Iran / Persia: Shah Ismail I, ruler of Iran 1501-1524 and founder of the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1736). Portrait by an anonymous Italian painter, 17th century

Ismail I (July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil (Persian: شاه اسماعیل‎; full name: Abū l-Muzaffar bin Haydar as-Safavī), was Shah of Iran (1501-1524) and the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736. Isma'il started his campaign in Iranian Azerbaijan in 1500 as the leader of the Safaviyya, a Twelver Shia militant religious order, and unified all of Iran by 1509.

The dynasty founded by Ismail I would rule for two centuries, it was one of the greatest Persian empires after the Muslim conquest of Persia. It also reasserted the Iranian identity in Greater Iran, the revival of Persia as an economic power, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy, architectural innovation and their patronage for the fine arts.

Ismail played a key role in the rise of Twelver Islam; he converted much of Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam, importing religious authorities from the Levant. In Alevism, Shah Ismail remains revered as a spiritual guide.

Ismail was also a prolific poet who, under the pen name Khatā'ī (which means 'sinner' in Arabic) contributed greatly to the literary development of the Azerbaijani language. He also contributed to the literary development in Persian, though only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived.

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