Religion, the Persian language, and Persianate culture are commonly described as the unifying elements of Iranian identity during the Safavid era. European travel accounts highlight these integrative components while simultaneously noting the plurality of local identities. Although, from the perspective of these travelers, marketplaces, Nowruz festivities, and the architectural splendor of Isfahan represented shared cultural markers, they also observed ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity, as well as local divisions, which they interpreted as expressions of identity multiplicity. These travelogues thus present a contradictory and multilayered image of Iran—ranging from admiration for its cultural magnificence and hospitality to criticism of religious fanaticism and scientific stagnation.
Employing a historical-sociological approach, this study re-examines the concept of “Iranian-ness” in the Safavid period through the lens of Orientalist travelogues. Its central question is how these texts represented the boundaries of Iranian identity and what contradictions appear in their narratives. The research method is qualitative, historical, and grounded in discourse analysis. Primary data have been drawn from the travel accounts of Della Valle, Tavernier, Chardin, Olearius, Kaempfer, Careri, and Krusinski. Findings show that Shi‘ism emerges as the most significant marker of “Iranian-ness” in these narratives. In the eyes of European observers, this religious identity functioned both as a mechanism of political–social cohesion and as a tool for exclusion and marginalization of minorities. Nevertheless, religious minorities—particularly Armenians, Jews, and Zoroastrians—are also portrayed as “economically indispensable” groups. The overall conclusion is that “being Iranian” in the Safavid period, as reflected in these travelogues, was a fluid and historically constructed identity shaped through the interplay of religion, language, economy, and power relations.