The spread of Islam in Asia and Africa: The
- Timur and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia:
Timur
"Born in the ancient Kesh, now Shahrisabz, garden city (50 miles south of Samarkand), in today's Uzbekistan, Tamerlane came from turkish-Mongol tribe of Barlas, settled in that region. The tribe that was part of the despised karaunas (the " half-breed "). He was the son of the head dell'ulus (tribe), called Taraghay Nuyan Khan, the offspring of Kadjuli Khan, the lineage of Khaidu Khan, Genghis Khan.Il common ancestor of Mongolian clan, of which his father was the head, was composed of Mongolian and Muslim nations strongly Turkification and boasted a descent from the nomad leader Karadja Barlas Khan (grandson of the founder of the Khan Erumdji Barlas clan Kadjuli Khan's son), of which Taraghay Nuyan was great-grandson, as well as being considered the first clan to embrace the religion islamicasunnita that was then also that of Tamerlane. According to the biographer Ibn malicious ʿ Arabshāh, a boy would practice the theft of sheep, but he missed a shot, and the pastor would have crippled by an arrow. Other historians speak instead of a serious injury that occurred later in combat. Very controversial question whether it was an educated man from youth or even illiterate. Who supports the first hypothesis as evidence of its connections with the religious, writers, artists and scientists. Tamerlane exploited the rivalry between the neighboring tribes and weaknesses of the various khans and thanks to a shrewd political warrior he was able to conquer all ; Transoxiana in 1369. A year later assumed the title "large" emir, to underline the claims of supremacy over all the emirs of the region. After her marriage to the young princess Saray Malik Katun, belonging to the descendants of Genghis Khan, took the name of Timur Gurkan (Persian تيمور گوركانى , doveGurkān is the original Mongol küregen persianizzata form (in turkish küregen) or son (imperial), that is generated in Family Gengiz Khan. Glories of that name a lot, because it believed to derive legitimacy Chinghizide which was his highest ambition. He chose Samarkand as its capital, a city of world meeting between greek and indian, formerly occupied by Alexander the Great and store the most important on the Silk Road. Were formalized a series of state institutions, such as periodic kurultaj that were supposed to legitimize his government, in fact, despotic, and the area (of the Uzbekistan) became a great center of artistic and cultural growth. During the three decades later Tamerlane led military campaigns in all directions, with overwhelming and often ruthless methods. One of his most formidable opponents was Toktamiš, Khan of the Golden Horde. These young exile from his country for trying to make her the khanate was accepted by Tamerlane, who had supplied the necessary forces for the conquest of his territory area. But once conquistatolo and become lord even of Kipchak Eastern Toktamiš had come for the first time at odds with him for possession of Khorezm and Azerbaijan. The strong respect and sympathy he had for the same, however, had Toktamiš led the emir to provide more military assistance necessary to attack Russia, where the young warrior went so far as to take Moscow in 1382. Meanwhile Timur started the military conquest of Persia, where the death of the last Ilkhanid (Mongol dynasty descended from Genghis Khan's grandson Hulegu through the branch) had left a political vacuum military. The invasion took beginning from the eastern region of Khorasan, and in particular the city of Herat (now in Afghanistan and then ruled Kartidi the dynasty). The expansion continued in Iran against the so-called "republic" of local Sarbedar ("swing on the gallows"), allocated in the city of Bayhaqi. Contrary to what has often stated, the Sarbedar declared themselves his vassals, and perhaps it was on this occasion that he had the opportunity to meet ʿ Ali Khwaja, personality sciitadi great importance that would have some influence on him and he later helped the Safavids in proclaiming their own offspring from the same Tamerlane. Some even suspected that Timur had embraced the faith Shiite, but they do not have evidence. The conquest of Iran continued with the aggression to Azerbaijan, then dominated by the ruler Sultan Ahmed, the dynasty of Gialayridi. It was at this stage that the plans of Tamerlane came into conflict with those of Toktamiš. In turn, attracted by the prospect of gaining Azerbaijan, the latter attacked in 1386 Tabriz, the capital, but the event triggered the first of three campaigns of Timur