Ismail I, (July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil, (; full name: Abū l-Muzaffar Isma'il bin Haydar as-Safavī; ; Şah İsmayıl Xətai), was Shah of Iran (Persia) (1501) 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. Born in Ardabil, Iranian Azerbaijan, he was the king (shah) of the Safavid dynasty from 1501 to 1524.