaaddin Yusif and his personal merchant Khawja Yar Ahmad with 2 bullions of gold to Istanbul, in order to establish relations with Mehmet the Conqueror. During Uzun Hasans reign, relations with Safavids were quite peaceful, but, in 1488 Shaykh Haydar of Safaviyya extremist Shia sect moved through Shirvan towards Derbent, supposedly to wage jihad against Circassians, but instead laid siege to Shamakhy. He captured the capital and burned it, Farrukh Yassar was not able to mount defense and asked his son-in-law Sultan Yagub of Ak Koyunlu to come to his rescue on 9 June 1488. Upon hearing his arrival, Sheikh retreated to Derbent, combined forces of Ak Koyunlu under Suleiman bey and Shirvanshah forces which were led by shah himself, attacked to Qizilbash on 9 July 1488. Their combined forces were able to defeat the Safavid Qizilbash forces and were Shaykh Haydar was wounded by an arrow and he was captured by gatekeeper Ali aga who severed his head and sent to Sultan Yagub. Upon death of his son-in-law in 1490, he supported his grandson Baysonqor for keeping the throne, in 1492, he fled to Shirvan upon dethronement. However he was killed in a battle between Barda and Ganja, brother of Baysonqor, Murad also fled to Shirvan sometime later and stayed there until 1497. In 1497 Shaki ruler Shah Hussain rebelled with Shahs youngest son future king Ibrahim II Sheykhshah, Shah crushed them with his other sons and Abulfath beg - wali of Gabala. Young Ismail was freed by his cousin, new Ak Koyunlu sultan Rustam in 1492 and he decided to take revenge of his father, but rulers of Ardabil Ali beg Jayirli and Talysh ruler Muhammed who were vassals of Shirvanshahs did not give any help when demanded. Ismail then moved on to Karabakh and then to Erzincan, in 1499, he began to march on Shirvan. Two forces met on Battle of Jabani, near Shamakhy, shirvanese forces were devastated and shah were captured and beheaded. Ismail captured Shamakhy, and moved on to Baku and he was remembered as merciful and glorious ruler by sources. Construction of Tuba Shahi Mosque and Juma Mosque in Derbent were patronized by himself, Farrukh Yassar was married to daughter of Usmi of Kaitag Adil bey Gazi Beg - Shirvanshah in 1501. Shirvanshah Bahram Beg - Shirvanshah in 1502, Ibrahim II Sheykhshah - Shirvanshah after his brothers. Princess Govhershakh – Married to Uzun Hasans son Sultan Yaqub, fisher, William Bayne, Avery, P. Hambly, G. R. G, Melville, C
Farrukh Yassar
–
Silver coin minted during reign of Farrukh Yassar
Farrukh Yassar
–
The battle between the young
Ismail I and
Shah Farrukh Yassar of
Shirvan.
Farrukh Yassar
–
Another helmet that bears name of Farrukh Yassar. ("New York Metropolitan Museum")
43.
