Life Science Journal 2013;10(8s) http:..www.lifesciencesite.com

Foreign Policy of the Safavid Empire During Abbas I

Zieneb Hatamzad

Department of History Education , BakiDolet university, Baki, Azerbijan E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper studies how the Safavid government in Shah Abbas I’s maintained its relations with its hostile neighbors, the and East Georgia, and newcomer colonizers such as Portuguese and . In its pursuit, this paper reviews a number of historical occurrences, resulting in signing off on political and commercial treaties. Vitality of Strait of Hormuz and Port of Abbas (Bandar- E- Abbas) and Portuguese- English competition to gain superiority over the region will be discussed as well. Finally, taxation policies and the issue of currency and their comparative studies with other contemporary policies and currencies of other states will be discussed shortly. [Zieneb Hatamzad. Foreign Policy of the Safavid Empire During Shah Abbas I. Life Sci J 2013;10(8s):405-407] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http:www.lifesciencesite.com. 67

Keywords: Shah Abbas, Ottoman, Hormuz, Portuguese, Silk, Port of Abbas, Silk, Isfahan

Introduction 1613 was verified and acknowledged but the annual While preparing forbattle with Ottoman amount of silk given to Ottomanswas reduced to Empire,Shah Abbas I began to consider having 2950kilograms. In 1623, another battle took place. political relationship with the European countries Shah Abbas won the war by supportingBekir’s rebels thatdid not have good relationship with Ottoman against Ottomans,besiegingBaghdad and conquering Empire. In 1602, Ambassadors of Germany, Kakash the city. Mussel, Basra, and Shia holy cities like Najaf and Teknaver, alongside with Guva, special envoy of and Karbala were some of other cities that were Philip II, King of Spain,traveled to Iran. In the confiscated by The Safavid State. meantime,Shah Abbas sent Anthony Shirley and After Shah Abbas’ victories over Ottomans, Hossein Ali Beyg to Europe with the instruction of he was fixated on the idea ofrecapturingGhandahar paying visits to the authorities of Russia, Germany from Jahangir Moghal.Although his primary military and Spain. efforts were doomed to failure, his diplomatic efforts Eventually in 1603, Shah Abbas waged a war were not. Utilizing the full potentiality of the treaty of against Ottomans. It was their first war in the Serav, he strengthened peaceful relations with Uzbeks centurywith Ottomans, the result of which was of Mesopotamia.Invading most of the eastern regions Ottoman’s utter defeatand liberation of Tabriz. The of Ghandehar, he prepared to strike for Ghandahar. four year long period of 1603-1607 was an era of In addition to Shah Abbas’ involvements in triumph for the Safavid Empire; parts of Kurdistan, battles with Ottomans and Moghals, he fought Lorestan, East of Armenia and Georgia were Portuguese as well when they conquered the Strait recaptured during the period by Safavid Army among ofHormuz and its vicinal islands in thePersian Gulf. whom Allahverdi Khan’s legion was highly This strait and its surrounding islandsare used as the distinguished for their valorous actions and skills. repository for transiting goods, making its role vital Safavid’s victories were due to Ottoman’s internal for India, China, Arab states and European countries. chaos as well.Internal skirmishes for acquiring In 1507, Portuguese seized the control of authority, civil wars against domestic insurgents, seaway of India to ChinaandStrait of Hormuz as well, feudal rebels and proletariat separatist of Anatolia and avoiding payingroyal taxes to the Safavid government. consecutive loss of battles against European countries In 1515, they lost the islands and the strait for good to were some of the internal chaos they should face in the Safavid state. During this eight year their country. period,Portuguese Admiral Alfonso recaptured According to the peace treatyof 1613, all of Hormuz, killed supporters of Qizilbash and their the occupied lands were confiscated bythe Safavid leaders, strengthening the structure of this strait by Empire. Shah Abbas however, commited himself to building garrisons and inquisition establishments and sent 59000 kilograms raw silk annually to the subjugated the local governor, Turan as their loyal Ottoman King so that their confiscated silk could be servant. During the 16th century, an important compensated in years to come. In 1616,Safavid- Portuegese commercial factory was established in Ottoman battles began again, resulting in their second Hormuz and developed very fast. The Strait of defeat in the century. In 1618, another peace treaty Hormuz was important to theSafavid Empire for their was signed in Sarab. In this treaty,the peace treaty of silk exportation to Europe, since they had to face

