Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh
Iranian grand vizier of Kurdish origin
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Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh (Persian: شیخعلیخان زنگنه; died 1689), was an Kurdish statesman who served as the grand vizier of Safavid Iran under Suleiman I, the Safavid emperor (r. 1666–1694), from 1669 to 1689. Due to his efforts in reforming the declining economy, he has been called the "Safavid Amir Kabir" in modern historiography.[1]
Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh | |
|---|---|
| Grand Vizier of the Safavid Empire | |
| In office 1669 – 25 October 1689 | |
| Monarch | Shah Suleiman I (r. 1666–1694) |
| Preceded by | Mirza Mohammad Karaki |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Taher Vahid Qazvini |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1611 |
| Died | 1689 (aged 77–78) Isfahan, Safavid Iran |
| Children | Shahqoli Khan Zanganeh |
| Parent | Ali Beg Zanganeh (father) |
Family
A native of the Kermanshah Province, Shaykh Ali Khan was the son of Ali Beg Zanganeh, and belonged to the Zanganeh tribe, a Shia Kurdish tribe,[2][3] which was part of the Qizilbash.[4] Shaykh Ali Khan had two brothers named Najaf Qoli Beg Zanganeh and Shahrokh Sultan Zanganeh and also had several sons, whom were: Hossein Ali Khan Zanganeh, Suleiman Khan Zanganeh, Ismail Beg Zanganeh, Abbas Beg Zanganeh, Abbas Qoli Beg Zanganeh, and the most prominent one being Shahqoli Khan Zanganeh, who would also later serve as grand vizier of the country.[5]
Biography
Shaykh Ali Khan's destiny is similar to that of many other Iranian grand viziers—from Hasanak under the Ghaznavids to Amir Kabir under the Qajars—and is owing, in an established sense, to the ambivalence of the grand vizier's position in the Iranian bureaucratic practice.
Shaykh Ali Khan served as the commander of the empire's musketeer corps (tofangchi-aghasi) from 1668 till June 1669.[6]
