Safavid dynasty

The Safavid dynasty (/sɑːˈfɑːwiːd/ Persian: سلسلهٔ صفويان‎‎; Azerbaijani: Səfəvilər sülaləsi, صفويلر سولاله‌سى) was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Persia (modern Iran) after the fall of the Sasanian Empire - following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D., and "is often considered the beginning of modern Persian history". The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so-called gunpowder empires, and they ruled one of the greatest Persian empires after the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history.

The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. It was of mixed ancestry (Kurdish and Azerbaijani, which included intermarriages with Georgian,Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries). From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Iranian state.