Description
The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Persian, often considered the beginning of modern Persian history. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the Islamic World’s so-called gunpowder empires, alongside the Mughals and Ottomans. They established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history. It was the Safavids who made Persia the spiritual bastion of Shi’ism, and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness as a nation, acting as a bridge to the present modern-day state.