A military outpost for millennia, Ardabil was the capital of the Sajid-dynasty Azerbaijan from 871 to 929, and it saw independence as a khanate from 1747 to 1808. However, Ardabil is best remembered for spawning two great leaders: the Safavid patriarch and great dervish–Sufi mystic Sheikh Safi-od-Din (1253–1354), and his descendant Ismail Safavi. The latter expanded the clan domains so successfully that by 1502 Ismail had become shah of all Persia. His Safavid dynasty was to rule Iran for over two centuries.