Editing Tbilisi (section)

===Iranian control===
{{see also|Safavid Georgia}}
[[File:03 Chardin Tblisi 1671.jpg|thumb|Tbilisi according to French traveler [[Jean Chardin]], 1671]]
[[File:Teflis Tournefort.png|thumb|A 1717 illustration of Teflis by [[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort]]]]

As early as the 1510s, Tbilisi (and the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Kartli|Kartli]] and [[Kingdom of Kakheti|Kakheti]]) were made vassal territories of [[Safavid Iran]].{{sfn|Rayfield|2013|pages=164, 166}} In 1522, Tbilisi was garrisoned for the first time by a large Safavid force.{{sfn|Hitchins|2001|pages=464–470}}{{sfn|Rayfield|2013|page=166}} Following the death of king (''[[shah]]'') [[Ismail I]] (r. 1501–1524), king [[David X of Kartli]] expelled the Iranians. During this period, many parts of Tbilisi were reconstructed and rebuilt. The four campaigns of the king [[Tahmasp I]] (r. 1524–1576) resulted in the reoccupation of Kartli and Kakheti, and a Safavid force was permanently stationed in Tbilisi from 1551 onwards.{{sfn|Hitchins|2001|pages=464–470}}{{sfn|Floor|2008|pages=295–296}} With the 1555 [[Treaty of Amasya]], and more firmly from 1614 to 1747, with brief intermissions, Tbilisi was an important city under Iranian rule, and it functioned as a seat of the Iranian vassal kings of Kartli whom the shah conferred with the title of [[vali (governor)|vali]]. In 1718, the Venetian senate implored the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid emperor]] [[Soltan Hoseyn]] to protect the Catholic Armenians and Capuchin missionaries in Tbilisi from the Gregorian Armenians.{{sfn|Rota|2012|p=152}} Under the later rules of [[Teimuraz II of Kakheti|Teimuraz II]] and [[Heraclius II of Georgia|Heraclius II]], Tbilisi became a vibrant political and cultural center free of foreign rule—but, fearful of the constant threat of invasion, Georgia's rulers sought Russian protection in the 1783 [[Treaty of Georgievsk]]. Despite this agreement, the city was [[Battle of Krtsanisi|captured and devastated]] in 1795 by the Iranian [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] ruler [[Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar|Agha Mohammad Khan]], who sought to re-establish Iran's traditional sovereignty over the region.{{sfn|Kazemzadeh|1991|pages=328–330}}<ref>Suny, pp. 58–59</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/9137125|title=Relations between Tehran and Moscow, 1797–2014|access-date=15 December 2014|archive-date=1 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501122208/http://www.academia.edu/9137125/Relations_between_Tehran_and_Moscow_1979-2014|url-status=live}}</ref>