Abbas the Great

Biography

Abbas I took the throne in a period of crisis and rebuilt the Safavid state. He created a standing army loyal to himself, including slave soldiers and musketeers, and recovered territory from the Ottomans and Uzbeks. With English help he took Hormuz from the Portuguese in 1622. He moved the capital to Isfahan, where the great Naqsh-e Jahan square and its mosques still stand. He was also capable of great cruelty toward his own family.