Environmental Crises at the End of Safavid History
The Collapse of Iran's Early Modern Imperial Ecology, 1666–1722
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8970142 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James M Gustafson (0000-0001-8797-0349, Indiana State University, corresponding author), James H Speer (0000-0003-1188-0552, Indiana State University), James Speer |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 57-79 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0020743821001082 |
| OpenAlex | W4206083884 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 14 |
The 17th century was a period of transition in world history. It was marked globally by social movements emerging in response to widespread drought, famine, disease, warfare, and dislocation linked to climate change. Historians have yet to situate Safavid Iran (1501–1722) within the “General Crisis.” This article, coauthored by an environmental historian and a climate scientist, revisits primary sources and incorporates tree-ring evidence to argue that an ecological crisis beginning in the late 17th century contributed to the collapse of the imperial ecology of the Safavid Empire. A declining resource base and demographic decline conditioned the unraveling of imperial networks and the empire's eventual fall to a small band of Afghan raiders in 1722. Ultimately, this article makes a case for the connectedness of Iran to broader global environmental trends in this period, with local circumstances and human agency shaping a period of acute environmental crisis in Iran
Agency (philosophy · Ancient history · Archaeology · Biology · Ecological crisis · Economic history · Empire · Environmental degradation · Environmental history · Famine · Geography · Period (music · Social science · Sociology · World history · Ecology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History
China and the Seventeenth-Century Crisis
The Nature of Plague in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt
The Black Winter of 1860–61
The Waqf as a Prop for the Social System (Sixteenth — Twentieth Centuries)
Meteorological Hazards and Disasters in Iran
Climatic fluctuation and natural disasters in Arabia between mid-17th and early 20th Centuries
Of diet and profit
Iran and the Great Famine, 1870–72
Climate and the Chronology of Iranian History
Shi'i Clerics in Iraq and Iran, 1722–1780
Was Safavid Iran an Empire
The General Crisis of the European Economy in the 17th Century
Crisis and Catastrophe
The great Persian famine of 1870-71
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |