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'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎159r] (324/820)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (396 folios). It was created in 1910. 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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Empress Catherine occasioned a change of measures in the Russian Court,
and the troops were recalled. The king turned the great force he had
collected against the fort of Shisheh, which the governor, Ibrahim Kulbal,
alarmed at his numbers, evacuated and fled. The moment Aqa Muhammad
received this intelligence, he crossed the Aras with a small party,
leaving the bulk of his army under Haji Ibrahim on the Persian side of
that river. He easily got possession of Shisheh and began to exercise
not only the most wanton cruelties on the inhabitants, but on his own
adherents ; and to take such delight in shedding blood, that it is affirmed he
seldom said his prayers without giving signals in the midst of them to those
around him to strike off the heads of some with whom he was offended.
“ But his fate was near. On the night of the 18th of Zil Hijja, as he
was going to rest, he called three of his personal servants, and upbraiding’
them for having lost or stolen one or two piastres, he told them to go and
take leave of their families and to say their prayers, as he would certainly
put them to death next morning. Retiring disconsolate from his pre
sence, they met Sbadi Khan Shakaki, who had been playing at chess
with the king and had lost a large sum, which had ruffled his temper ;
and on his asking them the cause of their grief, they briefly stated what
had occurred, and added the certainty of the king doing as he had
threatened. ‘'If you are assured of that,’ said Shadi Khan,‘ where is
the risk in a brave attempt to save your lives’? Encouraged by this
speech from a man of the first rank in the state, they consulted together,
and in two hours returned to the chamber of Aqa Muhammad, and
perceiving that he was asleep, they desired, as from him, the guards to
retire, lest they should disturb his repose. As they were known to be
personal servanfs, the command was instantly obeyed. The guards had no'
sooner removed than they went into the room and, falling upon the sleeping,
king, despatched him with a hundred wounds,
‘ ‘ It was sunrise next day before this event was known. The moment;:
it became public, the army in Shisheh dispersed. Some joined Haji Ibrahim ;
others went to Husain Quli Khan ; and many retired altogether from a*
scene where they anticipated nothing but confusion.
“ The body of Aqa Muhammad, left unprotected, fell into the hands
of the Armenians, who for two days, in revenge for their wrongs, treated
it with every indignity, dragging it by the heels through the streets ; and
to complete their insult, they buried it in the common sewer of the town.
Aqa Muhammad was a man of great abilities, but destitute of every
virtue. Avarice and cruelty were the predominant passions of his mind
the former he carried to an extreme, of which history furnishes no example;:
The great wisdom of Haji Ibiahim, the minister, and the fidelity of
1798 A. D. Mirza Muhammad Khan Kajar, Governor of
Tehran, added to the cruel precautions which
Aqa Muhammad had taken, secured a quiet succession to Baba Khan.
That prince, who was at Shiraz, received the accounts of his uncle’s fate
on the 7th of Muharram, 1212 Hijrah, and instantly set out for the capital,
where he arrived in a few days and was acknowledged as sovereign.
“ The only person who made any opposition to his succession was Shadi
Khan Shakaki. That noble, who has been already mentioned, and whose

About this item

Content

The item is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1910 edition).

The volume covers the provinces of Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustam, and Khorasan, or such part of them as lies within the following boundaries: on the north the Russo-Persian boundary; on the east the Perso-Afghan boundary; on the south and south-west, a line drawn from the Afghan boundary west through Gazik to Birjand, and the road from Birjand to Kirman, and from Kirman to Yazd; and on the west the road from Yazd to Damghan and thence to Ashraf.

The gazetteer includes entries on villages, towns, administrative divisions, districts, provinces, tribes, halting-places, religious sects, mountains, hills, streams, rivers, springs, wells, dams, passes, islands and bays. The entries provide details of latitude, longitude, and elevation for some places, and information on history, communications, agriculture, produce, population, health, water supply, topography, military intelligence, coastal features, ethnography, trade, economy, administration and political matters.

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 contains an index map (from a later edition of the Gazetteer of Persia ), dated January 1917, on folio 397.

The volume also contains a glossary (folios 393-394); and note on weights and measures (folios 394v-395).

Prepared by the General Staff Headquarters, India.

Printed at the Government Monotype Press, India.

Extent and format
1 volume (396 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 398; 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
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'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎159r] (324/820), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/2/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037360148.0x00007d> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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