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‘Gazetteer of Kermanshah.’ [‎168v] (341/504)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1907. 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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248
KUREH-KHOSROY—Mahidasht.
A village of the Mahidasht district. Malyat Krs. 152,262 dinars cash
and Kh. 2-50-0 grain. It is inhabited by Zengenehs.
KUREH SAID—Zobab.
Malyat Krs. 500.
KUREH SALEH—Zohab.
Mazraeh g“iven on the Revenue Department list of villages, etc,, of the
District of Zohab. It is probably the same as Kurrefi-Said.
KURDS—
The following notes from Curzon s Persia and the Persians apply to the
Kurds of Kerrnanshah:
“By far the greater part of the Persian Kurds are sedentary and pastoral.
A great many of them farm and till the ground on the plains and hill
slopes; an even larger number keep herds of sheep, goats and cattle, from
which they make excellent cheese and butter; and the extent of their
nomadic habits is, in most casos, that in the summer months they move into
camps on the higher acclivities, above the settled villages which they inhabit
in the winter. Nomad Kurds are to be found paituularly in Turkish terri
tory, and on the border; and perhaps the wealthiest and mist independent
of the tribes belong to this class, the cultivators of the soil and shepherds
being, as a rule, deplorably ignorant and poor, As regards their character,
every variety may be found in their midst, from the typical robber chieftain
to the harmless peasant, and from the dashing warrior to the miserable
thrall. Those who know them best deny that they are naturally either cruel
or fanatical, and credit them with a rude hospitality and high courage.
When excited, however, they are as ugly customers as can be encountered.
Their position amid hostile and craven communities, whose religion they
abhor, tempts them to anarchy and turbulence. Ruled by a strong but
just hand, there is no . reason why they should not become an orderly
community, very useful for purposes of warfare.”
They are an extraordinarily ignorant and extraordinarily stupid people
with neither education, schools, nor books, and it has been said of the
whole race that not one in 10,000 can read. They have the black hair
and eyes, the dark complexion and the sullen swagger (so characteristic
too of the Afghans) that are usually associated with picturesque ruffianism;
and the sympathies and fears of travellers have variously represented their
features as strikingly handsome, or repulsively ugly.
There can be no doubt that by far the most lawless and rascally of the
Kurds are the frontier tribes, who migrate forwards and backwards across
the border line, according to the season of the year or the hope of plunder,
.seeking refuge from an atrocity in the one country by retreat to the other.
Twenty-five years ago Mr. J. Gf. 'l aylor, British Consul at Diarbekr, penned
the following paragraph which is as true now as when composed :—
“This mixed nationality of one family and the still unsettled state of the
frontier cause interminable disputes between the Governments of Persia and
Turkey. The Kurds being equally at home in one country as in the other
cross the border whenever they feel inclined or it suits their purpose, either

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Content

Gazetteer of the province of Kermanshah, Persia [Iran], compiled by Hyacinth Louis Rabino, Vice-Consul at Resht [Rasht] at the time of the gazetteer’s publication in 1907, and who had been Acting Consul at Kermanshah during 1904 and 1905. The gazetteer, which is marked for official use only, was issued by the Division of the Chief of the Staff of the Government of India, and published at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla [Shimla]. At the front of the volume is an introduction by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilfrid Malleson, Acting Quartermaster General for Intelligence, dated 22 March 1907, and a preface by the author, dated 24 June 1904, with notes on the transliteration system used (folios 4-5).

The gazetteer includes five appendices, numbered I to V, as follows:

  • appendix I, a translation from the French original of a description of the road from Kermanshah to Mendali [Mandalī], via Harunabad [Eslāmābād-e Gharb] and Gilan [Sarāb-e Gīlān], as recorded in a journal by Leon Leleux, Inspector General of Customs at Kermanshah;
  • II, a translation from the Persian original of a description of the villages in the immediate vicinity of the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). of Mahidasht, written by the Mirza of Customs at Mahidasht;
  • III, a vocabulary of terms;
  • IV, a list of the principal roads from Baghdad to Teheran via Kermanshah, with distances given in miles and farsakhs;
  • V, a list of the notables of Kermanshah.

The gazetteer contains extensive extracts from a range of sources, including: an earlier, unspecified gazetteer, published in 1885; various works on Persia by British Government officials (including Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, the Viceroy of India George Nathaniel Curzon, Captain George Campbell Napier); published works by a number of scholars and explorers of Persia (notably Trevor Chichele Plowden, Jacques De Morgan, Henry James Whigham, and James Baillie Fraser); reports from other sources, including Leleux, and the Mirza of Customs at Mahidasht.

Some of the appendices’ pages appear to have been mixed up. Included among them are: a genealogical table of the princes of Kermanshah (f 239); and hierarchical tables listing the chiefs of the principal tribes of the province of Kermanshah (ff 244-245).

Extent and format
1 volume (249 folios)
Arrangement

The gazetteer’s entries are arranged alphabetically. An index at the front of the volume (folios 6-45) lists entries alphabetically, taking into account variations in the spelling of names. This index refers to the volume’s original pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 250; 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 Kermanshah.’ [‎168v] (341/504), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/19, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049855657.0x00008e> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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