Qasem Sultan Afshar

Qāsem Sultan Afshar or Qāsem Sultan Imānlū Afshar, was a Safavid military leader and official during the reign of King (Shah) Abbas I (r.1588–1629).

Biography

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Qāsem Sultan was a member of the Imānlū branch of the Afshar tribe, one of the original Qizilbash tribes that had supplied power to the Safavids since its earliest days.[1][2] During King Abbas I's early reign, Qāsem Sultan became the head of a group of Afshars whose duty it was to protect the marshes surrounding the city of Kermanshah.[1] In the early 17th century, marked by wars against the archrivals of the Safavids — the Ottomans — Qāsem Sultan fought with great distinction, which earned him the governorshop of Mosul in 1622.[3][1][4] However, shortly after, following the outbreak of a plague, he moved towards the western part of Azerbaijan with the rest of his tribe.[1] He became the founder of the Afshar community of the city of Urmia.[1] His son Kalb-e ʿAlī Beg (or Kalb' Ali Sultan Afshar) was appointed governor of Urmia in 1627-28,[1] or 1630,[5] until 1648.[5] The descendants of both formed the Qāsemlū clan — named in honor of Qāsem Sultan.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Oberling 1984, pp. 582–586.
  2. ^ Newman 2012, p. 184.
  3. ^ Floor 2008, p. 248.
  4. ^ Rothman 2015, p. 236.
  5. ^ a b Floor 2008, p. 252.

Sources

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  • Floor, Willem M. (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. p. 309. ISBN 978-1933823232.
  • Newman, Andrew J. (2012). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857733665.
  • Oberling, P. (1984). "AFŠĀR". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 6. pp. 582–586. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29.
  • Rothman, E. Nathalie (2015). Brokering Empire: Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801463129.