![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎23v] (51/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0053.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎23v] (51/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [23v] (51/722)
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.
Zone V, from 12 to 16 miles radius.
Village.
Pu4-Kurda
Naudih ... . ...
Kuliabad
Balajadih
Sarkala ... ...
Kasimabad
Kurd Mahalla ...
A.lang ...
Chahardeh
Vl'Var
Zirbat Maballa
Jiashumabad
Houses.
12
30
50
200
30
10
1,200
50
100
50
10
10
Total
1,752
Tae above list of villages gives a total of 5,054 houses in round numbers.
Assuming the low rate of four persons per house, the result is a population of
20,216 souls; and, applying the proportion quoted above of a surplus of 500
per cent, oil the local consumption of food, we have food apparently pro
duced sufficient for the yearly consumption of over 100,000 souls. There
would therefore evidently be supplies sufficient for a considerable force, after
leaving a broad margin for errors and omissions in the above calculation.
As regards the. possible development of the resources of Astarabad under
a different administration to the present, considering the great fertility
of the soil, not only of the uplands to the south, but of the easily irrigated
tiaet between the Kara-Su and the Atrak; considering also the untouched
resources in timber, the limitless water power available in the mountain
gorges, and also the mildness of the climate,—it is easy to see that by a pro
per development of these resources, and by colonization by German and
.Russian peasants, the products might be multiplied twenty times.
In 1721 Peter the Great invaded the territory south of the Caucasus, and
having taken Darband entered into a treaty with Persia, by which that
power ceded Daghistan, Shiran, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Astarabad; but
the attempt to take over the two latter was never made. Nevertheless the
note worthy fact remains that the whole of the Caspian provinces of Persia
were ceded to Russia by a treaty which has never been formally annulled •
[Hotones, Kinneir, Monteith, Che&ney, Eastwick, Fraser, Pushchin, Lovett 1
AST All A BAD*— Cat. 36° 50' 52 ,/ , Long. 54° 25' 26"; Elev. 377' {Lemm).
The chief and only city of the province of the same name. It is situated
at the foot of the north-west slope of the Alburz and on the river Astar
which falls into , the Astarabad Bay in the south-east of the Caspian, 20
miles below. It is enclosed within a crenellated mud wall about 35 feet hioffi
and from 3 to 4 miles in circumference, flanked by a series of round towei?;
and it has once been strengthened by a ditch now in most places filled up’
These defences, particularly on the north and east sides of the town, are in
ruins, and would oppose no obstacle to. an attack. There are three gateways—
one to the west, where the walls are in the best repair, one to the south, and
one to the north-east; they are roofed, and have small chambers on each
side serving as a lodging for the guard.
the present town by no means fills up the space enclosed, which is partly
occupied by gardens and heaps of rubbish, the remains of former habitations.
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.
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- 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’ [23v] (51/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690761.0x000034> [accessed 28 November 2024]
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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