Shirvan
–
Shirvan, also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both Islamic and modern times. Vladimir Minorsky believes that such as Sharvān, Lāyzān and Baylaqān are Iranian names from the Iranian languages of the coast of the Caspian Sea. There are several explanations about this name, Shirvan or Sharvan are changed forms of Persian word Shahrban or شهربان which means the governor, the word Shahrban has been used since Achaemenian Dynasty as Xshathrapawn to refer to different states of the kingdom. Shervan in Persian means cypress tree and it is also used as a male name. It is connected popularly to Anushirvan, the Sasanian King, another meaning of Shirwan according to the Dehkhoda Dictionary is protector of lion. This meaning is also shared in Kurdish, where the name is used for males. Also there is a tribe in the north of Erbil Province in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region by the name of Sherwani that is part of Barzani tribe union. Sherwan town is the Center of Sherwani tribe, however, Said Nafisi points out that according to Khaqanis poems, where Khaqani contrasts his home town with kheyrvān, the original and correct pronunciation of the name was Sharvān. So all etymologies relating this name to sher/shir or Anushiravan are most probably folk etymology, the form Shervān or Shirvān are from later centuries. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, Shirwan proper comprised the easternmost spurs of the Caucasus range, but its rulers strove continuously to control also the western shores of the Caspian Sea from Ḳuba in the district of Maskat in the north, to Baku in the south. To the north of all these lands lay Bab al-Abwab or Derbend, and to the west, beyond the modern Goychay, Shirvanshah also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title in medieval Islamic times of a Persianized dynasty of Arabic origin. They ruled the area independently or as a vassal of larger empires from 800 A. D. up to 1607 A. D. when Safavid rule became firmly established. When the Shirvanshah Shah dynasty was ended by the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I, Shirwan formed a province of the Safavids and was governed by a Khan. Shirvan was taken by the Ottomans in 1578, however, Safavid rule was restored by 1607, in 1722, during the Russo-Persian War, the Khan of Quba, Husayn Ali, submitted to Peter the Great and was accepted as his dignitary. The Treaty of Saint Petersburg forced the Iranian king to recognise the Russian annexation, nevertheless, Mustafa continued to have secret dealings with Persia. It was not until 1820 that his territory was occupied by Russian troops, the term Shirvani/Shirvanli is still in use in Azerbaijan to designate the people of Shirvan region, as it was historically. Since ancient time, the population of Shirvan were Caucasian speaking groups. Later on Iranization of this population and subsequent Turkification since the Seljuq era occurred
Shirvan
–
The battle between the young Ismail and Shah
Farrukh Yassar of Shirvan.
Shirvan
–
Shirvan from map of the Caucasus by Johann Christoph Matthias Reinecke. 1804
Shirvan
–
Traditional pile carpet of Shirvan
Shirvan
–
Shirvan Tatar (i.e. Azeri). Engraving from book of Jean Baptiste Benoît Eyriès. Voyage pittoresque en Asie et en Afrique: résumé général des voyages anciens et modernes... T. I, 1839
44.
Haydar Safavi
–
Shaykh Haydar or Sheikh Haydar was the successor of his father as leader of the Safaviyya from 1460-1488. Haydar maintained the policies and political ambitions initiated by his father, Haydar soon came into conflict with the Shirvanshahs, as well as the Ak Koyunlu, who were allied to the former. In a pitched battled that ensued, Shaykh Haydar and his men were defeated and killed and he was succeeded by his son Soltan-Ali as leader of the Safaviyya. Soltan-Ali was on his part succeeded by Haydars younger son, who would become the founder of the Safavid dynasty, Haydar was born in June–July 1459 to Shaykh Junayd by his wife Khadija Begum bt. Qara Othman, a sister of Uzun Hasan of the Ak Koyunlu and his parents had married on the eve Shaykh Junayd invaded Trabzon. Less than a later, his father was killed in the Battle of Tabasaran. Apart from Haydar, the surviving sons of Junayd were Khojeh Mohammad Safavi. The only sister of Haydar that survived, Shah-Pasha Khatun, was married off to Mohammad Beg Talish, the Safaviyya return to Ardabil prompted an influx of Haydar’s followers from northern Syria and eastern Anatolia to Ardabil to be beside him. Functioning as the leader of the Safaviyya tariqa, Haydar would engage into various alliances with the leaders of the Talish, Shirvan. Subsequently, he initiated three military campaigns against various rural areas and villages in the Northern Caucasus, according to Prof. Roger Savory, meant to drill his men, these raids targeted the infidels of Circassia and Dagestan. These were however probably the Christian Alans who roamed to the north of the Darial Pass as well as the Kabardian subgroup of Circassians. In order to reach the area, Haydar had to cross areas ruled by the Shirvanshah, therefore, Haydar ordered for the production of boats in Khalkhal and Astara, in order to avoid having to go by land. By using boats, Haydar and his men would be able to circumvent the Shirvanshahs, in particular, the towns of Agrica and Mian-Qeslaq seem to have been the main target at the time. In around 1473-3, Haydar and his men performed their first seaborne attack on Dagestan, Haydars first mainland campaign in Dagestan happened five years later, in 1478. However, the third and final of his campaigns in Dagestan, the Shirvanshah had allowed Haydars first two campaigns, but this time, on his way to the North Caucasus, he sacked the city of Shamakhi. The Ak Koyunlu then ordered for the beheading of Haydar, following his death, his tomb in Ardabil became a place of pilgrimage. Shaykh Haydar was married on two occasions and his first wife, whom he married in 1471-1472, named Halima was a daughter of Uzun Hasan by his wife Despina Khatun, daughter of John IV of Trebizond. In 1473, he married a daughter of Shaykh Farid al-din Jafar b, Khojeh Ali, the paternal uncle of his father
Haydar Safavi
–
Shaykh Haydar Tomb in
Meshginshahr
45.
