Safavid Georgia

Safavid Georgia Velāyat-e Gorjestān
1510s – 1736
Northwestern part of Safavid Iran
Status	Province of Safavid Iran
Capital	Tiflis (Tbilisi)
Common languages	Georgian, Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian
Government	Velayat
Succeeded by Afsharid Iran
Today part of	Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Russia

The province of Georgia (Persian: ولایت گرجستان, romanized: Velāyat-e Gorjestān) was a velayat (province) of Safavid Iran located in the area of present-day Georgia.^[1] The territory of the province was principally made up of the two subordinate eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kartli (Persian: کارتیل, romanized: Kartil) and Kakheti (Persian: کاخت, romanized: Kakhet) and, briefly, parts of the Principality of Samtskhe.^[a] The city of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) was its administrative center, the base of Safavid power in the province, and the seat of the rulers of Kartli. It also housed an important Safavid mint.

Safavid rule was mainly exercised through the approval or appointment of Georgian royals of the Bagrationi dynasty, at times converts to Shia Islam, as valis or khans.^[b] The eastern Georgian kingdoms had been subjected in the early 16th century, their rulers did not commonly convert. Tiflis was garrisoned by an Iranian force as early as Ismail I's reign, but relations between the Georgians and Safavids at the time mostly bore features of traditional vassalage. David XI (Davud Khan) was the first Safavid-appointed ruler, whose placement on the throne of Kartli in 1562 marked the start of nearly two and a half centuries of Iranian political control of eastern Georgia. During the same period, Iranian cultural influence dominated eastern Georgia.

From Tahmasp I's reign onwards (r. 1524–1576), the province was of great strategic importance. Many ethnic Georgians, generally from Kartli and Kakheti, rose to prominence in the Safavid state. These men held many of the highest positions in the civil and military administration, and many women entered the harem of the ruling class. By the late Safavid period, Georgians formed the mainstay of the Safavid army as well. The establishment of a large Georgian community in Iran proper dates back to the era of Safavid suzerainty in Georgia. As the province was a border entity, the valis of Georgia exercised more autonomy than other provinces of Safavid Iran; it could therefore be compared to the Arabestan Province (present-day Khuzestan Province), in the southwestern part of the empire.^[1] The province of Georgia was one of only four Safavid administrative territories where governors were consistently given the title of vali.

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