Analyzing Historical- National Identity of Iranians in the Travel Accounts of Chardin

Researchers have been studying the current identity of Iranians for half ofcentury, which is formed since the Safavid dynasty. At first these researcheswere focusing on different elements of Iranian national identity, while laterthey were considering the role of Safavid dynasty in the evolution of nationalidentity of Iranians. In order to study both of these types of researches, thepresent paper will regularly regard the travel accounts which were writtenon Iran. (Brief History) However travel account of Chardin, which has paidconsiderable attention in studying Iran, was not regarded highly in previousresearches. (Problem) Except for the article, “Reflections of cultural identityof Iranians in travel accounts of Safavid and Qajar eras” which has studiedIranians identity, there is no other research that has studied this subject bymeans of travel accounts. (Background) Therefore, the question of the presentpaper is: How Iranian national Identity was reflected in Chardin’s travelaccounts? (Question) It was assumed Shi’ism was regarded among the mainaspects of Iranians national identity in this travel account. (Hypothesis) Thepurpose of the present paper is: Analyzing and explaining different elementsof Iranian national identity in Chardin’s travel accounts. (Purpose) The presenthistorical research, is carried out by means of a descriptive – analyticalapproach. (Methodology) According to the findings of the paper, hypothesis isproved factual and also it illuminated crucial details on this subject. (Finding)