Sheikh
–
Sheikh —also transliterated Sheik, Shaik, Shayk, Shaykh, Shaikh, Cheikh, Shekh and Shaikh— is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates the ruler of a tribe, who inherited the title from his father, Sheikh is given to a royal male at birth, whereas the related title Sheikha is given to a royal female at birth. The word in Arabic stems from a triliteral root connected with age and aging, ش-ي-خ, the term literally means a man of vast power, and nobility, and it is used strictly for the royal families of the Middle East. While the title can be used religiously by Muslims to designate a learned person and it is notably used by Druze for their religious men, but also by Arab Christians for elder men of stature. Its usage and meaning is similar to the Latin senex meaning old, accordingly, the Arabic term for most legislative bodies termed Senate is majlis al-shuyūkh, literally meaning Council of Senators. One prominent example is Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani who initiated the Qadiriyya order which relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Islam, in the Arabian Peninsula, the title is used for royalty, such as kings, princes, and princesses. For example, it was the used in the West to refer to the leaders of Kuwaits ruling Al-Sabah dynasty. The same applies to all the Gulf countries, the term is used by almost every male and female member of all the Gulf royal houses. The term sheikh is known to have bestowed upon the families who battled with the Emir Fakhr al-Din in the historical Battle of Anjar. Note that the term is not used for the seven traditional Beiruti families, the other families that have this term did not rule any territory in previous ages. Instead, they were high-ranking employees or secretaries in the Ottoman Empire, or political allies of the rulers at that time, in the Maghreb, during the Almohad dynasty, the caliph was also counseled by a body of shaykhs. They represented all the different tribes under their rules, including Arabs, Andalusians, in the Muslim parts of the Horn of Africa, Sheikh is often used as a noble title. In Somali society, it is reserved as an honorific for senior Muslim leaders and clerics, in West Africa, sheikh is a common title for Muslim scholars and leaders. Among Islamic communities in Senegal, Niger and Gambia, among other areas, after the advent of Islam in South Asia, some high caste tribes also converted to Islam and adopted the title. The Muslims of the Middle East and Central Asia have historically traveled to South Asia as Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire, in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, Sheikhs are respected by local Muslims. Religious preachers or teachers in Indonesia are usually referred to as Ustad or Kyiayi Historically, notable shaykha include the 10th-century Shaykhah Fakhr-un-Nisa Shuhdah and 18th-century scholar Al-Shaykha Fatima al-Fudayliyya. A daughter or wife or mother of a sheikh is also called a shaykhah, currently, the term shaykhah is commonly used for women of ruling families, in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf with the exception of Oman. Kashmiri Shaikh Khawaja Shaikh Punjabi Shaikh Qallu Qanungoh Shaikh Quraishi Shaikhs in South Asia Sindhi Shaikh Allamah The dictionary definition of sheik at Wiktionary
Sheikh
–
Kurdish Sheikhs, 1895.
Sheikh
–
Sheikh Juma Al Maktoum (left) and Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum (right) of the
Maktoum family.
Sheikh
–
Senegalese Sheikh Tidiane Gaye giving an Islamic lecture in
Louga.
Sheikh
–
Pakistani Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani, a prominent
Sunni scholar.
