Iran and the World in the Safavid Age

Willem Floor is an independent scholar specialising in the history of Iran in the Safavid and modern ages. His recent publications include A Fiscal History of Iran in the Safavid and Qajar Periods, 1500-1925, Safavid Government Institutions and Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran. He is a co-author of The Monetary History of Iran (I.B.Tauris). Edmund Herzig is Masoumeh and Fereydoon Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies at the University of Oxford. He works on the history of Iran in the Safavid and contemporary periods and his research interests also include the history of the Caucasus and Central Asia. His recent publications include Early Islamic Iran (I.B.Tauris, co-edited with Sarah Stewart) and a special issue of Central Asian Survey, 'Tajikistan: The Sources of Statehood' (co-edited with John Heathershaw).

• List of IllustrationsList of ContributorsIntroductionPart I : The Safavid Empire in the Early Modern WorldPart II : Diplomacy and WarPart III : Commercial ConnectionsPart IV : Cross-Cultural Perceptions and ExchangePart V : The Caucasus: The Internal Frontier? Index

'Iran and the World in the Safavid Age provides yet the broades contexts for understanding this critical era, new data, and challenging analyses to demonstrate the continuing vitality of Safavid Studies.'-[Gene R. Garthwaite, Professor of History, and Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies, Dartmouth College] 'The chapters in this book constitute an extraordinary range of contributions to the understanding of the political, social, religious, cultural and commercial state of the world, and Iran's place therein during the Safavid period.'-[Andrew J. Newman, Reader in Islamic Studies and Persian, University of Edinburgh, and author of Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire]