Safavid Empire · 1501-1524

Shah Ismail and the Safavid revolution

In 1501 a fourteen-year-old leader of a Sufi order was crowned shah in Tabriz and made Shia Islam the faith of his state. Students explore how Ismail changed Iran for centuries and why he clashed with the Ottomans.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1500 to AD 1514
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

In 1501 a fourteen-year-old leader of a Sufi order was crowned shah in Tabriz and made Shia Islam the faith of his state. Students explore how Ismail changed Iran for centuries and why he clashed with the Ottomans.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Ardabil, Tabriz and the lands of the early Safavid state on the map.
  • Explain why Ismail's choice of Twelver Shia Islam mattered for Iran.
  • Describe the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 and its results.
2

Explore the map

12 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 1500

Before the Safavids

Open the map in 1500. Find the Emirate of the White Sheep Turks in Iran and Iraq. In 1501 Ismail took their capital, Tabriz. Which large neighbors surround this state?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1501

Ardabil and Tabriz

Zoom in on north-western Iran, between the Caspian Sea and Lake Urmia. Find Tabriz and Ardabil. Why could a Sufi order in these mountains gather so many warriors?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1514

The clash of 1514

Type "Battle of Chaldiran" into Ask the atlas and follow the map. Why was the battle fought where Anatolia meets Iran?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

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

  1. Ismail was about 14 when he was crowned shah in Tabriz. How could a teenager lead an army and a state?
  2. His followers, the Qizilbash, believed he had a special holy status. How can religious devotion make an army strong?
  3. Ismail made Shia Islam the religion of his state, although most of his subjects were Sunni. Why might a ruler want a different faith from his neighbors?
  4. At Chaldiran in 1514, Ottoman cannons and muskets beat Safavid cavalry. What did this show about the future of war?
  5. Iran is still mostly Shia today. How can one ruler's decision shape a country for 500 years?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, son of the Selim I who beat Ismail at Chaldiran. Suleiman fought Ismail's son Tahmasp for many years. Discuss: why did these two Muslim empires become such bitter rivals?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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