46.
Safaviyya
–
The Safaviyya was a Sunni tariqa founded by the Kurdish mystic Safi-ad-din Ardabili. It held a prominent place in the society and politics of northwestern Iran in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Safī al-Din grew up in Ardabil, but left it for lack of adequate teachers, traveling to Shiraz and then Gilan. In Gilan, he became the disciple of Zahed Gilani, leader of the Zahidī Sufi order and he eventually became Zahids chief disciple and married his daughter. Upon Zahed Gilanis death, the Zahidiyyah came under Safī ad-Dins leadership and was renamed the Safawiyyah, Safī al-Dins importance is attested in two letters by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. In one, Rashid al-Din pledges an annual offering of foodstuffs, in the other, Rashid al-Din writes to his son, the governor of Ardabil, advising him to show proper consideration to the sheikh. After Safī al-Dins death, leadership of the passed to his son, Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā. By the mid-fifteenth century, the Safawiyyah changed in character and became militant under Shaykh Junayd and Shaykh Haydar, the later Safawiyyah is considered ghulat, meaning it had messianic beliefs about its leadership and antinomian practices outside of the orthodox norm of Twelver Islam. Safavid dynasty family tree Safvat as-safa Safavid dynasty Mushashaiyyah, a rival Shia sect
Safaviyya
47.
Tariqa
–
A tariqa is a school or order of Sufism, or especially for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking Haqiqa, which translates as ultimate truth. A tariqa has a murshid who plays the role of leader or spiritual director, the members or followers of a tariqa are known as muridin, meaning desirous, viz. The path metaphor of tariqa is that of a path, taken by the mystic. A fourth station following the succession of shariah, tariqa and haqiqa is called marifa and this is the unseen center of haqiqa, and the ultimate aim of the mystic, corresponding to the unio mystica in Western mysticism. Tasawwuf, Arabic word that refers to mysticism and Islamic esotericism, is known in the West as Sufism, the most popular tariqa in the West is the Mevlevi Order, named after Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. In the same time the Bektashi Order was also founded, named after the Alevi Muslim saint Haji Bektash Veli, others can be offshoots of a tariqa. For example, the Qalandariyya has roots in Malamatiyya and Wafai of orders are offshoots of the Suhrawardi order, membership of a particular Sufi order is not exclusive and cannot be likened to the ideological commitment to a political party. Unlike the Christian monastic orders which are demarcated by firm lines of authority and sacrament, the non-exclusiveness of Sufi orders has consequences for the social extension of Sufism. They cannot be regarded as indulging in a zero sum competition which a political analysis might have suggested. Rather their joint effect is to impart to Sufism a cumulant body of tradition, rather than individual, in most cases the sheikh nominates his khalifa or successor during his lifetime, who will take over the order. In rare cases, if the sheikh dies without naming a khalifa, in some orders it is recommended to take a Khalif from the same order as the murshid. In some groups it is customary for the khalifa to be the son of the sheikh, although in other groups the khalīfa, in yet other orders a successor may be identified through the spiritual dreams of its members. Tariqas have silsilas chain, lineage of sheikhs, almost all orders except the Naqshbandi order claim a silsila that leads back to Muhammad through Ali. Many other silsilas contain the names of Shia Imams, every Murid, on entering the tariqa, gets his awrad, or daily recitations, authorized by his murshid. Usually these recitations are extensive and time-consuming, one must also be in a state of ritual purity. The recitations change as a student moves from a mere initiate to other Sufi degrees, the Initiation ceremony is routine and consists of reading chapter 1 of the Quran followed by a single phrase prayer. Criteria have to be met to be promoted in rank, the way is to repeat a single phrase prayer 82,000 times or more as in the case of Burhaniyya. Murids who experience unusual interaction during meditation, hear voices like would you like to see a prophet and this Murid is promoted faster than others
Tariqa
Tariqa
–
"Tariqat" in the Four Spiritual Stations: The Four Stations,
sharia, tariqa,
haqiqa. The fourth station,
marifa, which is considered "unseen", is actually the center of the haqiqa region. It's the essence of all four stations.
