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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎355r] (716/722)

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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ZARG^W. ^ ^ ^ Long. ; Eley.
f V1 1X1 , ^'"'asan, lying 1 in a valley, surrounded by bills, on the road
Lorn Sabzawar to the turquoise mines at Mddan.— {Khdnikoif.)
ZARlNKTJH— La.t. , Long. ; Elev. 6,000'
A range of hills stretching across the north of the Daraghaz valley of Khu-
i r T Mui . iarama ^ aba(i the bearings show it as stretching from 30°
to 43 , the fort being only 3 miles distant ; whereas, west of Askhabad
the mam spurs of the Ivnran Dagh are thrown out to the south-east of
it, they are thrown out to the north. The first of these is a rid^e, which
inns para lie j. with the mam range, and, bounding the Durangar valley on
tie north, is known at its end, if not throughout its whole length, as the
7?r U Vr uh * ; T ie P rnicl P al peak lies north-north-west of the chief villao» e —
[MacGreijor, Napier.) °
ZAR1STAK —Lat. , Long. • Elev.
One of the sis subdivisions of the Shahrud-o-Bustan district. It lies in the
extreme west. The tract has a rough, hilly surface, with a few fertile
strips of plain, fairly watered by kanats. The best of these is the Shahrud
plain, on which stands Shahrud and ten to twelve fine villages, watered
by the Rud-i-Shah,—a small brook, which rises in Shah-Kuh, and exhausts
itself m irrigation canals in the plain. The principal villages are Shahrud-
Rustau, Dili Mulla, Jafirabad, Yunusabad, and Bedasht. A good deal of
silk and cotton is raised, as well as sufficient corn. Cultivation, beino-
dependent on kanats, suffers severely from drought. The villages have
fine, large gardens, producing abundance of fruit, a good deal of "which is
dried for export. The inhabitants are about half Arab and half A jam,
or Persian.— (Napier.)
Z ARTS PAN —Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
A village of northern Khurasan, north-east of Shfrwan. The river flowing
through it joins the Atrak. The Khushkhana valley is divided from it by
an offshoot of the Kuran Dagh.— (MacGregor.)
ZARKTJN —Lat. , Long. • Elev. '.
A village of the Dasht-i-Rukh subdivision of the Turbat-i-Haidan district
of Khurasan.— (Bellew.)
ZARWl —Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
A village in Khurasan in the biiluk of Alghur in the district of Kafn.
It is picturesquely situated on a hill, and is surrounded by vineyards and
orchards and small patches of corn cultivation. It contains about 200
houses.— (Bellew.)
ZAU— Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
One of the three affluents of the Gifana stream, itself a northern affluent
of the Atrak river, rising in the Kopet Dagh range of north-eastern
Khurasan.— (Petrusevitch.)
ZAU PlRZAN*— Lat. , Long. ; Elev. A
A defile in Khurasan, 40 miles from Mashhad, on the road to Kalat-i-
Nadiri, through the Kara Dagh range of hills. It is about a mile-and-a-half
in length, and very difficult, the first 150 yards at the southern end being
especially so. The roadway here narrows down to five feet in one place
and to six, eight, and ten in several others. On either side rises a succession
of walls, which are ranged one behind the other in a sort of column in echelon.
* The “ Pass of the Old Woman.

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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
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎355r] (716/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690765.0x000075> [accessed 24 February 2025]

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