'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎322v] (649/706)

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UROmIEH
induced the Russians to send troops into the district and Turkey was oblig
ed to withdraw. In 1912 there were 500 Russian troops in Urumieh.
(Article in old Gazetteer supplemented by extracts from Curzon’s Per
sia and Picot’s Persian Army.)
Population .—The population numbers between 30,000 and 40,000,
the bulk of the inhabitants are Afshar Turks with a considerable sprinkl
ing of Nestorian, Jewish and Armenian families. In ancient history Uru
mieh is famous as the legendary birth place of Zoroaster and also as one
of the burial places of the three Magi.
To Christian visitors the chief interest of the place lies in the fact that
it is the head-quarters of the French, Armenian and British missions to
the Nestorian Christians of the neighbourhood.
In Urumieh Russian influence is very powerful. The greater part
of the Nestorians living on the Plain of Urunveh have joined the Greek
Church, in the hopes of Russian protection, and there are repeated rumours
that the Armenians of Salmas Plain are about to follow their example.
The Shah presented 3'3 acres at Urumieh to the Russian Empress on
which to erect mission buildings, which were begun on 2nd August 1903.
Resources. —The plain of Urumieh is almost 50 miles long and 18 broad,
and the eye embraces nearly its entire surface from Sair. Its extraordi
nary productiveness is secured by the abundance of waters descending
from the snowy Kurdish mountains, and it would be difficult to find a more
exceedingly careful cultivation of the soil, a more judicious system of arti
ficial irrigation, or a denser population. The vast area presents an end
less series of villages, gardens, and fields, as far as the eye can reach, offering
considerable analogy to the richly cultivated banks of the Lake of Zurich,
though it lacks the palatial farm-houses, the cleanliness and comfort of
the Swiss, as well as the blessing of their political liberty. Poverty, misery,
and famine are rampant in this Persian paradise. Its unfortunate inhabit
ants besides having to pay 65,000 tumans to the state treasury at Tehran,
are fleeced by the scandalous robberies and oppression of the Persian
employes and nobles, to whom the caprice of the Shah assigns the villages.
The district of Urumieh contains 400 villages, and presents an extra
ordinary scene to a person accustomed to the treeless monotony of the
plains of Mesopotamia. A more fertile district can scarcely be imagined—
one vast extent of groves, orchards, vineyards, gardens, rice ground and
villages, sometimes with a village common. It much resembles the best
part of Lombardy, between Milan and the Lago Maggiore. For 12 miles
this town is surrounded by gardens intermingled with melon grounds,
cotton and tobacco fields, the latter of high estimation, for Ckibuk
tobacco is sent in large quantities to Constantinople.
Zinc, lead and silver are said to exist unworked in the Chaldean moun
tains to the west, and petroleum oil springs are said to be actually kept
on fire by villagers to prevent their overflow tainting the streams. The
general feeling of insecurity and probability of being squeezed by officials
prevent all enterprise.
Military. —The city is enclosed within a wall with seven gates and an
outer ditch. The only building of any importance is the arsenal, a walled
building in the centre of the town which contains the following guns, three