Safavid Empire · 1588-1629

Shah Abbas and Isfahan, half the world

Shah Abbas rebuilt the Safavid army, won back lost lands and made Isfahan one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Students explore his great square, his silk trade and the people who paid the price of his plans.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1600 to AD 1622
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Shah Abbas rebuilt the Safavid army, won back lost lands and made Isfahan one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Students explore his great square, his silk trade and the people who paid the price of his plans.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Isfahan, Tabriz and Hormuz and explain what Shah Abbas did at each.
  • Describe the main buildings around the Naqsh-e Jahan square.
  • Explain how silk and the Armenian merchants of New Julfa made Safavid Iran rich.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1600

Safavid Persia

Open Stories, start The Persian Empires and go to the last step, 1600. What did people call Isfahan?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1610

The great square

Zoom in close on Isfahan. Shah Abbas laid out a huge square here with a palace, two mosques and the gate of the bazaar on its sides. Why put the ruler, faith and trade around one square?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1622

Ships in the Gulf

Zoom out to the Persian Gulf and find the Strait of Hormuz. Move to 1622, when Abbas took Hormuz from the Portuguese with English help. Why was this narrow strait so valuable?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Shah Abbas moved his capital to Isfahan in 1598. What does a ruler gain from making a city his new capital?
  2. He built an army of soldiers loyal only to him, many of them converts from Georgia and Armenia. Why did he not trust the old Qizilbash?
  3. In 1604-1605 Abbas forced many thousands of Armenians to move to Isfahan, where they became rich silk merchants. How should we judge a policy that was cruel at first and later brought wealth?
  4. Abbas welcomed European merchants and envoys. Why would a Muslim shah want ties with Christian Europe?
  5. Abbas feared his own sons and had one of them killed. Why can great rulers also be cruel to their own families?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Akbar, the Mughal emperor who ruled India in the same years as Shah Abbas. Discuss: both rulers built new capitals and governed subjects of many faiths. Whose choices do you think worked better, and why?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.