Timur's regime is characterized by its inclusion…

Timur's regime is characterized by its inclusion of Iranians in administrative roles and its promotion of architecture and poetry.

His empire disintegrates rapidly after his death in 1405, however, and Mongol tribes, Uzbeks, and Turkmens rule an area roughly coterminus with present-day Iran until the rise of the Safavi dynasty, the first native Iranian dynasty in almost a thousand years.

The Safavis, who come to power in 1501, are leaders of a militant Sufi order of Islamic mystics.

The Safavis trace their ancestry to Sheikh Safi ad Din (died circa 1334), the founder of the Sufis, who claimed descent from Shia Islam's Seventh Imam, Musa al Kazim.

From their home base in Ardabil, the Safavis recruit followers among the Turkmen tribesmen of Anatolia and forge them into an effective fighting force and an instrument for territorial expansion.

The Safavis adopt Shia Islam in the mid-fifteenth century, and their movement becomes highly millenarian in character.