against him. During this campaign Timur destroyed the kingdom of Georgia, capturing the king Bagrat V and then penetrate further into the Caucasus. In 1387 Tamerlane Central was finally able to attack Iran, perhaps the main object of his achievements in the Persian land. Here Muzaffaridi dynasty ruled that he could not counter the attack. If the capture of Isfahan in 1387 he saw the strength of its inhabitants, the massacre that followed was determined by the refusal of the local population to pay tribute, or perhaps even killing of some soldiers of the guard. Some sources point out the towers ugly heads crowded in the city as a result of the immense slaughter of the population (about 100,000 deaths), one of the bloodiest in history. The city of Shiraz was won with less violence. After having established a puppet government, Tamerlane ended the Persian campaign to return to Samarkand, where he was waiting for yet another attack Toktamiš. He was chased to Siberia, but again failed to capture him and Timur returned to Samarkand, where in 1390 he summoned a great new kuryltai. The years since that event up to 1395 are characterized by a campaign of arrangement of the domains of northern Iran (the so-called "campaign of five years"), in which Tamerlane conquered regions Gurgan and Mazandaran, until, subject laMesopotamia and destroyed Baghdad, turned westward, intruding into the conflict between the two rival federations of Ak Turkoman Black Sheep Turkomans ("Those white of the Sacrifice") and Black Sheep Turkomans deiKara ("Those of the Black Ram"). Once again, however, the threat of Toktamiš forced him to make a long campaign - the last - in the steppes of Central Asia and southern Russia. Although he never reached Moscow, as is often said, the campaign allowed him to get rid of his rival and destroying its capital Astrakhan and Saray. In 1398 Tamerlane, informed that a civil war in India (started in 1394), attacked the Muslim ladies in Delhi, crossing the Indus October 2 on a pontoon bridge and indulging in terrible massacres during the advance, when he found a fierce resistance by the Rajput Bhatnir. During the fight the same Timur was shot by one of the many arrows in his body torn years. A few days later, however, before the Emir came to Delhi, where little resistance could oppose it-turkish troops tughluqMahmud Shah II, despite the problems created by the use of elephants of the latter.
On 17 December 1398 the city was captured and cruelly destroyed and looted, although later Tamerlane groped felt the need to defend themselves, claiming to have banned the looting, which it would have happened during his sleep caused by excess of libations. Almost all the people who survived the massacre were enslaved and taken away from pushing ahead with an army at one time very fast in his movements, but the occasion so full of loot from having to walk very slowly. Timur left Delhi
more or less in January of 1399, reaching only 15 April Termez sull'Amu Darya (now the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, crossed the bridge called friendship with the Soviet-seventies). According to the Castilian ambassador Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (arrived in Samarkand on 8 September 1404), ninety captured elephants were used only for the transportation of certain stones with which Tamerlane wanted to erect a mosque in Samarkand, probably the huge building ( even cloaked in legend), which was named after his beautiful wife Bibi Chinghizide Khanoum. At the beginning of the fifteenth century had an empire stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Caucasus, the Aral Sea and the area between the Syr-Darya and the Indus. Returning from India, Timur was able to attack the 'Ottoman Empire, then ruled by the fourth Sultan Yıldırım Bayezid I, "the Thunderbolt Bayezid, who, victorious against the Serbs in Kosovo Polje and a coalition of French-Hungarian Nicopolis (1396), is was expanding rapidly to the east, annexing territories inhabited by Turkmen, who had invoked the help of the Emir. Road Tamerlane attacked by the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, invaded Syria, sacked Aleppo and Damascus taking - many of them inhabitants were massacred with the exception of the artisans, deported en masse to contribute to the work of beautification of Samarkand - and Baghdad (June 1401, new massacre). Loscontro with the Ottoman sultan was the battle of Ancyra (Ankara) July 20, 1402. Bayezid I, though heroically defended by the quota Serbian ally assigned to its person and his heirs, was taken prisoner and if they had more news.
