History of Tabriz

nt-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"...a great city surrounded by beautiful and pleasant gardens. It is excellently situated so the goods bring to here from many regions. Latin merchants speciallyGenevis go there to buy the goods that come from foreign lands..."

During the Middle Ages, a Jewish community existed in the town. In the 16th century a Jewish Yemenite traveler to the town described the deteriorating conditions of Jewish life there. From 1375 to 1468, Tabriz was the capital of Kara Koyunlu state in Azerbaijan, and from 1469to 1501 the capital of AkKoyunlu state. Some of the existing historical monuments including Blue Mosque are belonged to Kara Koyunlu period.

In 1501, Shah Ismail I entered Tabriz and proclaimed it the capital of his Safavid state. In 1514, after the Battle of Chaldiran, Tabriz was temporarily occupied by the Ottomans, but remained the capital of Safavid Iranian empire until 1548, when Shah Tahmasp I transferred it to Qazvin.

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