The Afsharid Empire

The Afsharids (Persian: افشاریان‎) were members of a native Iranian dynasty of Turkic[10] origin, specifically the Afshar tribe, from Khorasan, who ruled Persia in the 18th 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 King of Iran. During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire, and at its height it controlled modern dayIran, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, most of the North Caucasus (Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of modern day Chechnya), Afghanistan, Bahrain, most of Iraq and Kuwait, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan, and parts of Turkey, North India, and Oman. After his death, most of his empire was divided between theZands and the Durranis, and 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 Persian empire and restore Persian suzerainty over many of the afore mentioned regions.

The dynasty was named after the Turkic Afshar tribe to which Nader belonged. The Afshars had migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan in the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Shah Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of his state against theUzbeks, after which the Afshars became native to those regions. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.[11]

Nader Shah was born (as Nader Qoli) into a humble semi-nomadic family of an Afshar tribe of Khorasan, where he became a local warlord.[12] His path to power began when the Ghilzai Mir Mahmud Hotaki overthrew the weakened and disintegrated Safavid shah Sultan Husayn in 1722. At the same time, Ottoman andRussian forces seized Persian land. Nader joined forces with Sultan Husayn's son Tahmasp II and led the resistance against the Ghilzai Afghans, driving their leader Ashraf Khan easily out of the capital in 1729 and establishing Tahmasp on the throne. Nader fought to regain the lands lost to the Ottomans and Russians and to restore Persian hegemony in Persia. While he was away in the east fighting the Ghilzais, Tahmasp allowed the Ottomans to retake territory in the west. Nader, disgusted, had Tahmasp deposed in favour of his baby son Abbas III in 1732. Four years later, after he had recaptured most of the lost Persian lands, Nader was confident enough to have himself proclaimed shah in his own right at a ceremony on the Moghan Plain.

Nader's conquests
Nader initiated a new religious policy aimed at reconciling Shia with Sunni Islam. The Safavid dynasty had relied heavily on the support of Shi'ites (the Qizilbashand the so-called ghilmans, who were converted Circassians, Georgians and Armenians), but many soldiers in Nader's army were Sunnis. Nader also wanted to set himself up as the new arch rival of the Ottoman sultan (who before were the Iranian Safavids), for supremacy within the Muslim world, which would have been impossible had he remained an orthodox Shi'ite.[14]

Sindh silver rupee found in south east Pakistan, under the Afsharid Shahs of Iran 18th century.

Soon afterwards Nader started his campaigns, firstly waging a war against the Afghans and captured Kandahar, their last bastion. In 1738, he invaded Mughal India, massacred 30,000 of the inhabitants of Delhi, and sacked the entire city, and in a single campaign captured an incredible amount of wealth, including the legendary Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Nor diamond. He lifted tax payment in his empire for 3 years after he returned.