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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎306v] (619/722)

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. .

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566
Yazd —■
sang-i-shah = 1,280 miscals, or about
Hamaddn, Tihrdn, Sfc .—
For sugar:
1 Tabriz man = 640 miscals, or about
1 sang-i-shah == 1,280 miscals, or about
For cereals, &c.:
1 sang-i-rai = 2,160 miscals, or about
100 Tabriz mans of 640 miscals = 1 kharwar.*
JBihbahdn —
For foreign goods:
1 Tabriz man = 760 miscals, or about ...
For native produce:
1 man = 850 miscals, or about
Dilam —
For foreign articles:
1 man == 760 miscals, or about
For native produce :
1 man = 1,150 miscals, or about
Bandar Big —
For all goods :
1 man — 995 miscals, or about
Baiyyir —
For foreign articles:
1 man = 890 miscals, or about
For native produce :
1 man — 3,220 miscals, or about ,,,
... 13 lbs.
... 6i lbs.
... 13 lbs.
... 22 lbs.
7f lbs.
8|- lbs.
... 7f lbs.
11! lbs.
... 10i lbs.
... 4 lbs.
... 33 lbs.
Shustar and Bizful —
1 man — 1,520 miscals, or about ... ... ... ... 15| lbs.
The gold tuman constitutes the Persian standard coin : it is worth
about Us. 4, and is divided into 10 krans of 20 shalns each. Copper coins are
current in coins of I'd felis (6 felis or pul = 1 shaln). The Russian 20 and
15 kopeck coins are most popular in northern Persia. They are taken at
10 or 14 shalns.
The scarcity of coin of the realm, whether gold, silver, or copper, is becom
ing a serious impediment to trade transactions, and threatens to cause a
deadlock, if not counteracted. The gold has disappeared; the silver is fast
following; and copper is hard to obtain.
Fast Office.
The Persian post office has been organised for some years; and the
interior tariff is at the rate of 5 shahis for 3 miscals. The chief routes
are dhe Russian ones, by Julfa, Anzali, Barfarush, and Astarabad ; the
Turkish, through Baghdad ; the British Indian, through Basrah and Bandar
Abbas.
* ‘ kharwar ’ originally means ‘ donkey-load.’

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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.

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English in Latin script
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎306v] (619/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690765.0x000014> [accessed 22 March 2025]

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