![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎145r] (294/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0300.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎145r] (294/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [145r] (294/722)
The record is made up of 1 volume (384 folios). It was created in 1886-1895. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Regarding this border, Napier gives the following :—
Approximate estimate of population, resources, &c., of districts near Afghan border of Persia.
Area, in
Revenue.
Surplus
Enrolled irregular
Armed
District.
square
miles.
tion.
grain, in
tons.
forces.
peasantry.
Its.
z 2,000 Aimak
Mashhad
7,000
131,000
56,000
2,000
\ and Taimuri f
) horse ; 1,300 C
v local horse. z
17,000
NPhapur
2.800
118,000
60,000
3,000
200 Baiat horse
20,000
babzawar
3,700
43,000
32,000
1,500
10,000
Juvaln
1,100
11,000
4,000
600
800 foot
2,000
J am
10,000
400
400 horse
2,000
Bakbarz
15,000
1,200
200 „
2,500
Khaf
23,000
200 „
3,500
Turbat-i-Haidar! ...
25,000
200 „
4,000
376,000
7,100
5,300
61,000
The districts of Khurasan that lie nearest the border line, and that would
be first called upon to support a friendly force, or to aid in repelling an
invading enemy, are Mashhad, Turbat (Haidan), iurshiz, Nishapui, and
Sabzawlr. Behind them westward up to the province of Irak the country
is in a military sense a blank, offering no prospect of support to a defending
force and no obstacles to invasion. Anything worthy of the name of a
fortification does not exist on the Persian border; the forts are mere ruined
towers. Kahn'z* is said to have a good thick wall with mud towers, and
to be stronger than the other villages. Khaf has a good wall and citadel
but there is no place with a rampart such as that of Herat, and consequently
none that could resist the attack of the artillery the Afghans now possess.
Khurasan is inhabited by a great variety of races; only the^ portion
Ivin o' near the northern and southern roads from Mashhad to Tihran btung
occupied by Persians. To the north-west, on the frontiers of Astarabad
and towards the Caspian, are Turkumans of the Goklan tribe, to the north
and north-east are the Kurds of Kabushan and Daraghaz. n ^ ur a
i-Shaikh Jam and Khaf are sections of the Aimak tribe of Taimuns; in
Turbat-i-Haidan are the Karai and various tribes of Baluch and Caka.
Turshiz is chiefly inhabited by Arabs, as are Kam, run, and labas.
Colonel Shiel gives the following list of the tribes of Khurasan:
Turbat-i-Shaikh. Jam
Khaf, Taimuri
250 tents and houses. Speak Persian. _
C Language, Persian;
4,000 »» >r £ ^ve at Khaf.
Turhat-i-Haidan—
Karai ... 5,000
Baluch ... ... 2,000
Laks ... ... 1,000
Miscellaneous ... ... 2,000
Turshiz district and town contains
Arab
Baluch
•All speak Persian.
4,000 houses and tents. ) Language, Persian.
.. 2,000 „ „ .. >
* “ Kanz,” or “ Kihm.'
About this item
- Content
This volume is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1886 edition). It was compiled for political and military reference by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Metcalfe MacGregor, Assistant Quarter Master General, in 1871, and brought up to 31 July 1885 by the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department in India. It was printed by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, India in 1886.
The areas of Persia [Iran] covered are Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustan, Khurasan [Khorāsān], and Sistan. The boundaries of the areas covered by Volume I are as follows: the Afghan border from the River Helmand to Sarakhs in the east; and from there a line north-west to Askhabad, due west to the Atrak, which it follows to the Caspian Sea; then along the sea coast to Ashurada Island; then in a straight line to Shahrud; and from the latter south-east to Tabas hill, Sihkuha, and the Helmand, from where the river first meets the south-east border of Sistan.
The gazetteer includes entries on human settlements and buildings (forts, hamlets, villages, towns, provinces, and districts); communications (passes, roads, bridges, canals, and halting places); tribes and religious sects; and physical features (rivers, streams, springs, wells, fords, valleys, mountains, hills, plains, and bays). Entries include information on history, geography, buildings, population, ethnography, resources, trade, agriculture, and climate.
Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.
The volume includes the following illustrations: ‘VIEW OF AK-DARBAND.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 12v]; ‘PLAN OF AK-KALA.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 14]; ‘ROUGH SKETCH OF ASTARÁBÁD, FROM AN EYE-SKETCH BY LT.-COL. BERESFORD LOVETT, R. E., 1881.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 24]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BASHRÚGAH’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 40v]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BÚJNÚRD’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 48]; and ‘BUJNURD, FROM THE S. W.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 49v].
It also includes the following inserted papers (folios 51 to 60): a memorandum from the Office of the Quartermaster General in India, Intelligence Branch to Lord Curzon, dated 6 December 1895, forwarding for his information ‘Corrections to Volume I of the Gazetteer of Persia’, consisting of articles on the Nishapur district of the province of Khorasan, and the Shelag river.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (384 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged as follows from the front to the rear: title page; preface; list of authorities consulted; and entries listed in alphabetical order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 388, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [145r] (294/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690762.0x00005f> [accessed 22 March 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/376
- Title
- ‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’
- Pages
- front, back, head, tail, spine, edge, front-i, 2r:12r, 13r:13v, 15r:23v, 25r:40r, 41r:47v, 49r, 50r:195v, 196ar:196av, 196r:357v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence