Shamkhal Sultan, was an important Kumyk [1] [2] noble of the second half of the 16th century in the Safavid Empire.
Shamkhal Sultan, alongside his sister Sultan-Agha Khanum, were from a prominent Dagestan origin Kumyk Shamkhal family [3] from within the Safavid Empire. Sultan-Agha Khanum was married to king Tahmasp I, having one daughter known as Pari Khan Khanum, and a son known as Suleiman Mirza.
Shamkhal Sultan appears prominently on the political scene during the same time as his niece, Pari Khan Khanum, who was born by his sister Sultan-Agha Khanum and king Tahmasp I. He participated actively in Pari Khan Khanum's political designs and acted for a time as her spokesman, and during their presence, the Safavid political sphere was dominated by ethnic Circassians, amongst the other factions that joined Shamkhal Sultan and his cousin. He was executed shortly afterward his niece's own assassination in 1578. [4]
Abbas I, commonly known as Abbas the Great, was the fifth shah of Safavid Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty.
Tahmasp I was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 until his death in 1576. He was the eldest son of Shah Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum.
Ismail I was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The rule of Ismail I is one of the most vital in the history of Iran. Before his accession in 1501, Iran, since its conquest by the Arabs eight-and-a-half centuries earlier, had not existed as a unified country under native Iranian rule. Although many Iranian dynasties rose to power amidst this whole period, it was only under the Buyids that a vast part of Iran properly returned to Iranian rule (945–1055).
The Battle of Chaldiran took place on 23 August 1514 and ended with a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid Empire. As a result, the Ottomans annexed Eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq from Safavid Iran. It marked the first Ottoman expansion into Eastern Anatolia, and the halt of the Safavid expansion to the west. The Battle of Chaldiran was just the beginning of 41 years of destructive war, which only ended in 1555 with the Treaty of Amasya. Though Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia were eventually reconquered by the Safavids under the reign of Shah Abbas the Great, they would be permanently ceded to the Ottomans by the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab.
The Quba Khanate was one of the most significant semi-independent khanates that existed from 1747 to 1806, under Iranian suzerainty. It bordered the Caspian Sea to the east, Derbent Khanate to the north, Shaki Khanate to the west, and Baku and Shirvan Khanates to the south. In 1755 it captured Salyan from the Karabakh Khanate.
Ismail II was the third shah of Safavid Iran from 1576 to 1577. He was the second son of Tahmasp I with his principal consort, Sultanum Begum. By the orders of Tahmasp, Ismail spent twenty years imprisoned in Qahqaheh Castle; whether for his recurrent conflicts with the realm's influential vassals, or for his growing popularity between the Qizilbash tribes, resulting in Tahmasp becoming wary of his son's influence.
Mohammad Khodabanda, was the fourth Safavid shah of Iran from 1578 until his overthrow in 1587 by his son Abbas I. Khodabanda had succeeded his brother, Ismail II. Khodabanda was the son of Shah Tahmasp I by a Turcoman mother, Sultanum Begum Mawsillu, and grandson of Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty.
Allahverdi Khan was an Iranian general and statesman of Georgian origin who, initially a gholām, rose to high office in the Safavid state.
Khayr al-Nisa Begum was an Iranian Mazandarani princess from the Marashi dynasty, who was the wife of the Safavid shah (king) Mohammad Khodabanda and mother of Abbas I. During the early part of her husband's reign she was a powerful political figure in her own right and governed Iran de facto between February 1578 and July 1579. She gained power with the assassination of Pari Khan Khanum.
The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and long-standing Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.
Durmish (Dormish) Khan Shamlu was a Qizilbash officer of Turkoman origin, who occupied high offices under the Safavid king (shah) Ismail I and the latter's son Tahmasp I. Durmish Khan later died in 1525.
Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani, was a Lezgian nobleman, who served as the Grand Vizier of the Safavid shah (king) Soltan Hoseyn from 1716 to 1720.
Pari Khan Khanum was a Safavid princess, the daughter of the Safavid king (shah) Tahmasp I and his Kumyk consort, Sultan-Agha Khanum. An influential figure in the Safavid state, Pari Khan Khanum was well educated and knowledgeable in traditional Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, and was an accomplished poet.
The Circassians in Iran are an ethnic minority in Iran. Circassians in Iran differ somewhat from other Circassian diasporas, in that most in the former stem from the Safavid and Qajar era, although a number migrated as muhajirs in the late 19th century as well. The Circassians in Iran were very influential during periods in the last few centuries. The vast majority of them have assimilated to speak the Persian language, and no significant number speak their native Circassian languages anymore. Once a very large minority in Iran, nowadays due to being heavily assimilated over the course of time and the lack of censuses based on ethnicity, population estimates vary significantly. They are, however, after the Georgians, known to be the largest Caucasus-derived group in the nation.
Haydar Mirza Safavi was a Safavid prince who declared himself as the king (shah) of Iran on 15 May 1576, the day after his father Tahmasp I had died. He was, however, killed that same day by the Qizilbash tribes that favoured his brother Ismail Mirza Safavi as the successor of their father. His mother was Sultanzadeh Khanum, a Georgian lady.
Abu'l Ghazi Sultan Alqas Mirza, better known as Alqas Mirza, was a Safavid prince and the second surviving son of king (shah) Ismail I. In early 1546, with Ottoman help, he staged a revolt against his brother Tahmasp I, who was king at the time.
Sultan-Agha Khanum also in Western sources Corasi was a Safavid queen consort of Kumyk origin, as the second wife of Safavid king Tahmasp I.
Suleiman Mirza was a Safavid prince. The son of king Tahmasp I by his Kumyk wife Sultan-Agha Khanum, he functioned several years as an official, serving as the governor (hakem) of Shiraz and Mashhad. His full sister was Pari Khan Khanum, and his Kumyk uncle Shamkhal Sultan – both extremely pivotal figures in Safavid affairs during the latter half of the 16th century.
Tajlu Khanum or Tajli Begum, also known by her title of Shah-Begi Khanum, was a Turkoman princess from the Mawsillu tribe and mother of Tahmasp I.
Mirza Salman Jaberi Isfahani was a prominent Persian statesman in Safavid Iran, who served as the grand vizier of Ismail II and Mohammad Khodabanda.