Cultural Blending: The Safavid Empire

Slide 1:

1. Throughout world history, cultures have interacted with each other
2. This usually results in the mixing of cultures in different ways.
3. Process is known as cultural blending
4. Safavid Empire, a Shi’ite Muslim dynasty that ruled in Persia between 16th and 18th century
5. Provide an example of blending cultures

Slide 2:

1. Whenever a culture interacts with another, it is exposed to ideas, technologies and ways of life different than their own.
2. Continental crossroads, trade routes, ports, and the borders of countries are places where cultural blending commonly begin.
3. Societies benefit from cultural blending by being open to new ways and being willing to adapt and change

Slide 3:

Culture blending has four basic causes

1. Migration
2. Pursuit of religion freedom or conversion
3. Trade
4. Conquest

Ottoman empire had all of those activities.

Slide 4:

1. Surrounded by the people of the Christian Byzantium, turks were motivated to win both territory for their empire and converts to their muslim religion
2. Ottoman empire’s location on major trading routes created many opportunities for contact with different cultures
3. Suleyman's interest in learning and culture prompted him to bring the best foreign artists and scholars to his court
4. They brought new ideas about art, literature and learning

Slide 5:

1. Cultural blending may also lead to changes in language, religion, styles of government and use of technology or military tactics
2. Language: Written characters of one language are used in another
3. Written Chinese characters are used in the Japanese language
4. Safavid empire, the language spoken was Persian,
5. But after the area converted to Islam, a lot of arabic words appeared in the persian language

Slide 6:

1. Buddhism spread throughout Asia
2. But the buddhist practice by Tibetans is different than Japanese Zen Buddhism
3. Tibetan buddhism: systematic way of practicing the values, principles and teaching of Buddha
4. Zen: focus on inner meditation to discover buddha within yourself

Slide 7:

1. Concept of a democratic government spread to many areas of the globe
2. Basic principles are the same, but not practiced the same way

Slide 8:

1. Racial or ethnic blending
2. Mestizo: People of mixed European and Indian ancestry who live in Mexico

Slide 9:

1. Cultural styles may be incorporated or adapted into art or architecture
2. Chinese artistic elements are found in Safavid empire tiles and carpets
3. as well as European paintings

Slide 10:

1. Conquest and cultural interaction spurred the development of the Safavid empire.
2. Originally, Safavid were members of an islamic religious brotherhood named after their founder Safi al-Din
3. Safavids aligned themselves with the shi’a branch of Islam
4. They were also squeezed geographically between the Ottomans and Uzbek tribes people and the Mughal Empire
5. To protect themselves from these enemies they concentrated on building a powerful military

Slide 11:

1. Safavid military, led by a 12 year old named Isma’il (ihs-MAH-eel) began to seize what is now Iran
2. Two years later he wins and takes the title of Shah (king)
3. Established Shi’a Islam as the state religion
4. He ruled as a religious tyrant.
5. Anyone who did not convert to Shi’ism was put to death.

Slide 12:

1. He destroyed the Sunni population of Baghdad in his confrontation with the ottomans
2. Their leader, Selim the Grim, later ordered the execution of all Shi'a in the Ottoman Empire
3. As many as 40,000 died.
4. Their final face off was in the battle of Chaldiran in 1514.

Slide 13:

1. Using Artillery the Ottomans pounded the Safavids into defeat
2. One of the outcomes of the war was the setting of a border between the two empires, which remains the border today between iran and iraq

Slide 14:

1. Isma’ils son Tahmasp adopted the use of artillery with the military
2. Expanded Safavid empire and laid the groundwork for golden age of the safavids

Slide 15:

1. Shah Abbas, aka Abbas the Great took the throne in 1587
2. Reformed aspects of the military and civilian life
3. Limited the power of the military
4. Created two new armies that would be loyal to him alone (one is an army of Persians) (others were a christians recruited from the north and modeled after the ottoman janissaries
5. Both armies had artillery

Slide 16:

1. Reformed the government by punishing corruption and prompted officials who proved their competence and loyalty
2. Hired foreigners from neighboring countries to fill positions in the government
3. Brought members of Christian religious orders into the empire to show european merchants the empire was tolerant of other religions
4. This led to Europeans moving into the lands
5. Industry, trade and art exchanges grew between the empire and european nations

Slide 17: 

1. Shah built a new capital at Esfahan
2. Design covered four and a half miles, city was considered one of the most beautiful in the world
3. Show place for the many artisans, both foreign and safavid, who worked on the buildings and objects in them
4. 300 chinese potters produced glazed building tiles for buildings in the city
5. Armenians wove carpets

Slide 18 :

1.  Shah Abbas brought hundreds of chinese artisans to Esfahan.
2. They worked with safavid artist to make intricate metal work, miniature paintings, calligraphy, glass work, tile work and pottery
3. This collaboration gave rise to artwork that blended chinese and persian ideas.
4. These designs would decorate many mosques, palaces and marketplaces

Slide 19: 

1. The demand for persian carpet helped change carpet weaving from a local craft to a national industry.
2. Carpets reflected traditional persian themes, but as the empire expanded it would show more European designs after the Shah sent artists to Italy to study the renaissance

Slide 20:

1. Shah Abbas made the same mistakes as the Suleyman made.
2. Killed or blinded his most able children
3. Grandson, Safi, succeeded Abbas, he was a pampered young prince that led the safavids down the road to decline

Slide 21:

1. 1736, Nadir shah Afshar conquered land all the way to india and created an expanded empire
2. But he was cruel and one of his own troops assassinated him.
3. Then the empire fell apart