Economy

Economy (S.O) The Safavid’s economy was dependent on Iran’s position between the flourishing civilizations of Europe. The Silk Road was soon revived and led through northern Iran to India.Direct trade, using the Silk Road, was supported with Europe. Specifically, The Netherlands and England sought to obtain Persian carpet, silk and textiles. Among these, exports included horses,pearls, goat hair, and spices. Imported items such as spice,textiles, sugar, coffee, and metals were very popular during this 16th century time period. According to historians, the twin bases of the Safavid’s domestic economy were agriculture and pastoralism. The Persians were peasants and settled agriculturalists. This means that the Safavid’s economy was immensely based on the taxation of agricultural products. The variety of these agricultural products in Persia was unrivaled in Europe and consisted of unknown fruits and vegetables. These numerous fruits and vegetables were alien materials Europe had never seen before. There was nothing like them in either France or Italy. The places these substances were acquired had not yet been irrigated or cultivated. This was not shocking because of Europe’s sparse population and lack of appreciation to the agriculture of the Safavid’s.

Agriculture was the largest share of tax revenue. And since the Safavid’s depended on the tax revenue for a healthy economy, the Persians had to take actions to expand their land intake. The only thing that the Safavid’s didn’t try to change was their “crop sharing agreement.” Each of the five elements contributed to 20 per cent of the crop production. These five elements are land, water, plough-animals,labour, and seed. The more a person would contribute the higher percent of earnings they would get.This let the peasants live in comfort, although they were subject to forced labour and lived under constant demand.