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'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎235r] (486/820)

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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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There are from 2,000 to 3,000 tents of nomads of the Za afaranlu and
’Airarlu tribes, moving for the most part about the skirts of the plain and
in the southern mountains. The Za’afaianlu at the time of their first
settlement had, according to their traditions, 24,000 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*
Prom an average of the population of the villages passed through, And
from careful local inquiry, the following computation, which is probab y
near the truth, though possibly slightly excessive, was made .
Town of Kuchan .. • • • • • • 9,000
Town of ShirvSn
Kuchan and Shirvan plain
Mountains north
Mountains south
Nomad .. • •
Total population
6,000
40,000
10,000
8,000
16,000
88,000
The numbers estimated by several of the officials were much in excess
of this, amounting to 200,000 ; and there certainly is more appearance of
life in the landscape than in most other parts of Persia. The plain is
an almost unbroken sheet of cultivation, and the villages cover a large extent
of ground ; their size being, however, exaggerated by the fine gardens and
groves surrounding them.
The Za’afaranlu are a fine, robust race, the men of good stature and stout,
with usually fair complexions as compared with
Material condition. ^ p e0 pi e 0 f ot h er p ar ts. They appear invari*
ably well fed and clothed, and their villages are neatly built, clean, and en*
livened by troops of children of all ages-*—an unusual sight. They bear
a high character for courage, and are always civil, hospitable, and
honest in their dealings. Their independent, manly bearing marks them
as superior to the inhabitants of the southern districts, and is also an
evidence of their prosperous condition.
Kuchan is beyond dispute the most productive tract in Khorasan ; it
may, in fact, be termed the granary of the prov-
Resources. sur pi us produce finds its way into
Russian territory and the markets of Meshed and of all the towns of th6
eastern borders ; and it is in seasons when the crops of the southern dis
tricts fail by reason of drought that its value is most felt.
The drainage of two great chains of mountains gives it unequalled ad
vantages of irrigation ; and large tracts of corn land lying at a considerable
elevation, sheltered from the parching south winds, and within reach of
the moisture-laden breezes from the Caspian and the fertile plains and
valleys to the east of it, ensure a fair supply of grain, even when the
annual rainfall is deficient. The following extract, translated from the Shah’s
Diary in Khorasan, will show how fully the importance of this tract is ap
preciated ; and it is also worthy of special note that nearly the whole of
it lies north of the main branch of the Atiak :—
“ The soil of that place (Kuchan) is the most productive of any in th e
vicinity of Meshed. The corn land, which is both irrigated and unirrigated
48 I. B. 3 L

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' [‎235r] (486/820), 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_100037360151.0x000057> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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