Shah Abbas I (1557-1629) was the most eminent ruler of the Safavid Dynasty. He was also known as Abbas the Great. In 1586 he became shah, by revolting against his father,
In the midst of general anarchy in Persia, he was proclaimed ruler of Khorasan, and obtained possession of the Persian throne. Determined to raise the fallen fortunes of his country, he first directed his efforts against the predatory Uzbeks, who occupied and harassed Khorasan. After a long and severe struggle, he regained Meshed, defeated them in a great battle near Herat in 1597, and drove them out of his dominions.
He chose Isfahan in 1598 as his capital. A year later, the English Sir Robert Shirley directed a major army reform. With his new army, the Uzbeks (1597) and the Turks (1603) were defeated, forcing them to give back the territory they had seized, including Baghdad. In 1605 following a victory at Bassora he extended his empire beyond the Euphrates; Sultan Ahmed I was forced to cede Shirvan and Kurdistan in 1611; the united armies of the Turks and Tatars were completely defeated near Sultanieh in 1618, and Abbas made peace on very favourable terms; and on the Turks renewing the war, Baghdad fell into his hands after a year's siege in 1623. In 1622 he took the island of Hormus from the Portuguese, by the assistance of the British, and much of its trade was diverted to the town of Bander-Abbas, which was named after this great ruler.
Shah Abbas' reign, with its military successes, efficient administrative system, raised Iran to the status of a great power. Abbas was a skilled diplomat, tolerant of his Christian subjects in Armenia and sending Sherley to Italy, Spain and England in order to create a pact against the Turkish.
Trade with the west and industry grew. Isfahan became the center of Safavid architectural achievement, with the mosques Masjid i Shah and the Masjid i Sheykh Lotfollah; and other monuments like the Ali Qapu, the Chehel Sotoun, and the Meydan-i Shah.
When he died, his dominions reached from the Tigris to the Indus. His fame is tarnished, however, by numerous deeds of tyranny and cruelty, particularly against his own family. Afraid of a coup by his family (as he had done to his father), he locked them up in palaces in order to keep them without knowledge of the outside world. This resulted in weak successors. It is said that he killed his eldest son and left his throne to his grandson.
See also The Three Brothers, or Travels of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert Sherley, etc. (London, 1823); Sir C. R. Markham, General Sketch of the History of Persia (London, 1874).
