Nadir Shah

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Nadir Shah, painting by an unknown artist, c. 1740; in the Victoria and Albert …
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

born Oct. 22, 1688, Kobhan, afavid Iran

died June 1747, near Fatbd

Iranian conqueror and ruler.

Originally a bandit of the Turkish Afshar tribes, he helped restore Tahmasp II of the Safavid dynasty to Iran's throne, defeating the Ghilzay Afghan usurper Mahmud. He later deposed Tahmasp II to place the latter's infant son on the throne; he made himself regent, then deposed the son and took the throne himself in 1736. He engaged in constant warfare with his neighbours, enlarging his empire from the Indus River to the Caucasus Mountains. Suspicious of those around him and capriciously cruel, he was assassinated by his own troops.

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More on "Nadir Shah" from Britannica Concise:

Ahmad Shah Durrani - Founder of modern Afghanistan.

Mashhad - City (pop., 1996: 1,887,405), northeastern Iran.

Safavid dynasty - (1502-1736) Persian dynasty.

Mughal dynasty - Muslim dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century.

Kabul - City (pop., 1993 est.: 700,000), capital of Afghanistan.

More on "Nadir Shah" from the 32 Volume Encyclopædia Britannica:

Nadir Shah - Iranian ruler and conqueror who created an Iranian empire that stretched from the Indus River to the Caucasus Mountains.

Afghanistan - Nadr Qoli Beg took Herat in 1732 after a desperate siege. Nadr was impressed by the courage of the Heratis and recruited many of them to serve in his army. He had himself elected shah of Persia, with the name Nadir Shah, in 1736.

Iran - Nadr later dethroned Tahmasp II in favour of the latter's son, the more pliant 'Abbas III. His successful military exploits, however, which included victories over rebels in the Caucasus, made it feasible for this stern warrior himself to be proclaimed monarch-as Nadir Shah-in 1736. He attempted to mollify Persian-Ottoman hostility by establishing in Iran a less aggressive form of Shi'ism, which ...

India - The obvious weakness of the Mughal Empire invited Nadir Shah's descent upon the plains of northern India for plunder and spoil. For years the defenses of the northwest had been neglected. Nadir captured Ghazni and Kabul, crossed the Indus at Attock (December 1738), and occupied Lahore virtually unopposed. Hurried preparations were then made to defend Delhi, but the faction-ridden nobles could not ...

Oman - On route to India, the Portuguese sacked Muscat in 1507 and soon controlled the entire coast. More than a century later the Ya'rubid dynasty drove the Portuguese from the Omani coast, recapturing Muscat in 1650 and then occupying Portuguese settlements in the Persian Gulf and East African coastal regions. Their empire eventually crumbled in a civil war over the succession of the imam in the early ...

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