The Sufi order founded around 1300 by Sheik Safi (1252-1334) in Ardabil (eastern Azerbaijan) soon acquired significance as a religious and political focus. In the mid-15th century, the Safavids became converts to Shiism. Their rise to power came under the spiritual sheikhs Junaid (1447-1460) and Haidar (1460-1488), who created a rigid political organization and gathered together their own troops (named 'Qizilbash' or 'Red Heads ‘Caps' after their headgear) to spread their doctrine. Shah Ismail the 1st (1501-1524), successor to Haidar after 1494 and fervent Shiite propagandist, seized power in Iran (1499-1501), starting with the province of Gilan, by driving out the related dynasty of the Qara. In 1507 he occupied Iraq, immediately elevated Twelve Shiism to the national religion, and sought political reconciliation between the Turkomans (the Qizilbash, the military) and the Iranian population (the administration).

A defeat by the Ottomans at Chaldiran in 1514 was followed by ongoing conflict with the Ottomans in the west and the Uzbeks in the east. Under Tahmasp (1524-1576) there was substantial diplomatic neutralization of the enemy, normalization of religious policy, and the beginning of patronage of the arts. Following subsequent troubles, there was a reconsolidation of the state under Abbas the 1st (1587-1629). He annexed Bahrain in 1601, occupied Azerbaijan in 1603, and conquered Shirwan, Armenia, Georgia, and parts of Afghanistan in 1608. In 1623/24 he was able to retake Kurdistan and Iraq to the Safavids Empire. Internally, he undertook army reform with Christian military slaves, developed Isfahan into the 'Pearl of the World: and generated prosperity through skillful economic policy and control of the Persian Gulf.

His successors were often weak personalities, yet complicated court rituals were developed and a shah cult. The last high point was the rule of Abbas the 2nd (1642-1666) through an intensive exchange of goods with European trading partners and internal political reforms; in 1648 he annexed parts of Afghanistan. A rapid economic decline began under the last Safavids, Sultan Hussein (1694-1722), who, through religious intolerance and compulsory conversion to the Shiite faith, provoked the Sunnite parts of the empire. As a result, the Sunnite Afghans (the Ghalzai) moved into Persia from 1719, beleaguered and conquered Isfahan in 1722 and deposed Hussein, who was executed in 1726. Up until 1786 (in some provinces 1773) Safavids shadow rulers were installed. Power was transferred to the Afsharids and land, and finally to the Qajars.

Safavids Shahs of Iran

Ismail I 1501-1524
Tahmasp I 1524-1576
Ismail II 1576-1578
Mohammed Khodabanda 1578-1587
Abbas I 1587-1629
Safi 1629-1642
Abbas II 1642-1667
Suleiman I 1667-1694
Soltan Hoseyn I 1694-1722
Tahmasp II 1722-1732
Abbas III 1732-1736
Suleiman II 1749-1750
Ismail III 1750-1760