Westerners were very worried by the advance in Ottoman Anatolia, which was eroding the Byzantine Empire and could threaten all the states bordering the Mediterranean. They began to think that their interests would coincide with those of Tamerlane, jointly opposing the Turkish advance. The Europeans saw in him a lot of similarities with the Mongols for a century and a half before, although he had become Muslim, and a new pax Mongol would help a lot of the stories of Western merchants. The coimperatore John VII Palaeologus, he agreed with the then mayor of Genoa Galata to send ambassadors to the Khan. The Byzantines were in fact already have to pay a tribute to the turkish sultan, and they proposed to Tamerlane to pay to him in exchange for an alliance to defeat the Turks themselves. Parallel embassy was also conducted by the King of France by some Dominicans. Tamerlane, who was actually preparing to attack the Turks, accepted the proposals, also hoping that by Venice and Genoa, he could get that fleet absent, and in 1402 the Mongols defeated the Ottomans at Ankara, as mentioned above. Timur became master of Anatolia, but soon proved a double edged sword for Westerners, because it was not prepared to accept any submission. Claiming descent from Genghis Khan and demanding the restoration of the Mongol Empire attacked aSmirne the Hospitallers of Rhodes and Chios Focea hunting and subduing. The Europeans were very undecided about what to do and many are hoping, as Henry III of Castile, who sent more ambassadors to Tamerlane. Tamerlane's victory could only fifty years of delay the taking of Constantinople by the Ottomans (1453). Tamerlane however, had greater interest in China and Europe. Back in Samarkand, planned the conquest of China, where the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty founded by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, had been expelled in 1368 from the Ming Dynasty. The first emperor of this dynasty, Hongwu demanded and received tribute from the heirs of the lords of Asia Centraleche considered Chinghizide Kublai defeated. And to a certain point and within certain limits, Tamerlane had obeyed the request. But his aim was rebuilt in its entirety the Mongol empire, including its part consists of the China of Kublai, who decided to recapture. The company began in December 1404, but failed at the time. The climate of Central Asia was terrible, but that period had been chosen with awareness in the belief that it would make it easier, allowing him to cross the Syr Darya and the solid ice to reach China in the spring. Timur, however, was seized with fever, very strong, perhaps caused dapolmonite, perhaps from an excess of libations, and despite its strong fiber yielded. The death occurred Jan. 19, 1405 at Otrar, just beyond the Syr Darya in Kazakhstan territory today. The news of the death, partly because of the mountain passes blocked by snow, arrived too late, the designated heir, his grandson Pir Muhammad, eldest son of Giahangir, who was in Kandahar, and took advantage of this distance, another nephew, Khalil, son of third son, Miran. These however proved to be a fool, as his father, indulging in debauchery and dissipation. Shah Rukh, the wise and pious youngest son of Tamerlane, was recalled from Herat, where he had picked up at a religious brotherhood, and drove his nephew, agreeing to be recognized as sovereign (1407). However, almost immediately returned to Herat, and entrusted the government to his son Ulug Beg, another great character, for to become not only an enlightened ruler, one of the greatest astronomers of all time. What remains of his extraordinary observatory is in fact still be visited in Samarkand. After practicing the role of regent for 40 years, for another two years (1447 - 1449) Ulugh Beg was then lawful sovereign, before he was assassinated son. Ulugh Beg was a sign of reverence for his grandfather, to come from Mongolia to the huge block of green jade, which became the tomb of Tamerlane, still visible nelmausoleo Gur-e Amir in Samarkand. L 'vast empire of Tamerlane was fragmented between most powerful hostile to each other. "
The Timurid Empire
Timurid Empire was created by Tamerlane, who conquered much of Central Asia and the Middle East members of the Chagatai Khanate, starting dal1370. In 1400 he began to invade Anatolia and in 1402 during the Battle of heavily Ancyrasconfisse the Ottomans, capturing their sultan Bayezid I. At his death, in 1405, the empire stretched from the Caucasus to India.
Tamerlane appointed as his successor his grandson Pir Muhammad, but survived briefly to his grandfather and died in 1406, then the throne was occupied briefly by Miran Shah. In 1407 the youngest son of Timur, Shah Rukh, seized power and established his capital in Herat during the reign until 1447. Ulugh Beg, eldest son of Shah Rukh, he reigned for two years. Abu Sa'id, the grandson of Miran Shah, ruled over Transoxiana, Afghanistan and Persia North.
The last important Timurid ruler Husayn was Bayqarah, who died in 1506, after which the domains of the dynasty in Central Asia were conquered by the Uzbeks.