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Life Science Journal 2013;10(8s) http:..www.lifesciencesite.com cheaper custom expenses, when exported from the develop central provinces, in spite of the exploitation Strait of Hormuz in comparison with the costs of of colonizing countries of the time, could be read as a exporting silk from Anatolia in the Ottoman’s Empire. sign of his desire not to rule the Empire according to That is why the price of silk in Halab, Syria was 50 feudalistic system like the Ottoman Empire. percent higher than its price in the Safavid Empire. Of In 1607, after the invasion of Shirvan by course, the Silk Road was much safer than seaways in Ottomans, Shah Abbas started taxing heavily in the the Persian Gulf for exportation in general, facilitating confiscatedstates from Ottomans for 50000 merchants with much more security, alongside with Tomans.Of course, he could not levy more than 30000 the higher amount of expenses. Tomans. In 1618, Shah Abbas negotiations on the At the same time, after signing off on a issue of silk exportation through the Strait of Hormuz commercial bilateral treaty with the Ottoman Empire with the king of Spain and Philip III, King of in 1612, Shah exempted people of Isfahan from Portuguese, did not result into signing off on a paying taxes for three years on the dairy products. multilateral treaty although they had been received During 1670s and 1680s in general, the amount of warmly by the Safavid Shah (Falsafi 123) It was a taxes had a decreasing transference in their values, time that alongside with Portuguese, other colonizers helping he economy of the Safavid Sate to have an started competing with English companies. unbelievable boom. Eventually, in 1600, the East India Company Generally, the Safavid Empire levied more was founded by England. One of its major objectives taxesonconfiscated states, resulting in bankruptcies of was to circumscribe the Portuguese influence in India these states. The resulted chaos and civil war in these and in the region in general and it was in this states gave Shah’ feudalist courtiers an opportunity to historical period when Shah Abbas’ objectives meet impose harsher taxations on the citizens as a with English colonizers, resulting in Shah’s punishment for creating chaos in the Empire. imposition of royal decree for the East India Company Shah Abbas’ supports for industrialization of in 1614. some parts of the Empire andhis struggles over In 1620, the East India Company fleet and traditional pillage and insecurity of some of the states Portuguese fleet went to battle with each other in the created the opportunity for him to provide safer Persian Gulf near the JaskIsland. In 1623, the East trading routs for merchants establishing for example, India Company accompanied its fleet with the Safavd caravansaries on the landlords paved with stone slabs. army so that the Strait if Hormuz could be confiscated Shah Abbas supported agriculture in some from Portuguese. In this mission, Imam Gholi Khan, central provinces as well. The ruling policies, governor of Fars province andAllahverdi Khan’s son, migration of feudalists, studies on irrigative watering one of the commanders of the army’s elite legions of crops and the destruction of Jolfa near Aras inits appointed as the commodore of the English Fleet to relocating near Isfahanindicated that Shah’s Hormuz. After confiscating the strait and its prioritized economical pursuit was to create his surrounding islands, Shah named the biggest island of Empire one of the biggest cross roads in silk the region “ The Port of Abbas”. exportation. He ordered building roads for transports In the Port of Abbas, English traderswere in Isfahan and Bandar Abbas so that there could be a allowedtheir tax free commercialfactories, enjoying a proper transporting system for goods to be delivered fixed portion from Custom revenues as well. to the Persian Gulf. However, English were expecting more prerogatives King Abbas built the new city ofJolfa near such as exclusive right of exporting silk and the right Isfahan for Armenians. Being a separated city from of citizenship in the Safavid States,since the latter was Isfahan territory, people were exempted to pay any given to them in theOttoman Empire, and France. taxes to the central government. However, only three Not being satisfied with the given prerogatives, they thousand families from eleven thousand Armenian found Dutch companies as a commercial competitor in families migrated to Jolfa. the Port of Abbas as soon as they started establishing In religious ceremonies, Shah Abbas their settlements in the region. respected old traditions,giving them political coloring. Through bilateral relations withRussia, He supported Shia religion, persecuted Sunnis, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany, Shah granting at the same time some privileges to Abbas desired to have close ties with Vatican and the Armenians. Roman Catholic Church. Although Shah Abbas For controlling indigenous population in owned much of the precious lands in the Empire by confiscated states, he madecraftsmen and farmers of subordinating most of the landowners, neither he nor Azarbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, migrate so thatthe any SafavidKing could materialize a feudalistic influence of the Safavid government could be system in the Empire. Shah Abbas’ intention to sustained in such states and the number of rebellious

