Making and Remaking Empire in Early Qajar Iran

Focusing on the formation of the Qajar empire in Iran, this book draws attention to continuities between the Safavid and Qajar periods. By situating the formation of Qajar Iran in its early nineteenth-century context, Assef Ashraf is able to highlight the overarching themes of transition and change.

In 1722, the Safavid empire collapsed. An empire that ruled for over two centuries, in its heyday it spanned parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and present-day Iran. The decades following its fall were ones of unrest and discord, and it was only with the rise of the Qajars in the 1780s that a level of stability was restored. Assef Ashraf devotes this book to an analysis of the making of the Qajar empire. It adopts a socially-oriented approach to political history - an approach that examines the discourse and political practices, and the centers and peripheries, of empire. Each chapter focuses on a particular practice that was at the heart of Qajar governance - land administration, gift giving, marriage, political correspondence, provincial diplomacy, and territorial conquest and tribal relations. By situating the formation of Qajar Iran in its early nineteenth-century context, Ashraf highlights the overarching themes of transition and change.