48.
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
–
Most of what we know about him comes from the Safvat as-safa, a hagiography written by one of his followers. According to Minorsky, Sheykh Safi al-Dins ancestor Firuz-shah was a man, lived in Gilan and then Kurdish kings gave him Ardabil. Minorsky refers to Sheykh Safi al-Dins claims tracing back his origins to Ali ibn Abu Talib, Sheikh Safi al-Din inherited Sheikh Zahed Gilanis Sufi order, the Zahediyeh, which he later transformed into his own, the Safaviyya. Sheikh Zahed Gilani also gave his daughter Bibi Fatemeh in wedlock to his favorite disciple, Sheikh Safi al-Din, in turn, gave a daughter from a previous marriage in wedlock to Shaikh Zahed Gilanis second-born son. Over the following 170 years, the Safaviyya Order gained political and military power, Sheikh Safi al-Din has composed poems in the Iranian dialect of old Tati. He was a descendant of Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah, a local Iranian dignitary. Only a very few verses of Sheikh Safi al-Dins poetry, called Dobaytis, have survived, written in old Tati and Persian, they have linguistic importance today. Ideology of Safavids Safavid dynasty family tree Sheikh Safi al-Din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble Monika Gronke, Derwische im Vorhof der Macht, sozial- und wirtschaftsgeschichte Nordwestirans im 13. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden 1993 Mazzaoui, Michel, The Origins of the Safavids, Shiism, Sufism, http, //www. irantourismcenter. com/. page_id=7130 Square Kufic inscription on Sheikh Safi al-Dins tomb Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabilis Mausoleum Virtual Tour
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
–
Sheikh Safi al-Din
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
–
An etched figure of a giant hand, in Safi-ad-din Ardabili Mausoleum, showing
Twelver Shi'a sign of
Panj-tan-e Āl-e Abā
Safi-ad-din Ardabili
49.
Alexander I of Georgia
–
Alexander I the Great, of the Bagrationi house, was king of Georgia from 1412 to 1442. Alexander was the last ruler of a united Georgia which was free from foreign domination. In 1442, he abdicated the throne and retired to a monastery, Alexander was the eldest son of Constantine I of Georgia and his wife Natia, daughter of the Georgian diplomat prince Kutsna Amirejibi. He was brought up by his grandmother Rusa, an educated and religious noblewoman, with his ascension to the throne, Alexander moved to western Georgia and mediated a peace between his vassals, the rival princes of Mingrelia and Abkhazia. Then he, in 1414, met the rebellious prince Atabeg Ivane Jaqeli of Samtskhe on battlefield, having dealt with these powerful feudal lords, he, aided by Catholicos Patriarch Shio II, began a program the restoration of major Georgian fortresses and churches. He imposed a temporary building tax on his subjects from 1425 to 1440, around 1434/5, Alexander encouraged the Armenian prince Beshken II Orbelian to attack the Kara Koyunlu clansmen in Syunik and, for his victory, granted him Lorri under terms of vassalage. In 1440, Alexander refused to pay tribute to Jahan Shah of the Kara Kouynlu, in March, Jahan Shah surged into Georgia with 20,000 troops, destroyed the city of Samshvilde and sacked the capital city Tbilisi. He massacred thousands of Christians, put heavy indemnity on Georgia and this, however, proved to be even dangerous to the kingdoms integrity and the fragile unity kept by Alexander would soon disappear under his sons. For this reason, Alexander the Great is frequently claimed to have disintegrated Georgia, as worldly problems overwhelmed his kingdom, Alexander abdicated the throne in 1442 and retired to a monastery under the monastic name of Athanasius. Their children were, George VIII, the last king of a united Georgia, zaal, Alexanders fifth son, sixth and last child. He was made a co-king by his father in 1433, History of Georgia Ivane Javakhishvili, The History of the Georgian Nation, vol
Alexander I of Georgia
–
Alexander I the Great ალექსანდრე I დიდი
.jpg)
