We are an extended family of mixed backgrounds from Iran. It is with great appreciation that I acknowledge all family members who have shared their personal family information so generously. The information contained in these pages is the result of our lives. It is on-going and I am open to all additions and/or corrections from all decendant and those knowledgeable of the Safavi (Safavid) genealogy.
Why is Safavid history important?
The establishment of the Safavid state in 1501, like the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century, and the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, marks a turning point in the history of Iran. First, the whole of the area historically considered as constituting the heartlands of Iran (iranshahr; iran-zamin), was reunited under the rule of a Persian king for the first time since the Arab conquest and islamicization of Iran. For most of the eight and half centuries that followed that conquest, Iran was ruled by a succession of Arab caliphs, and Turkish and Mongol sultans and khans. The only exception was what Minorsky called the "Iranian intermezzo", the period from 945-1055 A.D., when a dynasty of Persian origin, the Buyids, exercised authority over a large part of Iran. The restoration of Persian sovereignty by the Safavids revived Persian feelings of a distinctive national identity - Iranismus, or "Iranianism", as Hafez Farman-Farmaian calls it, although of course this did not constitute a nationalist ideology in the modern sense of the term. What I shall try to do tonight is to ponder the reasons for the rather glaring neglect, until comparatively recent times, of the history of the Safavid period, a neglect of which both Iranian and Western historians have been guilty. This will involve some reflections on the development of historical writing in general, both in Iran and the West, so far as this is relevant to Safavid history.1
My hope is to explore the genealogy of this family line to better connect the missing pieces.
