The Riot of Craftsmen during the Dynasty of Shah Tahmasb Safavid in Tabriz (979-981 AH), Causes and Effects

At the end of the Shah Tahmasb's reign, from 979 to 981, a riot occurred in Tabriz. This riot is one of the Tabriz citizens’ few riots against the Safavid dynasty. Although the sources don’t mention the causes and effects of the riot's formation, political, social and especially economic factors in the form of components such as conflicts with neighboring states, shifting of capital, the disagreement between the neighborhoods and sectarian conflicts, the decline of the Sufi doctrines and trade recession especially had visible and invisible impacts on them. Following the trade recession and poor living conditions, particularly for craftsmen, the riot was started and continued for two years regarding the available context and due to the local officials’ extortions. The current research being carried out by the method of descriptive-analytical and relying on the available resources studied and explained the causes and their roles in shaping of the riots. Furthermore, it tries to answer this question “how and to what extent social and economic factors had an impact on shaping of this riot?”