![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎144v] (293/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0299.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎144v] (293/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [144v] (293/722)
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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2IU
Regarding- the districts on the North-East Frontier, Napier gives the
following :—
Approximate estimate of population and resources of North-East Frontier of Persia.
District.
Area.
Popula
tion.
Enrolled force.
Armed peasants.
Guns.
Astarabad ...
1,000
80,000
400
1.322
12,000 to 14,000
1 field battery.
Shabrud ...
10,000
32,000
200
1,000
5.000 to 6,000
3 light guns.
Navdm
2.000
200
300 to 400
2 „ „
Bujmird
4.500
28,000
1,000
300
3,000 to 4.000
1 gun.
Kiioban
2,500
88,000
1,000
1,000
10.000
Paraghaz
1,000
18,000
800
3,000
Kalat ...
4,000
200
1,000
2 guns.
It would be difficult to adequately set forth the consequences to Persia,
should the Ataks of Kalat and Daraghaz* pass into the hands of Russia.
The opinion of North Frontier officials is that in the severing of these
districts from the Persian empire is involved, eventually, the complete
break-up of Khurasan. The Ataks are the granary of Kalat and Dara
ghaz, the former in dry seasons being entirely dependent on them for
supplies. Since the Persian Government has ceased to exercise control
over the region, and all the surplus harvest produced there has been sent
to Askabad, the price of corn in Daraghaz has risen, and the inhabitants
suffer exceedingly in consequence. The land in the Ataks is so fertile,
and water so "abundant, that, if this region be ceded to Russia, large
numbers of the inhabitants, not only of Kuchan and Daraghaz, but also
of the districts nearer Mashhad, will probably seek refuge there from the
oppressive taxations of their rulers, which, as the population decreases, will
become more onerous.
The tribal distribution of the whole border farther south is much too
complicated for relation in detail here. Opposite Herat and in Sistan the
population is thinner and the clans more broken up ; and the hold of both
.Persia and Herat upon its respective subjects is of the weakest.
The 2,000 or 3,000 Aimaks, Hazaras, and Jamshidis are chiefly Sunnis, and
their adherence to the Persians in time of trouble would be at least very
uncertain. The Afghan tribes, who touch on the Persian border here, are
the Aimaks (Sunnis), reckoned at 250,000, and the Duranis (Sunnis),
600,000. The Sistanis are Shiahs, and the boundary line ill-defined. They
number 100,000.
On this border the Afghans are united and fairly organised ; the Persian
posts are scattered, and the officers employed on. the border commonly
strangers and mercenaries. The available numbers are very difficult to arrive
at; but the force available of irregulars, loyal or disloyal, for the whole
Perso-Afghan border has been reckoned at 10,000 armed peasants, 2,000
Aimaks and Taimuri horse, and 1,300 local horse.
* These are now Bussian (1885).
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.
- Written in
- 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’ [144v] (293/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690762.0x00005e> [accessed 23 March 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
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence