'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.' [176v] (357/652)
The record is made up of 1 volume (322 folios). It was created in 1910. 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
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344
KIR—KIR
Its first mention is found in the pages of Herodotus, who refers to it as
forming one of the twelve tribes of Persia. Strabo gives a general account
of its dimensions, fertility, and mineral wealth, in terms which would be
fairly applicable even now. In the great epic poem the “ Shah Nameh,” the
king of Kirman is mentioned as fighting on the side of Kai Khusru against
the forces of Turan. Alexander the Great traversed the province from east
to west on his return journey from India, while Krateros entered it from
Sistan.
No reference to Kirman is found during the period of the Parthian
dynasty, but after enduring a foreign yoke for five centuries., Ardashir, son
of Papak, defeated Artabanus in a desperate battle near Ram Plurmuz
(A.D. 218), and established a national dynasty which lasted till the
’Arab conquest and under which it enjoyed a state of general peace and
prosperity.
When the Nestorian sect spread over Persia, Kirman became a See
under the Metropolitan of Pars (vide Khabis). During the Arab invasion,
after the battle of Nahavand (A.D. 642), Kirman offered little opposition,
and, though rebellions and risings were of frequent occurrence, the Muham
madan rulers became the more firmly established, till gradually the majority
of the population themselves embraced the tenets of Islam. For the next
400 years Kirman was the scene of battle and murder, where one king
succeeded another, only to be ousted in his turn by a stronger than he.
In A.D. 1013 Mahmud of Ghazni seized Kirman, but eight years after his
death, which occurred in A.H. 421 (A.D. 1030), a mighty wave of conquest
rolled westwards across Asia, when the Seljuks captured Merv and
Nishapur, and Malik Kaward, son of Chakar Beg, hewed out a kingdom
for himself in Kirman, which was held by his descendants for a century
and a half, and included, till the reign of Arslan Shah, the province
of’Oman, which Kaward annexed by an oversea e pedition.
Kirman under the Seljuka was at the zenith of its prosperity about the
year A.D. 1100, after which a fearful condition of rapine and anarchy
succeeded, when the Ghaz, expelled from Sarakhs, invaded the province,
marched to Baghin, defeated the forces sent against them and raided Jiruft,
killing, harrying and destroying. Kirman was practically deserted and the
province laid waste. Malik Dinar of the Ghaz tribe, about A.H. 581 (A.D.
1185), established himself on the throne, upon which followed as usual,
intrigues and counter-intrigues of rival and succeeding claimants, till the
great Mongol irruption under Changiz Khan indirectly changed the course
of its history, when a certain Borak Hajib managed to assume supreme con
trol, under the overlordship of Changiz Khan. One of his successors, the
widow of Kutb-ud-Din, was on the throne when Marco Polo passed through
on his outward journey. She appears to have ruled wisely and well, to have
founded villages, which are still flourishing, and many qandt pipes stamped
with her name are even yet extant in the province. She died about
A.H. 681 (A.D. 1282).
It is interesting to note that Arghun Khan, reigning about A.D. 1290,
i sent embassies to the Pope and the kings of France and England, while
Edward I accredited Geoffrey de Langely to the Court of the Mongol, with
a return embassy and presents. .-
About this item
- Content
The item is Volume IV of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1910 edition).
The volume comprises that portion of Persia south and east of the Bandar Abbas-Kirman-Birjand to Gazik line, with the exception of Sistan, 'which is dealt with in the Military Report on Persian Sistan'. It also includes the islands of Qishm, Hormuz, Hanjam, Larak etc. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and the whole district of Shamil.
The gazetteer includes entries on villages, towns, administrative divisions, districts, provinces, tribes, halting-places, religious sects, mountains, hills, streams, rivers, springs, wells, dams, passes, islands and bays. The entries provide details of latitude, longitude, and elevation for some places, and information on history, communications, agriculture, produce, population, health, water supply, topography, climate, military intelligence, coastal features, ethnography, trade, economy, administration and political matters.
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 contains an index map, dated July 1909, on folio 323.
The volume also contains a glossary (folios 313-321).
Prepared by the General Staff, Army Headquarters, India.
Printed at the Government Monotype Press, India.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (322 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 324; 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 also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/2/3
- Title
- 'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:322v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence