Ferdows (historical Tūn) is an ancient city in Southern Khorasan that underwent significant transformations during the Safavid period (r. 907–1135 AH / 1501–1722 CE). From the latter half of the 10th century AH (16th century CE), it evolved into the administrative center of Southern Khorasan—encompassing Qāyenāt, Tabas, Jonābad (present-day Gonābād), and Tun—retaining this status until the dynasty’s collapse. The elevation of this peripheral settlement to the political and military center of Southern Khorasan under the Safavids, along with its underlying context and causes, remains an overlooked issue in Iranian historical scholarship. Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology grounded in historical sources and archaeological evidence, this article first delineates the processes and evidence underpinning Tun’s transition from marginality to regional centrality. It subsequently analyzes the contextual factors driving this transformation. Findings reveal that this shift resulted not merely from structural changes in eastern Iran and the dissolution of Qāhestān Province under the nascent Safavid state’s policies, but from a confluence of interrelated factors: Religious considerations (Tun’s predominantly Twelver Shiʿa populace prior to Safavid institutionalization); Geographical advantages (its central location within Southern Khorasan and position along trade routes linking Khorasan to southern provinces); Security imperatives (countering Uzbek incursions); Political dynamics (the ascendancy of influential local governors such as Sultān Solaymān Khalīfa Torkmān and Malek Mahmud Sistāni).Thus, Tun/Ferdows’ centrality during the Safavid era was neither the product of a singular factor nor a contingent occurrence; rather, it emerged from multilayered advantages and a deliberate process aligned with Safavid statecraft.

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