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Reforms of Abbas I
Safavid Shah Abbas I, after consolidating power, weakened Qizilbash tribal warlords, created a royal ghulam slave corps, reformed taxation and centra…
Timeline
- 1598–1600Isfahan · IranThrough dismissals, transfers, and executions, Abbas I curtailed the Qizilbash tribal chiefs' military and political power, bringing key military authority under the royal house and ending tribal fragmentation of royal power.
- 1598–1605Isfahan · IranGhulam slave soldiers recruited and trained from the Caucasus and elsewhere were equipped with firearms and formed into a standing army directly under the crown, to counterbalance Qizilbash cavalry and improve field capability.
- 1599–1610Iranian Plateau · IranTax collection was reformed, central control over local revenue strengthened, and local appointments overhauled so that the bureaucracy answered more to the shah than to tribal chiefs.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica: Abbas I — R. M. Savory https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abbas-i
- Iran Under the Safavids — Roger Savory (1980)