ABSTRACT
It might have been doubted whether there was actually a Safawid empire in existence in 995/1587 for Shah 'Abbas to rule. External enemies were in occupation o f nearly half o f what had been Safawid territory in the time of Shah Tahmasp. So far as the unoccupied areas o f the country were concerned, factional fighting among the Turkm en amirs had reached the proportions o f civil war, and the rump o f Persia could very well at this point have dissolved into a conglomeration o f small Turkmen principalities. Only a quite remarkably strong and determined personality could have put all this to rights. Shah 'Abbas was such a man, but even with him at the head o f affairs the process o f recovery and reconstruction took many years.
