Afsharid Dynasty

Afsharid dynasty
افشاریان Afsharian
1736–1796
Flag Emblem
The Afsharid Persian Empire at its greatest extent under Nader Shah
Capital		Mashhad
Languages		Persian (official language; court language; civil & fiscal administration) Turkic (military administration)
Government		Absolute Monarchy
Shahanshah
•	1736–1747	Nader Shah
•	1747–1748	Adil Shah
•	1748	Ebrahim Afshar
•	1748–1796	Shahrukh Afshar
History
•	Established	22 January 1736
•	Disestablished	1796
Area		4,500,000 km² (1,737,460 sq mi)
Currency		toman
Preceded by Succeeded by Safavid dynasty Hotaki dynasty Durrani Empire Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti Zand dynasty Qajar Dynasty
Today part of		Uzbekistan  Iran  Turkmenistan  Tajikistan  Kyrgyzstan  Kazakhstan  Azerbaijan  Georgia  Armenia  Afghanistan  Pakistan  India  Iraq  Kuwait  Turkey  Russia  Oman  United Arab Emirates  Bahrain

The Afsharids (Persian: افشاریان‎‎) were members of an Iranian dynasty which originated from the Turkic Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, ruling Persia in the mid-eighteenth century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the brilliant military commander Nader Shah, who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself Shah of Iran. During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire, and at its height it controlled modern day Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, most of the North Caucasus (Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of modern-day Chechnya), Afghanistan, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan, and parts of Iraq, Turkey, North India, and Oman. After his death, most of his empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, and the Caucasian khanates, while Afsharid rule was confined to a small local state in Khorasan. Finally, the Afsharid dynasty was overthrown by Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1796, who would establish a new native Iranian empire and restore Iranian suzerainty over several of the aforementioned regions.