Afsharid Dynasty
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- The Afsharid dynasty was an Iranian dynasty that ruled Iran (Persia) in the mid-eighteenth century, descended from the Turkoman Afshar clan in Iran’s north-eastern region of Khorasan.
- The dynasty was established in 1736 by Nadir Shah (Nader Shah Afshar), a superb military leader who toppled the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself Shah of Iran.
- Iran attained its largest breadth since the Sasanian Empire during Nader’s rule. It ruled over modern-day Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan Republic, sections of the North Caucasus (Dagestan), Afghanistan, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan, as well as parts of Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman at its peak.
- Following his death, the majority of his empire was partitioned among the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, and Caucasian khanates, with Afsharid sovereignty limited to a tiny provincial kingdom in Khorasan.
- Finally, in 1796, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar overthrew the Afsharid dynasty, establishing a new native Iranian kingdom and restoring Iranian suzerainty over several of the aforementioned provinces.
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