Did Safavid/Qajar Persia have the largest sword making industry in Asia?

[Sakalord364]

I heard some say that Persia during the Safavid and qajar period had a huge sword making industry that made swords basically at an industrial level, it had the largest sword making production base in asia (or at least the Islamic world)- essentially the solingen of Asia. How true is this?

[ausjulius]

The Persians in that period produced very large amounts of swords, mostly shamshir.. for export to the ottoman Empire, Arabia, North Africa and the Caucasus, but they also exported large amounts of swords to central Asia and the Russian empire. The Kazakhs and kyrgiz nomads practically had no sword smiths in this time due to the huge volumes of swords. They imported. The price of the Persian swords were lower that central Asian made weapons and out competed the local producers in the trade cities. During this time Persian shamshirs were common as far away as Mongolia where they were frequently traded, the dzhungars and kalmyks used them in fact most of the kalmyks swords were Persian shamshirs they had traded for. You can see examples littering Russian art of the period. The Tatars, bashkirs, Chuvash, khakass and many any other groups traded with central Asian merchants for these Persian swords as well.
In the indian subcontinent the Persian swords were also greatly prized and sold in large numbers. The shamshir was also a status symbol in many sultanates in South East Asia. They were also traded in the ottoman Balkans
Many Cossacks used Persian swords.

I would say they produced a large volume of swords... However the Indian states with their huge populations probably locally produced far more. It's just that they were not exported. India's population was huge, it was constantly at war and there was massive standing armies and militias constantly needing swords.
. Weapons were distributed broadly in the society, militias, bodyguards and armed groups were widespread. Arms production was on a huge scale.
But as exporters.. yes I'd guess Persia was the rival of the European makers in that regard.. so much so that as even today the Persian shamshir is the generic Islamic sword
I would say in this time the Persians sword rivalled European trade blades in many areas

[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by ausjulius

The Persians in that period produced very large amounts of swords, mostly shamshir.. for export to the ottoman Empire, Arabia, North Africa and the Caucasus, but they also exported large amounts of swords to central Asia and the Russian empire. The Kazakhs and kyrgiz nomads practically had no sword smiths in this time due to the huge volumes of swords. They imported. The price of the Persian swords were lower that central Asian made weapons and out competed the local producers in the trade cities. During this time Persian shamshirs were common as far away as Mongolia where they were frequently traded, the dzhungars and kalmyks used them in fact most of the kalmyks swords were Persian shamshirs they had traded for. You can see examples littering Russian art of the period. The Tatars, bashkirs, Chuvash, khakass and many any other groups traded with central Asian merchants for these Persian swords as well.
In the indian subcontinent the Persian swords were also greatly prized and sold in large numbers. The shamshir was also a status symbol in many sultanates in South East Asia. They were also traded in the ottoman Balkans
Many Cossacks used Persian swords.

I would say they produced a large volume of swords... However the Indian states with their huge populations probably locally produced far more. It's just that they were not exported. India's population was huge, it was constantly at war and there was massive standing armies and militias constantly needing swords.
. Weapons were distributed broadly in the society, militias, bodyguards and armed groups were widespread. Arms production was on a huge scale.
But as exporters.. yes I'd guess Persia was the rival of the European makers in that regard.. so much so that as even today the Persian shamshir is the generic Islamic sword
I would say in this time the Persians sword rivalled European trade blades in many areas

Thanks for the info!

I was surprised that the Kazakh khanate did not have a sword making industry, being such a warlike people and government. I was under the impresssion that only the rich Kazakhs imported Persian blades, and the regular warriors had indigenous sabres