Safavid Empire
Shaykh Ishaq Safi al-Din (1252 -1334) was the leader of a brotherhood misticasunnita (tariqa) \u200b\u200bthat his name is Safavid and had called adArdabil base in today's Persian Azerbaijan. To gain the sympathy of many Shiites in the city took advantage of his descendants to the legend of his descent imam ʿ \u200b\u200bAlī and his wife Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Maometto.Shaykh Junayd, head of the Brotherhood from 1447 to 1456, was forced to leave Ardabil, a fief of the Safavids, and wandering between Syria and Anatolia, where military organizations and the community he called "god" by his followers. He organized an expedition against infidels in the Caucasus, but was defeated and killed. His son Sheikh Haydar, whose followers had adopted a red turban to twelve cloves (remember the twelve holy Shi'ite imam), which earned them the name of Kizil Bas ("red heads", or "red berets"), wanting avenge his father repeated the company back victorious and loaded with loot. He was later killed in battle (1488), and so his son (1494).
early sixteenth century, Iran was not a unitary state, but was divided into a number of emirates and Khan, the most important Timurid states which were to the east and west Qoyunlū Aq. In 1499 the newly fifteen Isma ʿ il, who was said descendant of Safi al-Din, succeeded in obtaining the support of the Turkish nomadic tribes of Azerbaijan and defeat the king of Tabriz and Hamadan qoyunlū Aq ; nel1501, beginning the dynasty. To further legitimize itself as Shah, Shah Isma'il I claimed his descent from the Sasanian dynasty. In the following years
the "red text" conquered Semnan, Shiraz, and Yazd, and by 1509 all the dynasties western Iran submitted themselves to the Shah Isma ʿ I. In 1510, the Isma ʿ faced the Uzbeks at Merv, who had succeeded to the Timurid Central Asia, and defeated them heavily, so that even Safavid Khorasan fell. His attempts to further conquests in Central Asia, however, met strong resistance of the Uzbeks who originated from religious reasons, as the Sunni Uzbeks as well as the enemies of Western Safavids, gliOttomani, although the three dynasties were all of Turkish descent.
Just good relations with the Safavid Shiite tribes of Asia Minor alarmed the Ottoman Sultan Selim I Yavuz who, fearing dangerous internal revolts, he massacred forty thousand Shiites well. Soon after, the army of the Sultan of Persia invaded and inflicted a crushing defeat to the Safavids in Čaldiran August 23, 1514, which enabled Selim to occupy Tabriz. capital of the Shah. For reasons of domestic politics, however, the sultan was soon back home leaving the Safavids reoccupy southern Azerbaijan and Iraq, and attaches the eastern Georgia. The Isma ʿ the
imposed by decree, on pain of death, the conversion of the Persian Shiite population. This decree led to a superficial spreading Shiism, however, who became deeply rooted in the centuries that followed. For the first time in Islamic history, Shiism is organized in the State by breaking the political unity of the world Muslim. Iran became a theocracy with the Shah as political and religious leader, and the aristocracy which qızılbaş and extension of central power. The Isma ʿ the Dead (1524), followed by a period of confusion with his son Shah Tahmasp I (1524-1576) on the throne. The "red head", indicating the de facto successor of the Shah, began to acquire more power and came to rebel against the sovereign, who was forced to dispose of some tribes. The war on two fronts meanwhile continued, and the Ottomans and the Uzbeks ripped continuously territories to the Shah, who lost again by the capital Tabriz deiTurchi and was forced to move in Qazvin. In return for their help gained Kandahar Mughal Emperor Humayun when he was dethroned.
The situation deteriorated still under the Shah Isma ʿ II, who tried unsuccessfully to return to Sunni Islam, while the rivalry between the "red heads" results in civil war.
Safavid Persia was an ally of Spain during the reign of Charles V as France (the enemy of Spain) supported the Ottomans, Safavids mortal enemies. Buckled in 1561 trade with the 'England.
After the forced abdication of Shah Muhammad Khudabanda, his son ʿ Abbas I, survived the plots of qızılbaş, Shah was recognized by some leaders of the "red caps or red heads" in 1581 to ten years , and in 1587 became blinded and imprisoned his two brothers and settled on the throne. The reign of Shah ʿ Abbas I, known as Great (1587-1629), was considered the most glorious of all the modern Persia. Alternating the use of force and diplomacy, he managed to unite the country torn by internal strife, and to safeguard against external enemies Ottomans and Uzbeks.
Aware of the weakness of the "Pretoria" in the "red heads," Shah ʿ Abbas I was an independent body which would make their abuse, Ghulam. Recruited, in imitation of the Ottoman Janissary among young Christian Armenians and Georgians converted to Islam, the ghulāmerano riders and sharpshooters armed with rifles instead that spear. They were joined by a corps of soldiers recruited from the Iranian farmers and a personal guard of Turkey, the shah-seven ("those who worship the Shah"), which was especially true considering it a divine incarnation. All these troops were receiving their pay directly from the treasury of the Shah and had no ties of tribal loyalty. The army, with the help of the British general Robert Sherley, was thoroughly reformed according to the European systems, through the widespread use allapolvere gun and artillery pieces of good quality.
