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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [200r] (407/617)
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
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[ 3 ]
a J^g^ar garden He described the climate as far from Inrt „ i ti
thou-1 t le tliat aTo 88 ir fl^ f 168116 ' 1 as Sweater than those from Baluchistan" He
lougiit that a large field was open tor the import of green ten intn \
the Nushki route; and he strongly recommended the apporntment of n t - 7
agent and assistant apothecary in Seistan. ^ a JulLI vo
•R c A y T; later Khan Bahadur Mania Bakhsh, Native Attache to tl,o
utish Consulate at Meshed, and a very capable officer, was deputed to return
to India by the new route, in the company of a trial caravan of M l ^
merchants Their journey lasted from April till July 1898—unfortunately ttie
hottest and least propitious season of the year. At its close Mania Bakhsh
u hose report is the best that I have yet read upon the country traversed wrote
t iat Ihe Indian traders with my caravan, although disappointed by losses
of camels difficulties of transport and want of water at certain places have
not formed an unfavourable view of the new trade route, and they intend to
advise their firms to send goods by it in the future”. There were wanted
however, better arrangement for water-supply, more godowns, and superior
provision for storing fodder. The road was pronounced not y^ suitable for
merchants, travellers, or pilgrims, unaccustomed to rough travelling. Never-
ic ess the journey from Meshed to Quetta—62 marches or 1,090 miles—was
performed by Mania Bakhsh and his caravan in 65 days. Including the average
number of halts, «*., 10, he pointed out that the normal duration of the joumev-
72 days, would yet be shorter than the 75—90 days usually occupied in
traversing the alternative route, 966 miles long, between Meshed and Bunder
A 9 'i J n tl l e sn , me y ? ai ’’ 1 ? 98 ’ Lieutenant Webb Ware submitted his first
Annual iieport, which, in spite of the obstructive measures adopted by the
Russian officers on the pretext of plague in Khorasan, recorded a gratifying
advance. . In an appendix on Nushki trade, he pointed out that the route was
growing in favour, and that ont of nothing had been created a trade which
had risen from
lakhs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
in 1896 to Rs. 5,90,000 in 1897. The main impediments
were the total lack of supplies, other than those specially imported, on the
road between Nushki and the Seistan frontier, and the illegal extortion of
the Persian toll-collectors (many of them in Russian pay) in Persian terri
tory. Notwithstanding, he thought that the Quetta-Seistan route would even
tually beat the Runder Abbas route to Meshed, because merchandise carried
by the latter required to change hands several times in transit, because a lono-er
time was required for the journey thereby, and because the road was less secure
than one running uninterruptedly through British territory.
10. . In the present year, the same officer’s second Annual Report testifies
to a continued improvement both in the amenities of the route, and in the
trade returns, which have increased by Rs. 1,38,000 since 1897. A new bazar,
containing 126 shops, has been laid out at Nushki, which has developed from
a petty group of daub and wattle huts into a small town; and which, now
that the Nushki district has been (in the summer of 1899) permanently taken
over by the Government of India, is certain of a prosperous future. Through
out the past year a weekly
dak
System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company.
has been maintained from Quetta to the Seistan
frontier, in correspondence with a bi-weekly Persian
dak
System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company.
from thence via
Nasirabad and Birjand to Meshed. Alterations and short cuts in the route
have reduced the distance from Nushki to Meshed to 954 miles, as compared
with 966 miles from Bunder Abbas to the same destination.
11. An independent light has been thrown upon Seistan in the same
period by the visit of Captain Sykes, who was despatched thither as Consul at
the end of 1898 in consequence of the appointment of a Russian Consul to
Nasirabad. Captain Sykes, who has for some time been Her Majesty’s Consul
at Kerman, and who has been greatly interested in the rival Bunder Abbas-
Kerman-Meshed trade route, arrived in Seistan in January 1899, with pre
possessions already so strongly formed in favour of the older route, and against
the new competitor, that before he had been there a week, he pronounced
against the permanent appointment of a Political Officer to Seistan, and in
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’ [200r] (407/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740555.0x000008> [accessed 24 August 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