Editing Iran (section)

=== Early modern period ===
{{Main|Safavid Empire|Afsharid Iran|Zand dynasty|Qajar dynasty}}
[[File:Safavid Empire 1501 1722 AD.png|thumb|350px|The [[Safavid Empire]] (1501–1736) at its greatest extent]]

The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, and "is often considered the beginning of modern Persian history".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | first = Rudi
| last= Mathee
| year = 2008
| title= Safavid Dynasty
| encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica | url= http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids | access-date= 2014-06-02 | archive-date= 2019-05-24 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190524085947/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids | url-status= live }}</ref> They ruled one of the greatest Iranian empires after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]]<ref>{{ cite book
| editor-link= Helen Chapin Metz
|editor-last= Chapin Metz| editor-first = Helen
| title=Iran, a Country study | year=1989
| publisher= University of Michigan | page = 313}}{{pb}}{{ cite book 
| first = Emory C. | last =Bogle
| title=Islam: Origin and Belief
| publisher=University of Texas Press
| year=1989 | page =145}}{{pb}}{{cite book
| first = Stanford Jay | last=Shaw
| title=History of the Ottoman Empire
| publisher=Cambridge University Press
| year=1977 | page= 77}}{{pb}}Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: ''Rebirth of a Persian Empire'', I.B. Tauris (30 March 2006).</ref> and established the [[Twelver]] school of [[Imamate (Twelver doctrine)|Shi'a Islam]] as the [[official religion]] of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in [[Muslim history]]. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736) and at their height, they controlled all of modern Iran, [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Armenia]], most of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], the [[North Caucasus]], [[Iraq]], [[Kuwait]] and [[Afghanistan]], as well as parts of [[Turkey]], [[Syria]], [[Pakistan]], [[Turkmenistan]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. Safavid Iran was one of the Islamic "[[Gunpowder Empires|gunpowder empires]]", along with its neighbours, its archrival and principal enemy the [[Ottoman Empire]], and to the east, the [[Mughal Empire]].

The Safavid state was one of checks and balance, both within the government and on a local level. At the apex of this system was the Shah, with total power over the state, legitimized by his bloodline as a [[sayyid]], or descendant of [[Muhammad]]. So absolute was his power, that the French merchant, and later ambassador to Iran, [[Jean Chardin]] thought the Safavid Shahs ruled their land with an iron fist and often in a despotic manner.<ref>Ferrier, R. W.; A Journey to Persia: Jean Chardin's Portrait of a Seventeenth-century Empire; pp. 71–71.</ref> 

[[File:Afsharid Iran 1741.png|thumb|left|The Afsharid Empire at its greatest extent in 1741–1745 under [[Nader Shah]]]]