Background: Azarbaijan and the early Safavids

The Safavid Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from Sheikh Safi ad-Din of Ardabil (1252–1334). Sheikh Safi and his immediate successors were renowned as holy ascetic Sufis. Their own origins were obscure: probably of Kurdish or Iranian extraction, they later claimed descent from the Prophet. They acquired a widespread following at first among the local Iranian population, and later among the Turkic tribespeople who had been advancing from Central Asia into Azarbaijan and Anatolia from the eleventh Century onwards.

Ghuzz/Oghuz Turkish tribes came into Khorasan under the Saljuqs in late Ghaznavid times (around 1000 AD) and soon expanded to the west and south, large numbers concentrating in Azarbaijan. The Saljuq conquest meant a victory for the Sunni religion and the eventual adoption of the Turki language by the indigenous Iranian population of Azarbaijan. In the late twelfth century, while the Turks moved forward into Asia Minor, Azarbaijan was ruled by the Atabey Eldigüz and his successors. In the 1220s the Mongols swept into northwestern Iran; from Hülegü Khan's advent in 1256, the Il-Khanids and their Jalayerid successors dominated Azarbaijan for 130 years, finding there the best pastures for their animals. Timur (Tamerlane) conquered Azarbaijan in 1386 and brought large numbers of Turks back from Asia Minor to Azarbaijan; others he sent further east, to Khorasan.