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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎28r] (60/386)

The record is made up of 1 volume (189 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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42
Chapter IV.
THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
f< I should regard the concession of a port upon the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to Russia by any power as a deliberate insult
4t to Great Britain, as a wanton rupture of the status quo, and
u as an intentional provocation to war ; and I should impeach
“ the British minister, who was guilty of acquiescing in such
“ a surrender, as a traitor to his country/’
—Extract from Lord Curzon’s
“ Persia and the Persian
Question ”, Volume 11,
page 465.
In the viceroyalty of Lord Curzontlie question of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. attain
ed a prominence greater than at any
Unparalleled prominence of the Per- time since the beginning of British rule
gian Gulf question. - n j nc ij a} anc [ the position of Great
Britain in that region was assailed with much energy by other European
powers, especially by Russia and Prance. The chance by which the con
flict was timed was in one respect singularly fortunate, for Lord Curzon
had at an earlier period made a close study of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. problem and
was deeply impressed with its importance. Several years before, he had even
foreshadowed the policy which it would behove the British Government to
adopt in case of the appearance of European rivalry in the Gulf, and in the
execution of that very policy he was now, as head of the Government of India,
himself to take a leading part.
The principal objects of Russia were the creation of a naval base in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and the construction of a
Russian designs. Russian railway across Persia by which
the resources of the Russian Empire could be brought to bear for its support;
these objects she set herself to compass partly by direct and partly by indirect
means. In 1899 it was reported from Tehran that the Russians had acquired
from Persia certain rights in a Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. port, and two months later the
statement was confirmed by the Turkish Minister for Foreign Adairs at Con
stantinople, while almost simultaneously the St. Petersburg “ Yiedomosti ”
advocated the acquisition of Bunder Abbas together with the islands of Kishm,
Etenjam, Larak and Hormuz in order to provide a terminus for a Russian rail
way across Persia. The existence of a Russo-Persian agreement regarding a
port in the Gulf was denied by the Persian Government, but the proceedings
of Russian ships and railway surveyors soon furnished corroboration of the
prevailing rumours. M e shall consider first the direct means used by Russia
to promote her schemes for a naval base and a strategic railway.
The attention of Russia was at first attracted by the harbour of Koweit.
In 1898 a Russian, Count Kapnist, had
Russian quest of a naval base. obtained from the Po-fte a concession for
a railway to run from Tripoli in Syria to Koweit, and early in 1899 a party
of Russo-Armenian spies tfere set at work in Koweit l>y the Russian Consul-
General in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ; the designs of Russia in this direction were
frustrated, however, by an engagement with the British Government into
which the Sheikh of Koweit entered at the beginning of 1899 and by which
he bound himself not to alienate any portion of his territory to foreigners.
Koweit was visited by Russian war-vessels in 1900, 1902 and 1903 ; but from
1899 onwards it was clear that Russia had abandoned her interest in that
place in favour of schemes better adapted to promote her policy in Persia.
The first point on the Persian side threatened with a Russian occupa
tion was Bunder Abbas, to which the warnings received from Tehran and
Constantinople probably referred, and which had been specifically mentioned

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Content

Printed at the GC [Government Central] Press, Simla.

The volume is divided into three parts: Part I (folios 5-47) containing an introduction; Part II (folios 48-125) containing a detailed account; and Part III (folios 126-188) containing despatches and correspondence connected with Part I Chapter IV ('The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ', folios 28-47).

Part I gives an overview of policy and events in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region during Curzon's period as Viceroy [1899-1905], with sections on British policy in Persia; the maintenance and extension of British interests; Seistan [Sīstān]; and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Part II contains more detailed accounts of selected topics, including sections on British policy in Persia, customs and finance, quarantine, administration, communications, and British and Russian activity in Seistan. The despatches and correspondence in Part III include correspondence from the Government of India in the Foreign Department, the Secretary of State for India, and the Viceroy; addresses and speeches by Curzon; and notes of interviews between Curzon and local rulers.

Mss Eur F111/531-534 consist of four identical printed and bound volumes. However, the four volumes each show a small number of different manuscript annotations and corrections.

This volume contains manuscript additions on folios 8, 11-12, 14, 42 (a sixteen word note concerning the use by the Shaikh of Koweit [Kuwait] of a distinctive colour [flag] for Kuwait shipping), and 62-66.

Extent and format
1 volume (189 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a list of Parts I-III on folio 4; a table of contents of Part I on folio 6; a table of contents of Part II on folio 49; and a table of contents of Part III on folios 127-129, which gives a reference to the paragraph of Part I Chapter IV that the despatch or correspondence is intended to illustrate.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 191; 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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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎28r] (60/386), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/534, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070118029.0x00003d> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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