![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎262v] (531/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0537.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎262v] (531/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [262v] (531/722)
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.
478
upon towns, villages, and districts, each of which has to contribute a fixed
sum, the amount of which is changed from time to time by tax-assessors
appointed by the government. Almost the entire burden of taxation lies
upon the labouring classes ; and the Mussulman subjects of the Shah among
these. The amount of revenue collected from the Christian population,
the Jews, and the Gabars is reported to be very small/"
“ The government has no public debt. A balance due for many years
from the Shah to Russia on account of the expenses of the war concluded in
1828, amounting to about £200,000, was cancelled in 1856. The collection
of the revenue is intimately connected with the administration of justice, the
same officer presiding over both; and this union is unfavourable to the
inhabitants, as it enables the collector to prostitute his judicial power for
the gratification of his avarice/"—(Vol. XVII, page 427, ttncyclopadia
Britannica.)
Sources of revenue .—The following is taken from Mr. Thomsons Report
for 1868 :
“ The revenue of Persia is derived from the following sources
(1) Imposts on crown lands and private landed property.-—These, so far
as they are established and authorised by government, may be con
sidered, on the whole, fair and moderate. Two-tenths of all agri
cultural produce, or its value in money, is supposed to be the
amount payable to the crown by the landholders. As a general rule,
however, tliis is somewhat exceeded, and 25 per cent, may be taken
as the average assessment.
(2) Duties levied on cattle and flocks,—which are as follows:
Goats and sheep, 4 shaln's, or 2d., each
Cows, !■§ krans, or Is. 2d., each
Brood-mares ...
She-buff aloes *<•
She-asses
Camels (not employed in transporting
About 8 per cent, on the value
of wool and butter yielded.
... 5 krans, or 4s., each.
... 2| kians, or 2s., each.
... IJs krans, or Is. 2d., each,
rchandise), 5 krans, or 4s., each.
(3) Customs dues,-—which are farmed by the government to private indi
viduals, and produce annually[a little over one
crore
Equivalent to ten million, or one hundred lakhs. Used especially in connection with money (rupees).
of tumans, or
200,000/. During the present year they are farmed for the follow
ing sums :
Isfahan ...
Tumans.
24,500
Kashan
* f *
16,360
Kasvin ...
7,400
Khamsah ...
3.200
Burujird
• *<*
7,200
Hamadan
11,000
Astarabad and Barfarush
19,300
Zanjan and Bijar
« ♦ »
1,000
Tabriz
235,000
Karmanshab ...
20,000
Karman
7,000
Pars
35,000
Gilan and Fisheries ...
100,000
Tihran
. • •
41,000
Gulpaigan
• ••
1,700
Khurasan
...
...
...
7,000
536,660 = £214,664
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’ [262v] (531/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x000084> [accessed 22 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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