Rise of the Safavid Dynasty

At the beginning of the sixteenth century a new dynasty known as the Safavids took control of the Asian and Persian empire. This dynasty ruled over Persia from 1501 until 1736. They were also incharge of establishing Shi'i Islam as the dominating religion in Iran. The Safavid rulers undertook was very difficult. Iran had many people with independent traditions, laws , culture , and language. They later became ardent Safavids . The dynasty was founded by Shah Ismail who was the descendant of Safi al-Din. In 1499 at the age of twelve Ismail led his army in a war of conquest. In 1500 , he conquered the kingdom of Shirvan , and in 1501 he was crowned King of Tabriz. At the age of fourteen he declared Shi'a Isslam to be state religion of Tabriz. By 1512 he controlled all of Iran.