The Nadir Shah reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Nadir Shah

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Nadir Shah (October 22, 1688 - June, 1747) was a Shah of Persia and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. He has sometimes been described as the "Persian Napoleon". He was born in the Dastgerd region of Khorasan (now in Iran).

He drove out the Afghans who were occupying Persia and took the throne in 1736. In 1738, he conquered Kandahar and Kabul. He continued on to India, defeating a great Mughal army, plundering Delhi starting on March 20, 1739, and massacring thousands of its people. He returned home with vast treasures, including the Peacock Throne, which thereafter served as a symbol of Persian imperial might, and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Nadir was assassinated in 1747, and the empire he had conquered fell apart shortly afterward.

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