Iranian Georgians or Persian Georgians are Iranian citizens who are ethnically Georgian, and are an ethnic group living in Iran. Today's Georgia was subject to Iran in the ancient times under the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires and from the 16th century till the early 19th century, starting with the Safavids in power and later Qajars. Shah Abbas I, his predecessors, and successors, relocated by force hundreds of thousands of Christian, and Jewish Georgians as part of his programs to reduce the power of the Qizilbash, develop industrial economy, strengthen the military, and populate newly built towns in various places in Iran including the provinces of Isfahan, Mazandaran and Khuzestan. A certain number of these, among them members of the nobility, also migrated voluntarily over the centuries, as well as some that moved as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The Georgian community of Fereydunshahr have retained their distinct Georgian identity to this day, despite having been obliged to adopt certain aspects of Iranian culture such as the Persian language and Twelver Shia Islam.
A velayat was a type of administrative division within Safavid Iran, which functioned as a semi-autonomous province.
The Musha'sha' were a Shi'i Arab dynasty based in the town of Hoveyzeh in Khuzestan, ruling from 1435 to 1924. Initially starting out as a tribal confederation, they gradually transformed into a zealous Isma'ili-Shi'i dynasty. The independence of the Musha'sha' was put to an end in 1508 by the Safavid shah (king) Ismail I, who claimed to be the only legitimate Shi'i ruler. Following this, the Musha'sha' remained compliant, typically serving as valis or governors under Iranian suzerainty for the following centuries.
The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Persia (Iran) and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in the Caucasus. The main territories disputed were Aran, Georgia and Armenia, as well as much of Dagestan – generally referred to as Transcaucasia – and considered part of the Safavid Iran prior to the Russo-Persian Wars. Over the course of the five Russo-Persian Wars, the governance of these regions transferred between the two empires. Between the Second and Third Russo-Persian Wars, there was an interbellum period in which a number of treaties were drawn up between the Russian and the Persian Empires, as well as between both parties and the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman interest in these territories further complicated the wars, with both sides forming alliances with the Ottoman Empire at different points throughout the wars. Following the Treaty of Turkmenchay, which concluded the Fifth Russo-Persian War, Persia ceded much of its Transcaucasian territory to the Russian Empire.
Ardalan was a hereditary Kurdish vassaldom in western Iran from around the 14th century until 1865 or 1868 with Sanandaj as capital. The territory corresponded roughly to present-day Kurdistan Province of Iran and the rulers were loyal to the Qajar Empire. Baban was its main rival. Gorani was the literary language and lingua franca. When the vassaldom fell, literary work in Gorani ceased.
The Nakhichevan Khanate was a khanate under Iranian suzerainty, which controlled the city of Nakhichevan and its surroundings from 1747 to 1828.
The Treaty of Zuhab, also called Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin, was an accord signed between the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire on May 17, 1639. The accord ended the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623–1639 and was the last conflict in almost 150 years of intermittent wars between the two states over territorial disputes. It can roughly be seen as a confirmation of the previous Peace of Amasya from 1555.
Nikki R. Keddie is an American scholar of Eastern, Iranian, and women's history. She is Professor Emerita of History at University of California, Los Angeles.
Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh, was an Iranian statesman of Kurdish origin, who served as the grand vizier of the Safavid king (shah) Suleiman I from 1669 to 1689. Due to his efforts in reforming the declining Iranian economy, he has been called the "Safavid Amir Kabir" in modern historiography.
The province of Karabakh was a north-western province of the Safavid Iran, centered on the geographic region of Karabakh.
The Russo-Persian War of 1651–1653 was an armed conflict in the North Caucasus fought between the Safavid Empire and the Tsardom of Russia, associated with the Safavid plans to strengthen its position in the region and to exclude Russia. The main issue involved the expansion of a Russian garrison on the Koy Su River, as well as the construction of several new fortresses, in particular the one built on the Iranian side of the Terek River. The Safavid government then sent troops, and destroyed the fortress while expelling its Russian garrison. In 1653 Alexis of Russia and the Russian government, which thought about sending the Russian Zaporozhian Army, but did not want to disperse its forces, sent an embassy to Persia for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Shah Abbas II agreed, stating that the conflict was initiated without his consent.
Mohammad Beg, was a Muslim of Armenian origin, who served as the Grand Vizier of the Safavid king (shah) Abbas II from 1654 to 1661.
Mirza Mohammad Taher Vahid Qazvini, was an Iranian bureaucrat, poet, and historian, who served as the grand vizier of two Safavid monarchs, Shah Suleiman and the latter's son Soltan Hoseyn from 1691 to 1699.
Yusuf Āghā was a Safavid gholam and courtier of Circassian origin, who wielded great influence and power during the reign of king Abbas I.
The sack of Shamakhi took place on 18 August 1721, when rebellious Sunni Lezgins, within the declining Safavid Empire, attacked the capital of Shirvan province, Shamakhi. The initially successful counter-campaign was abandoned by the central government at a critical moment and with the threat then left unchecked, Shamakhi was taken by 15,000 Lezgin tribesmen, its Shia population massacred, and the city ransacked.
Jamshid Khan was a 17th-century Safavid military commander and official. Of "unclear origins", he was the son of a certain Hajji Manuchehr Khan, a gholam and sometime governor of Shirvan and Astarabad. Jamshid Khan served as the commander of the élite gholam corps (qollar-aghasi) in 1663–1667. He also served as the governor (hakem) of Semnan in 1646–1656, of Astarabad (beglarbeg) in 1656–1664, and of Qandahar (beglarbeg) sometime after 1663.
Security Printing and Minting Organization is a subsidiary of the Central Bank of Iran responsible for design, production and elimination of banknotes and coinage in Iran under the exclusive authority.
The province of Khuzestan was a southwestern province of Safavid Iran, corresponding to the present-day province of Khuzestan.
Soleyman Khan Ardalan was the Ardalan beglerbeg (governor) of Kurdistan from 1637 to 1657. He is notable for having founded the city of Sanandaj in 1636/37, which would serve as the capital of the Ardalan principality until its dissolution in the 1860s. He was the cousin of Khan Ahmad Khan Ardalan, who had previously served as the governor of Kurdistan from 1617 to 1637. Following the Iranian–Ottoman Treaty of Zohab in 1639, Soleyman Khan lost the western half of his domain to the Ottomans, which included Shahrezur, Qaradagh, Qezelja, Sarutchek, Kirkuk, Rawandez, Emayideh, Koy, Harir and the western portion of Avraman. The extent of Kurdistan was thus now restricted to that of Sanandaj, Marivan, eastern Avraman, Baneh, Saqqeh, Javanrud, and some of the Jaf confederacy.
The province of Kurdistan was a western province of Safavid Iran, whose size varied throughout its existence due to political and military developments.
