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‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [318r] (640/686)
The record is made up of 1 volume (336 folios). It was created in 1885. 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.
613
souls,* of which number 200 are Jews and Armenians, and 50 are
Nestorians, who trade to Mosul, Baghdad, and Isfahan. The Wall,
who seldom quits this place, resides in a sumptuous palace, built on the
top of a small hill in the centre of the town, where he maintains a
degree of state and splendour superior to anything Kinneir had seen
in Persia except at Court. The Kurds of Sihna are Sunis, but the
Wall and his family affect to be Shiahs to please the Shah of Persia.
It is so surrounded by hills that the town is not seen till you are
close to the suburbs. Its appearance is pleasing ; the houses are well
built, and the gardens and cultivation in its vicinity are pretty. It
enjoys a fine climate, the small valley in which it is situated being
protected from the severity of the winters in this elevated country by
the hill around it.
It has a castellated palace, situated on a height above it. At a quarter
of a mile to the south-west of the town is a magnificent garden called
Khasrabad.
The district of Sihna is divided into seven “ t'alluks/' namely, Juanru
on the south-west, Avroman, Marivan, Banah, Sakiz (on the Tabriz
road), Hasanabad and Isfandabad. Each of these is divided into four
or five smaller divisions.
The tradespeople of Sihna pay a sort of license tax, which varies from
one tuman to ten tumans per annum, according to their respective
means. The ordinary trades are all represented, but the chief industry
is carpet-making, and, as the wool of Kurdistan is of superior quality,
the carpets made at Sihna are considered among the best of their
kind. There were plenty of horses for sale, useful animals of no parti
cular breed, but standing 14 hands and 2 inches and over, and able to
do a good day's work. I bought a couple for my escort; neither of
them is much to look at, but one has turned out a good useful hoise.
Piece-goods are the principal article of import into Sihna; they
come from England via Baghdad and Karmanshah, and also from
Russia through Northern Persia. The yearly value amounts to about
150,000 tumans.
The exports comprise—
Ghi
Gum . . . •
Carpets ....
Wool ....
Gall-nuts to Hamadan
„ Baghdad .
„ Russia
The gall-nuts are all gathered in the
Mariwan, Juan, Sakiz, and Avroman;
trade in grain with Sulimania.
* Thomson, 1868, has 20,000. Mr. T. C. Plowden, 1881, says—“ The population of the
town of Sihna, as estimated by a Christian merchant, comprises ^
Muhammadans (mostly Sum)
Jews ....
Christians .... - ,
The Wazlr, however, told me that at the last numbering the population of 8 ^ was shown
to he 65,000 persons, and he considered that the city was increasing ye y.
1,500 burdens.
600 „
300 „
450 „
3.000 bags, value 30,000 tumans.
1.000 „
1,000 „
mountain districts of Banah,
occasionally there is a small
Houses.
12,000
700
65
Persons.
50,000
3,500
300
About this item
- Content
The third of four volumes comprising a Gazetteer of Persia. The volume, which is marked Confidential, covers Fārs, Lūristān [Lorestān], Arabistān, Khūzistān [Khūzestān], Yazd, Karmānshāh [Kermānshāh], Ardalān, and Kurdistān. The frontispiece states that the volume was revised and updated in April 1885 in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster General’s Department in India, under the orders of Major General Sir Charles Metcalfe Macgregor, Quartermaster-General in India. Publication took place in Calcutta [Kolkata] by the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, in 1885.
The following items precede the main body of the gazetteer:
- a note by Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sever Bell, Deputy Quartermaster General, Intelligence Branch, requesting inaccuracies, omissions and suggestions for the gazetteer be reported to the Deputy Quartermaster General;
- a second note, dated 26 November 1885, describing the geographical scope of the four volumes comprising the Gazetteer of Persia , and also making reference to the system of transliteration used (Hunterian) and authorities consulted;
- a preface, containing a summary of the geographical boundaries of the Gazetteer, a description of the Persian coast of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , an abridged account of trade in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. for the year 1884, and a description of telegraphs in the regions described by the Gazetteer.
The gazetteer includes entries for human settlements (villages, towns and cities), geographic regions, tribes, significant geographic features (such as rivers, canals, mountains, valleys, passes), and halting places on established routes. Figures for latitude, longitude and elevation are indicated where known.
Entries for human settlements provide population figures, water sources, location relative to other landmarks, climate. Entries for larger towns and cities can also include tabulated meteorological statistics (maximum and minimum temperatures, wind direction, remarks on cloud cover and precipitation), topographical descriptions of fortifications, towers, and other significant constructions, historical summaries, agricultural, industrial and trade activities, government.
Entries for tribes indicate the size of the tribe (for example, numbers of men, or horsemen), and the places they inhabit. Entries for larger tribes give tabulated data indicating tribal subdivisions, numbers of families, encampments, summer and winter residences, and other remarks.
Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (336 folios)
- Arrangement
The gazetteer’s entries are arranged in alphabetically ascending order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 341; 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 volume has two printed pagination systems, the first of which uses Roman numerals and runs from I to XIII (ff 3-10), while the second uses Arabic numerals and runs from 1 to 653 (ff 12-338).
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [318r] (640/686), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033249834.0x000029> [accessed 9 March 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/1
- Title
- ‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:340v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence