Guarded Domains of Iran | |||||||||||||||||||||
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1736–1796 | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() The Afsharid Empire at its greatest extent in 1741–1745 under Nader Shah | |||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Empire | ||||||||||||||||||||
Capital | Mashhad | ||||||||||||||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||||||||||||||
Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||
Shahanshah | |||||||||||||||||||||
• 1736–1747 | Nader Shah | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 1747–1748 | Adel Shah | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 1748 | Ebrahim Afshar | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 1748–1796 | Shahrokh Shah | ||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 22 January 1736 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1796 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Estimate | 6,000,000[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | Toman[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||
ISO 3166 code | IR | ||||||||||||||||||||
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History of Iran |
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Timeline![]() |
The Guarded Domains of Iran,[7][8] commonly referred to as Afsharid Iran[a] or the Afsharid Empire,[9] was an Iranian[10] empire established by the Turkoman[11][12] Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, establishing the Afsharid dynasty that would rule over Iran during the mid-eighteenth century. The dynasty's founder, Nader Shah, was a successful military commander who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, and proclaimed himself Shah.[13]
During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sasanian Empire. At its height it controlled modern-day Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and parts of Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Oman and the North Caucasus (Dagestan). After his death, most of his empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, Khanate of Kalat, and the Caucasian khanates, while Afsharid rule was confined to a small local state in Khorasan. Finally, the Afsharid dynasty was overthrown by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1796, who would establish a new native Iranian empire and restore Iranian suzerainty over several of the aforementioned regions.
The dynasty was named after the Turkoman Afshar tribe from Khorasan in north-east Iran, to which Nader belonged.[14] The Afshars had originally migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) in the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of his state against the Uzbeks, after which the Afshars settled in those regions. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.[15]
Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability.
Afsharid and Zand court histories largely followed Safavid models in their structure and language, but departed from long-established historiographical conventions in small but meaningful ways.
The Afshārids (r. 1149–1210/1736–96) were a Persian dynasty founded by Nādir Shāh Afshār, replacing the Ṣafavid dynasty.
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