The Qajar Dynasty: 19th Century Persia (MENA 36)

The 18th Century was a difficult time for Persia ending with Ağa Muhammad Khan Qajar of the Qızılbaş, a former personal slave of Karim Khan Zand, brutally taking full control of Iran in 1794. In so doing, the Ağa Muhammad Qajar deposed the last Shah of the Zand Dynasty, re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus, and two years later removed the Afsharids in Mashhad. Despite its territorial losses in the South Caucasus to Russia in the 19th Century, Qajar Iran maintained some degree political independence in the midst of the Great Game between Britain and Russia and reinvented the Iranian notion of kingship. Given the relative peace that accompanied Qajar Shahs. it became possible for art to flourish once more in Persia. This is also the time when the Bahá'i Religion was first founded and we will examine both its precepts and the Qajar reaction to it.

(The next Persia episode will occur in late July or early August.)

Please see the following link for the full Middle Eastern and North African History Series playlist: Middle Eastern and North African Isla...

And look forward to new episodes every Thursday at 7 PM, New York Time.

Contents:
0:00:00 Introduction
0:10:59 Review


1:40:52 Final Remarks