With the new forces available, Shah ʿ Abbas I drove back from Khorasan and the Uzbeks made stronger authority over Herat and Kandahar. It then turned west and was able to regain Iraq and Mesopotamia at the expense of the Turks, who gave up two treaties of 1612 and 1618. Then drove the Portuguese from Bahrain (1602) and Hormuz (1622), with support from the British navy.
The discovery of sea routes around Africa, Persia and Europe allowed to get in touch without the mediation of Turkey, traditional common enemy. Trade, especially that of silk, so he moved to the Caspian Sea, contributing greatly to the formation of a strong Persian state, thanks to agreements with the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company .
The splendor of the court of the "Great Sophi" as it was called in Europe, the Safavid ruler, became proverbial. Flocked to the new Safavid capital Isfahan merchants, diplomats and missionaries. Isfahan was adorned with magnificent buildings constructed according to an advanced plan, which remain substantial evidence. The road network in the kingdom was greatly developed and improved.
The character of Shah ʿ Abbas I, however, was not inclined to mercy. He had two blind brothers for green light to the throne and his fear of plots against him did not spare even the eldest son, Safi, who he killed in cold blood. Frightened, then, by astrologers who predicted the assassination of the king of Persia in the year 1000 Hijrah (1591-1592) abdicated temporarily put on the throne, Yusuf said that murder, and taken the crown.
With the death of Shah Abbas I in 1628 ended ʿ the glory days of the dynasty.
in the West continue the war with the Turks: the Safavids and the Ottomans fought long for the possession of the fertile plains of Iraq, until it was signed a treaty to establish a border between Turkey and Iran in 1639, border that still is what divides the two countries. The long and bitter conflict, however, dug a deep furrow between the Sunni and Shiite communities of Iraq, and also still exists. To the east of the Uzbeks had to face the new threat of Kalmyks and lightened the pressure on Iran, while movement began among the Afghan tribes. Inside, the power of the "red turbans" had been cleared and also their number was significantly decreased, while the state became more and more united.
The symptoms of decay, already during the reign of Shah ʿ Abbas II, became obvious with the last effective Safavid Shah Sultan Husayn. Raised in the harem, he spent all his time with courtiers, theologians and astrologers, neglecting the affairs of state, while the eastern Afghan border and captured Herat Kandahar. In 1720 the Afghan Mahmud marched suKermān and conquered it, then putting the siege of Isfahan in 1722. On 23 October 1722, after seven months of siege, surrendered Isfahan and Sultan Hussein was overthrown. His successors, though they retained the title of Shah, who were not puppets, while the power was in the hands of Afsharidi and Zand.
A feature of the reign of Shah ʿ Abbas I was a tendency to promote the productive forces at the expense of the Persian conquered provinces. The conquered peoples were seen as requiring exorbitant tribute, while the tax burden on the Persian population was reduced.
To move the market towards Isfahan, Shah Abbas I wanted ʿ relocate 13,000 families in the Armenian city of Julfa, an important center of the silk trade, and although they reach their destination only 3,000 silk exports became the main voice of the shutters. Other mass transfer were determined to repopulate the most depressed areas of Iran. Shah ʿ Abbas I also welcome the craft, understanding the importance of trade. In addition to pottery and textiles in this period acquired great importance in the manufacture of carpets, which continues today to be a leading voice among Iranian exports.
were also greatly encouraged the arts of miniature painting, calligraphy and painting wall, the latter influenced by contemporary European painting. In the palaces were painted battle scenes, landscapes, pastoral scenes and erotic. The main figure of the Safavid miniature was Reza Abbasi, after whose death began a period of decline of Persian painting.
The Safavid era is poor with regard to the literature. The Safavids encouraged the poets to write especially laments for the martyrs and religious poems. A flourishing was the popular religious poem.
Safavid architecture has left considerable evidence in the capital of Isfahan: Mosque of the Shah, Masjid-i Shah, which was completed in 1630, the small but elegant mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah, and the royal palace six-story Ali Qapu.
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