![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎277r] (560/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0566.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎277r] (560/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [277r] (560/722)
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.
The foregoing accounts of the Persian army are from sources of a date
prior to 1880. The following are from memoranda by Mr. R. Thomson,
dated Tihran, 1880, and Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, r.e., dated 1883; those
by the former are marked R. T., and those by the latter R. S. The para
graphs of the letter are numbered. The footnotes are by Captain F. de
Loessoe, Foreign Department, India, formerly an officer in the Persian
army.
A description of That cavalry will be found in the Military Report on
South-West Persia, by Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, Tt.E., 1881.
Mr. Thomson, in forwarding the memoranda above noted, remarks on
the inefficiency and disorganisation of the military administration of the
country; and the Intelligence Branch, Horse Guards, considers that, “taking
into consideration such estimates as are available of the population and
resources of Persia generally, it is conjectured that within the next year or
two (still applies, 1884), the Persian government could not place in the
field anywhere more than 50,000 infantry, 2-0,000 cavalry, and from 30 to
60 effective guns.'”
Notes on the Persian Army, by Mr. R. Thomson, Her Majesty’s Minister at Tihran:
June 1880.
The Persian army consists of about—
65,000 infantry. [ 30,000 irregular cavalry.
5,000 artillery.
The force employed on active service is composed of about—
20,000 infantry. | 10,000 irregular cavalry.
1,500 artillery.
The number of guns of all kinds, which are stored in the various govern
ment arsenals in Persia, has been stated at over 1,000; but thei'e are only
200 mounted and in a fairly serviceable condition. Of these, 50 could
be horsed and turned out of the arsenal at Tihran at any time within
a few days’ notice.
Infantry.
The regular infantry consists of seventy-three regiments, nominally of
1,000 men, but more commonly of 800 each; and the whole force is
formed into ten divisions, as follows .-—
1st (Azarbaijan) Division, eleven regiments, each 1,000 strong :—
1st, Bahaduran.
2nd, Khasrah.
3rd, Khasrah.
4th, Nasrat.
5 th, Muzaffar.
6th, Tabriz.
7th, Karadagh.
8th, Karaguzlii.
9 th, Afshar.
10th, Afshar.
11th, Shakak.
2nd (Azarbaijan) Division, nine regiments, 1,000 strong
1st, Khai.
2nd, Khai.
3rd, Ikbal.
4th, Maiagha.
5th, Karadagh.
6th, Shakak.
7th, Shakak.
8th, Khalkhal.
9th, Maku.
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’ [277r] (560/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x0000a1> [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