ABBAS I  . (c . 1557—1628 or 1629), shah of

Persia, called the Great, was the son of shah Mahommed (d . 1586) . In the midst of general anarchy in Persia, he was proclaimed ruler of Khorasan, and obtained possession of the Persian throne in 1586 . Deter-mined to raise the fallen fortunes of his country, he first•directed his efforts against the predatory Uzbegs, who occupied and harassed Khorasan . After a long and severe struggle, he regained Meshed, defeated them in a great battle near Herat in 1597, and drove them out of his dominions . In the wars he carried on with the Turks during nearly the whole of his reign, his successes were numerous, and he acquired, or regained, a large extent of territory . By the victory he gained at Bassora in 1605 he ex-tended his empire beyond the Euphrates; sultan Ahmed I. was forced to cede Shirvan and Kurdistan in 1611; the united armies of the Turks and Tatars were completely defeated near Sultanieh in 1618, and Abbas made peace on very favourable terms; and on the Turks renewing the war, Bagdad fell into his hands after a year's siege in 1623 . In 1622 he took the island of Ormuz from the Portuguese, by the assistance of the British, and much of its trade was diverted to the town of Bander-Abbasi, which was named after the shah . When he died, his dominions reached from the Tigris to the Indus . Abbas distinguished himself, not only by his successes in arms, and by the magnificence of his court and of the buildings which he erected, but also by his re-forms in the administration of his kingdom .

He encouraged

commerce, and, by constructing highways and building bridges, did much to facilitate it . To foreigners, especially Christians, he showed a spirit of tolerance; two Englishmen, Sir Anthony and Sir Robert Shirley, or Sherley, were admitted to his confidence . His fame is tarnished, however, by numerous deeds of tyranny and cruelty . His own family, especially, suffered from his fits of jealousy; his eldest son was slain, and the eyes of his other children were put out, by his orders . See The Three Brothers, or Travels of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert Sherley, &c . (London, 1825) ; Sir C . R . Markham, General Sketch of the History of Persia (London, 1874) .