‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [32v] (69/722)
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
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44
avoid a depth of less than 23 fathoms. The distance is about 245 miles.—
(Pushchin.)
lSTARABAD-1 -RUSTAK—Lit. , Long. ; Elev.
One of the seven subdivisions of the Astarabad province, lies to the north
r and east of the town extending to Sangi Devi, and has 22 villages. There
is some open ground and pasture land towards the Kara-Su, but the greater
portion is under forest. Naudih, one of the principal villages, 13 miles
east from the town, has 200 houses. The surface of the country is slightly
higher and far less swampy than the subdivision to the west.— [Napier.)
ASTJiAIN— Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
One of the twenty districts in the Government of Khurasan.— [Baud Shdh.)
ATA.
A branch of the Chuliuni section of the Yamut Turkman. They num
ber about 1,000 men, and are located chiefly between the Gurgan and Atrak
rivers.
They are subdivided into the Nur-Ata, Gizl-Ata, Omar-Ata, and Ibag-
Ata.— [Thomson.)
ATABA1—
The most important branch of the Chuni (Chuliuni) tribe of Yamut
Turkmans, inhabiting the tract between the Gurgan and Atrak rivers, and
numbering 900 tents.— [Thomson.)
ATAK, or DAMAN-I-KTJH, or KOHEPET DAGH—Lat.
Long. ; Elev. '.
The Atak is the name applied to the mountains stretching from Kizil-
Arvat on the north-west to Sarakhs on the south-east, which form the north-
. east frontier of Persia, as also to the long thin tract of country for their
outer side, the skirt or fringe of the mountain. So that Kariz, Askabad,
and Gavars are equally included in the Atak with Daraghaz and Kalat dis
tricts within the ridge which forms the boundary line.
The Atak include, therefore, the Akhal oasis, and the Tekke-Turkmau
tribe are the chief inhabitants from end to end. The climate of the Atak is
good and healthy, and the mountain sides have considerable forests ir places.
Fraser, writing 30 years age, described the Atak in the following
terms :—
“ The region situated between the foot of the hills on the north of Khura
san, Persia, and the desert of Khiva. It is watered by streams from the
north slopes of these hills, and formerly was one of the richest and fairest
districts of the Persian monarchy, and this especially in the time of Nadir
Shah ; but in the weak reigns that have followed, it has become from its
vicinity to the homes of the Turkmans a precarious and dangei’ous abode.
Of late they have almost utterly eradicated the fixed inhabitants, destroying
towns and villages; and though a few of the former inhabitants still linger
in their old abodes, under the protection of the Khans of Kalat, Daraghaz,
Kabushan, and Bujnurd, they" lead a sad life of danger and alarm. Scarce
ly three days together pass without some attack, and never a week elapses
without prisoners being made and lives lost. They cultivate their fields
with their matchlocks at their backs and their swords girded on ; and when
they reap, they go in parties, and all on horseback. One holds the horses and
looks out while the rest set to work. On an alarm being given, they all
mount and scour away to the villages. If they cannot reach them, they
make for one of the towers that stud the whole plain like great pigeon
houses, and hold out as long as they can.' v
The possession of the passes over the Daman-i-Kuh, affording security to
her communication, would constitute the chief strategical advantage to Russia
of an extension of her frontier to the Atrak river. ,
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’ [32v] (69/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690761.0x000046> [accessed 24 February 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
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- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence