2022/01/11 by James Gustafson, James M. Gustafson, James Speer +1
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Islamic Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1017/s0020743821001082
openalex publication_date 2022/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/12
Abstract The 17th century was a period of transition in world history. It was marked globally by social movements emerging in response to widespread drought, famine, disease, warfare, and dislocation linked to climate change. Historians have yet to situate Safavid Iran (1501–1722) within the “General Crisis.” This article, coauthored by an environmental historian and a climate scientist, revisits primary sources and incorporates tree-ring evidence to argue that an ecological crisis beginning in the late 17th century contributed to the collapse of the imperial ecology of the Safavid Empire. A declining resource base and demographic decline conditioned the unraveling of imperial networks and the empire's eventual fall to a small band of Afghan raiders in 1722. Ultimately, this article makes a case for the connectedness of Iran to broader global environmental trends in this period, with local circumstances and human agency shaping a period of acute environmental crisis in Iran.