ABSTRACT
Safawid rule over Persia is conventionally dated from Shah Isma'Il’s capture o f Tabriz in the aftermath o f his victory over the Aq-Q oyunlu ruler Alwand at Sharur in 907/1501. But there was still a very long way to go before Isma'il could be regarded as anything more than a potential successor to the Aq-Qoyunlu in Azarbayjan. N or, for some years, was the geographical shape o f the new state by any means clear. It may be that IsmacIl’s expectation was that he would be able to set up an essentially Turkm en empire after the Aq-Qoyunlu pattern, consisting o f eastern Anatolia, Azarbayjan, western Persia and Iraq. After all, the military following on which he depended was Turkm en in composi tion, he had fixed his capital at Tabriz, the now traditional Turkm en centre on the periphery o f Persia proper, and he may have seen himself as in some sense the legitimate successor to his Aq-Q oyunlu grand father, Uzun Hasan.
