Latest / The Safavid Empire: Persia's Return to Greatness — Fexingo History
Shah Abbas I and the Armenian Deportation of 1604
In 1604, Shah Abbas I of Safavid Persia ordered the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from the Aras River valley deep into the heart of his empire. This episode traces the strategic calculation behind the deportation: a scorched-earth tactic to deny the Ottoman army supplies and manpower, and a long-term plan to transplant a skilled merchant class to a new capital. We follow the two-week forced march to Isfahan, where the Armenians were settled in a suburb that would become New Julfa. We discuss what was lost — the abandoned city of Old Julfa, the silk trade networks…
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