# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ismail-i
# Generated: 2026-08-31T21:26:37.782Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ismail-i"
name: "Ismail I"
slug: "ismail-i"
description: "He inherited a Sufi order at fourteen, turned it into an army, and by seventeen crowned himself shah of a reunified Iran — the first native ruler in 850 years. Then he made Shia Islam the state religion, a choice that split the Islamic world and still echoes."
tagline: "Founder and first shah of Safavid Iran"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Portrait_of_Shah_Ismail_I._Inscribed_%22Ismael_Sophy_Rex_Pers%22._Painted_by_Cristofano_dell'Altissimo%2C_dated_1552-1568.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "1487-07-17"
deathDate: "1524-05-23"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           64.62
  momentum:             1.766759151526
  historical:           25.551384
  currentAttention:     12.51877542090556
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 189
tags:
  - name: "Writers"
    slug: "writers"
  - name: "Historical Figure"
    slug: "historical-figure"
  - name: "Royalty"
    slug: "royalty"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Early Modern Era"
    slug: "early-modern-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q214559"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Ismail%20I"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%AC%DB%8C_%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87_%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C%D9%84"
    title: "بیرینجی شاه اسماعیل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_%C4%B0smay%C4%B1l"
    title: "I İsmayıl"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BC%D3%99%D2%93%D0%B8%D0%BB_I"
    title: "Исмәғил I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%86%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%96%D0%BB_I"
    title: "Ісмаіл I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_I"
    title: "Исмаил I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B9_%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%88%E0%A6%B2_%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AB%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AD%E0%A7%80"
    title: "শাহ ইসমাঈল সাফাভী"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isma%C3%AFl_I"
    title: "Ismaïl I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%A7_%D8%A6%DB%8C%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C_%DB%8C%DB%95%DA%A9%DB%95%D9%85"
    title: "شا ئیسماعیلی یەکەم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://crh.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_%C4%B0smail"
    title: "I İsmail"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ism%C3%A1%E2%80%98%C3%ADl_I."
    title: "Ismá‘íl I."
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I"
    title: "Ismail I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I._(Schah)"
    title: "Ismail I. (Schah)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://diq.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0smail_I"
    title: "İsmail I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%99%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%AE%CE%BB_%CE%91%CE%84_%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1%CF%82"
    title: "Ισμαήλ Α΄ της Περσίας"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_la_1-a"
    title: "Ismail la 1-a"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isma%C3%ADl_I"
    title: "Ismaíl I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I.a"
    title: "Ismail I.a"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87_%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C%D9%84_%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%85"
    title: "شاه اسماعیل یکم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isma'il_I"
    title: "Isma'il I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isma%C3%AFl_Ier"
    title: "Ismaïl Ier"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://glk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%A7_%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%84"
    title: "شا اسماعيل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I"
    title: "Ismail I"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C5%9Eah_%C4%B0smay%C4%B1l_X%C9%99tai"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://fa.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C%D9%84_%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%85"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ru.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_I"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://sr.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_I"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://tr.wikiquote.org/wiki/I._%C4%B0smail"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Ismail took control of the Safavid order as a child after his brother's death, leading Turkoman fighters called the Qizilbash who saw him as divinely guided. In 1501, at fourteen, he seized Tabriz and declared himself shah. Over the next decade he conquered the rest of Iran and pushed into Anatolia, proclaiming Twelver Shiism the official faith and destroying Sunni shrines in 1508, igniting sectarian fury across the region. The Ottomans crushed him at Chaldiran in 1514, ending his expansion. He sank into depression and drink, dying in 1524 at thirty-six. The dynasty he founded ruled for two centuries, and under the pen name Khaṭāʾī he left a body of Azerbaijani verse that shaped the language's literature.