![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎353r] (712/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0718.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎353r] (712/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [353r] (712/722)
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. .
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ZABARKIlAN —Lat. , Long. ; Elev. '.
A subdivision of Mshapur, with a population of 8,000 souls and an esti-
naated icvenua of <3,000 tumans. f Ihe subdivision comprises a number of
villages in the ravines of the main range of Mfrabad, north-west of the
Barb-i-Kazi. It is watered by the Tarukh and Baz Khan streams. The
people are Baiat, Turk, and Ajam, and number 2,000 families. Silk,
tobacco, and cotton are produced.— [Bellew, MacGregor, Napier.)
ZADlS—L at. , Long. ; Elev.
A village, 2 miles north-west of Radkan, on the road to Daraghaz.—
{Napier.)
ZAFARANI— ~Lat. 36° 10' IV [Lentz), Long. 58° 8' 0" {Walker); Elev.
A village in Khurasan, 25 miles from Sabzawar, on the road to Nishapur
It contains about 200 houses, surrounded by a mud wall; also a good post-
house and a large sarai. There is a stream of good water; but supplies
are not procurable. The sarai has the reputation of being infested by a
peculiarly poisonous species of bug, called ‘shabgaz/ Before the old
sarai became a ruin, its beauty was eulogised by Fraser; and Khanikoff
repeats it.
Z AF ARANLtJ—
A tribe of Khurasan Kurds, who were expatriated, with the Shahdilu,
Kaiwanlu, and Amanlu tribes, by about 1,600 a.d. by the wazfr
of Shah Abbas of the Safavian dynasty. They occupied Chinaran, a fertile
tract with fine pastures, at the head of the Kashaf Rud, the stream draining
the plain at Mashhad and Kuchan in the plain at the head of the Atrak.
Those of Chinaran have since lost all political existence, and their chiefs all
influence. Famine, reckless rebellion, and misgovernment, have reduced
their numbers, and ruined their fortunes. Such of the class as remain
look to the chief of Kuchan as their leader. The Zafaranlu of Kuchan,
more favoured by fortune and possessing a more fertile country, have
increased in influence, numbers, and wealth, and take the full lead of all the
other tribes. The mass of the population of Kuchan are Zafaranlu Kurds,
who may be estimated at about four-fifths of the whole. There are from 2,000
to 3,000 tents of the nomads of the Zafaranlu and Amanlu tribes,—moving
for the most part about the skirts of the plain and in the southern mountains.
The Zafaranlu at the time of their first settlement had, according to their
traders, 21,000 families, or about 120,000 souls. If so, they must have
decreased much in numbers; for at the highest estimate they cannot have
now more than half that number.
The Zafaranlu are a fine, robust race-men of good stature and stout,
with usually fair complexions as compared with the people of other parts.
They appeared invariably well fed and clothed, says Napier; and their
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’ [353r] (712/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690765.0x000071> [accessed 7 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
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence