![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎269v] (545/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0551.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎269v] (545/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [269v] (545/722)
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.
492
Large white cotton trousers and lapcheens?—a sort of soft leather buskin,
which laces half-way up the leg, and is admirably adapted for marching in
dry weather—complete their dress. The Turk soldier wears on his head
the ordinary lamb-skin cap. The Laks wear brown namad, or felt caps.
Knapsacks are not carried in the Persian army ; 80 asses per company
are the substitute for that article. Tents are allowed to the regiments.
“ Persia has preceded Turkey in introducing Christians into her army.
For several years there has been a regiment of Nestorian Christians of
Urmia in the Shah’s service. Many among them are Armenians, notwith
standing the total absence of military qualities in that race.
“ The pay of a private soldier is 7 tumans, or about 3/. lOs., a year,* besides
a ration of about 3j lbs. of bread daily. A battalion of 850 privates is
estimated to cost about 15,000 tumans, or 7,500/. annually, but, from the
incompleteness of the regiments, the real expenditure is much less.
“ The cavalry of Persia is a numerous body, and, in fact, its numbers are
dependent only on the means of payment.
“ The regular cavalry consists of 500 hussars, supposed to be like the
Hungarian troops of the same kind. They are an absurd, useless body.
({ The Shah’s bodyguard of irregular cavalry consists of 2,500 men. They
are well mounted and armed, and excellent horsemen.
“ The irregular cavalry is raised almost entirely among the tribes. Azer
baijan supplies 6,000 of these horsemen.
“ Since the introduction of ‘ nizam/ or disciplined troops, the Persian
cavalry has lost the reputation it formerly held. Fateh All Shah broke
down the tribe system as much as lay in his power, by which means, if
internal tranquillity was better secured, the power of resisting foreign
aggression was proportionally diminished. The breed of horses has been
thereby deteriorated, the great khans of the Iliats have disappeared, and
with them the numerous studs which they maintained.
“ If the Persian cavalry has fallen from its ancient fame, it is, never
theless, considered more than a match for Turkish troops of the same descrip
tion, and fully equal to the Cossacks of the Russian army. I have heard
that in the last war the Persian horse never shunned an encounter with the
Cossacks—above all, with those of the Don; though they were wholly incap
able of contending with Russian dragoons. There are now two regiments
of Cossacks in the Persian army /’—[Civil and Military Gazette/Md February
1881.)
The organisation of the Persian army, according to a
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
in the
Times of India, 3rd August 1854, is as follows :—
“ The regular infantry (sarbaz) is composed of 82 regiments, divided
into active and reserve—
Active f ® regiments of guards j ?
l 32 regiments of the line )
—generally skeleton
“Each regiment has ten companies (dasta),
composed of—
1 captain ...
... Sultan.
1 lieutenant ...
... Naib-i-awal.
1 second lieutenant
... Naib-i-duwwam.
5 sergeants ...
Sarjoga.
10 corporals
... Deli bashi.
100 privates ... ...
... Sarbaz.
* A tuman is worth 4 rupees—not more than 6 s. 8c5 now.
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’ [269v] (545/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x000092> [accessed 24 November 2024]
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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