Afsharid Dynasty
A short-lived dynasty (1736–1796) founded by Nader Shah Afshar after the Safavid collapse, briefly restoring Iranian power through campaigns including the invasion of India.
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- Period
- 1736–1796 CE
- Founder
- Nader Shah Afshar
- Capital
- Mashhad
- Notable event
- Sack of Delhi (1739)
Detail
The Afsharid dynasty was founded in 1736 CE by Nader Shah Afshar, a military genius who rose from the Turkmen Afshar tribe of Khorasan. Initially serving the Safavids, Nader expelled the Afghan, Ottoman, and Russian invaders from Iran and recovered lost territories, then deposed the last Safavid claimant and crowned himself shah. He was one of the greatest military conquerors in Iranian history; his 1739 invasion of India and sack of Delhi yielded the Mughal treasury, including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Nader attempted a reconciliation between Shi'a and Sunni Islam (the Ja'fari madhhab), but this policy met resistance. His brutal temperament and growing paranoia in his final years, together with crushing taxation, bred widespread discontent, and he was assassinated by his own officers in 1747; the empire swiftly disintegrated thereafter.
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopædia Iranica, "Afsharids"
- Michael Axworthy, The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah
- The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 7