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Life Science Journal 2013;10(8s) http:..www.lifesciencesite.com uprising could be diminished. In 1605, 70000 citizens Of course, providing a new monetary system of Azarbaijan migrated from Nakhjivan, most of them was not possible in every part of the Empire. In the died on the road. This bloody migration is 17th century, alongside with Abbasi, other currencies, remembered nowadays by “The Great Migration” by like Ottomanand European currencies, with variant the locals. values, were prevalent in the Safavid state. In the bloody invasion of the East Georgia, Shah Abbas era was the most flourishing era Shah Abbas exiled 100000 of Kakhntiyan toIravan. in the Safavid Empire. In the 17th century, we could More banishment decrees were declared after observe a much more realistic portrait of Shah Abbas suppressions of rebellious uprisings in the East personality from the historians’ writings. He was Georgia, whose leader was George Sakazden. In 1618, portrayed as a distinguished, brave, diligentand valiant 50000 Georgian citizens migrated to Iravan. personage. Not being dogmatic, he was indeed In Shah Abbas’era, building construction interested in technology and the European culture. developed and Isfahan, the capital city of Safavids, was reconstructed and redesigned, turning this city References into a city with thirty eight square kilometers surface 1. Afandief, A. The Safavid Government of area, bearing the population of 600000 people in the Azerbaijan.Baku: East and West Publishing, mid 17th century. The Shah Squarewas built near the 2007. presidential palace, leading to the Shah Mosque, Aali 2. Bayandor, A. Persian Gulf.Tehran: Dr. Qapu and Chehel Sutoun. This square is connected by Mahmood Afshar’s Public Foundation Inc., a well-constructed bridge over Zayanderud to Jolfa. 1968. Palaces were built in Farahabad province. 3. Bushehri, N.A. The History of Political Relations of Iran and the World.Tehran: Discussion Rooznameye Omid Publishing, 1946. A new type of currency was introduced in the 4. Dadash, Ova. The Last Era of Safavid monetary system of the Safavid government. Named Dynasty.Baku:Noorlan Publishing, 2003. after Shah Abbas as “Abbasi”, its value was one ounce 5. Egbal, A.A Copious History of Iran. Tehran: silver which equaled 200 Dinars of the time. It is Amir Kabir Publishing, 1968. worth mentioning that in the 14th century, in Ghragh 6. Falsafi, Nasroallah. The Foreign Policy of Iran Khan’s era, one Dinar equaled 3 ounces of silver, in Safavid Period. Tehran: University of Tehran, while in the 17th century one Dinar equeled 600 1937. Dinars. Therefore, it could be concluded from this 7. Velayati, Ali Akbar. Iran and Savafid Shah piece of historical evidence that during 300 years, Ismail. Tehran: Tehran International Desk of Dinar lost its value 600 times. Foreign Affairs, 1998.

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