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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [72v] (149/617)
The record is made up of 2 volumes (301 folios). It was created in 22 Jun 1896-3 Mar 1900. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
and the dealings of many of the tribesmen have been with Afghanistan. Owing
to the want of a central authority and the apathy and "want of influence, of their
chiefs, they have been reduced, in many instances, to referring their disputes to
Afghan officials for settlement. As an instance of their connection with
Afghan officials I should note that most of the Zagar Mingal headmen we met
along the southern fringe of Registan use to go first to the Afghan Commissioner
and used then to be sent on to me by him. It is obviously necessary that
this state of things should be put an end to. There is yet another important
reason for establishing effective control in this place, and that is with a view to
stopping the trade which at present goes on there in Hazara and other slaves,
male and female. These are smuggled across the Afghan border to Nushki
and thence sent to purchasers throughout Baluchistan. The Amir’s officials
in Shorawak have endeavoured to put a stop to this, and on one occasion within
the past two or three years endeavoured to station a small outpost at Nushki with
that object.
5. The Chagai district extends south of the boundary line from Kani and
The Chagai District. Muhabbat on the east tobeyondKoh-i-
* Their actual occupation, as we locally ascer- Dalll On the West. In the SOUth it ex*
gained, extends to the Persian border. tends to and includes Mushkija, Isa Tahir
A. H. M. ( not Panihan, Zaian, Galichah, and
Sorap, and thence along the
watershed
The boundary between adjacent drainage basins.
of the mountain ranges of Raskoh, Sheikh
Hussain, etc., which form the southern
t The name Sanjarani includes their allied boundary of Dalbandin and Nushki. This
and subject tribe, the Paokis, who are known . . r ,, , • r ,
as Sanjaranis, tra ct forms the present territory of the
Chagai Sanjaranisf. I have already given a
brief history and genealogy of the Sanjarani tribe in appendix vii of my final report
on the demarcation of the boundary line. Suffice here to say that the Chagai
Sanjaranis are a branch of the Sanjarani tribe whose original home was Chagai
and of which the three other branches reside in Seistan, Bandar-i-Kamal Khan,
Chahar Burjak and Chakan Sur on the Helmand respectively. The history of
this tribe shows that from early times they have had no direct connection with
either Kalat or Kharan. All their dealings have been with Afghanistan. The
Afghans have always considered them Afghan subjects and when, in 1884, the
Armr learnt, m connection with the march of the Afghan Boundary Commission to
trie Helmand, that we considered Chagai ours he forthwith sent an Afghan gar
rison to occupy the place. These have been in possesion from 1886 to the pre-
senttmie Afghan occupation _ extended not only to Chagai itself but over the
w ole extent of the Chagai district. Government revenue, at the rate of one-half
AA Pr0dUC f’ haS b6en eV ! ed ° n a11 lands both in Cha gai and in Dalbandin, while
ghan customs outposts have been stationed on the
Kafila
A train of travellers; a caravan; or any large party of travellers.
routes at Dalbandin
Scrap Gahchah, Pamhan and Isa Tahir. Ihese places vary from a distance of
a nd V a °l m ' 65 t0 n he ““‘h ° f ‘l 16 P resent boundary line. The Chagai Saniaranis
the oeriod 5 nf'T e f a AfV 0 th6 Ch ^ ai San i arani
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Ali Khaf, who, during
Ndwar near NushkiT Afghan been a refugee at Zangi
^ Britis^Territory'o)
or Kalat controf and 4 which fof the'paTmo^ve^ ‘T T 11 e - ther Under Br ‘ tish
possession and occupation. ' ^ y l s, as been in actual Afghan
The laying down of a definite boundarv line anrl t i
the ownership of the country south of the line mnct K • e ^ onsec l ue nt > changes m
in the present condition of the country thch necesshat? eXte f S ! ve cha uges
tion of the measures to be adopted in order both to An T 7 consldera '
best advantage and prevent them, as they would otherwise do frAT t0 ° Ur
fruitful sources of future troubles and complications. d ’ f becoming
interfeTin AeAcolmtry' the'exfsTence^of a deA ' ittIe We ma y
through that country renders it imperatively neAs^o^ndAhSAA Al
About this item
- Content
The volumes contain papers relating to Persia [Iran], including Seistan, and the tract of land south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary between Nushki and Persia, which had become British territory following the demarcation of the Afghan-Baluch border.
The papers largely consist of printed copies of correspondence between the Governor General of India in Council (Government of India Foreign Department) and the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), and enclosed correspondence and papers.
Letters from the Governor General of India in Council to the Secretary of State for India include:
- Number 170, 16 September 1896, relating to the opening up of a trade route between Nushki and the Persian frontier, crossing the tract of British territory south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary, and the protection of the newly-demarcated frontier, with enclosed memorandum by Captain Arthur Henry McMahon, British Commissioner, Baluch-Afghan Boundary Commission, containing his proposals for the management and administration of the tract and for the protection of the trade route
- Number 58, 31 March 1898, concerning the trade route between Baluchistan and Persia, including the suggestion that Consular Agents should be appointed at central points along it between Seistan and Meshed, with enclosures including a report by Lieutenant Frank Webb-Ware, Political Assistant at Chagai, on his visit to Seistan at the beginning of 1896, and the measures introduced for the development of trade between Baluchistan and Persia (which includes a blueprint map, Mss Eur F111/350, f 33)
- Number 163, 15 September 1898, forwarding copies of papers regarding the situation in Makran and Panjgur, following recent ‘disturbances’ in Makran.
The file also includes:
- Copies of Government of India Foreign Department papers numbered 40-58 relating to the Kerman Consulate and British interests in Southern Persia, including correspondence between the Government of India Foreign Department and the Secretary of State for India
- A letter from the Secretary of State for India to the Governor General of India in Council, with enclosed despatch from Sir (Henry) Mortimer Durand, HM Minister at Tehran, to the Foreign Office, dated 12 February 1899, in which he gives his opinion on suggestions for the appointment of additional consular officers in Persia (this includes a map titled ‘Skeleton Map of Telegraph Lines in Persia.’ Mss Eur F111/350, f 187)
- A letter from Durand to the Secretary to the Foreign Department of the Government of India, 24 February 1899, enclosing a copy of his memorandum (with appendices) drawn up in 1895 on the situation in Persia, and the steps he proposed should be taken to improve the British position there
- Copies of a draft despatch from the Governor General of India in Council, 2 September 1899, regarding relations between Great Britain and Persia, including improving the British Political and Consular service in Persia, and the extent of the share of responsibility for Persia that should be devolved upon the Government of India, followed by printed comments upon the draft
- Copies of a minute by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India, on Seistan, dated 4 September 1899, including the question of a railway connection between India and Seistan
- Handwritten pencil notes by Curzon relating to Persia and the ‘Seistan Question’.
In addition to the two maps noted above, the file also includes the following maps: map of the area south of the border between Afghanistan and Baluchistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 300); map of the area west of the border between Persia and Afghanistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 301); and ‘Route Plan of Robat Nala’ (Mss Eur F111/350, f 302).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes (301 folios)
- Arrangement
Most of volume A is arranged in reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume (from folios 6 to 76); volume B is arranged is rough chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover of volume one (ff 1-150) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 151-304); 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.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [72v] (149/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740552.0x000096> [accessed 21 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/350
- Title
- ‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’
- Pages
- front , back , spine, edge , head , tail, front-i, 2r:32v, 34r:62v, 64r:84r, 86r, 89r:93v, 96r:96v, 99v:100v, 101v:128v, 129v:149v, back-i, front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 152r:186v, 188r:189r, 190r:299v, 303r:304v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence