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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [225r] (457/617)
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.
&
r [ 10 ]
Bussian News-agent at Birjand; and an emi^snrv rvP "Koa j.
Muhammad Rahim Khan who had already bee/dismissed from the^Rn^n
service, was again taken into employ, and was posted as News-agent at Nasim
had in Seistan In the succeeding years Russian Armenians, trained at
Ixflis, were busily at work surveying the country in a southerly direction as
far as the borders of Persia and Baluchistan. In 1895 a more direct Mow a
the large Anglo-Indian trade which at that time still made its wav through
Xborasan mto the Russian possessions in Central Asia, was struck by the
introduction of a Customs Tariff in Trans-Caspia, absolutely prohibiting the
entry mto the Russian territories of all British or Indian products except
indigo, tea and muslm, and these only nnder a heavy dnty. In the same
year M. Zaiondny, a Kussian politico-geologist, Anglice surveyor, paid his
first visit to Kam and Seistan. Russian News-agents were also placed at Tabhas
and Neh, as well as at iiirjand and Nasirabad.
3(h In the meantime, in the latter part of 1896, the Government of India
had decided upon taking active measures to open the long closed trading route
from Quetta to Seistan. These intentions, and the prospective British interest
in Seistan to which they testified, excited much concern in Russia; and in the
following year the outbreak of plague in India offered to the Russian authorities
a welcome opportunity of, at the same time, endeavouring to strangle the new
enterprise at its birth, and increasing their own influence in Seistan. Under
the pretext of establishing a protective cordon to safeguard the Perso-Afghan
frontier in Persian interests from a disease which existed neither in Baluchistan
nor in Afghanistan, Russian Cossacks nnder Russian officers were planted at
a number of places in Persian territory, where they turned back every
caravan (ignoring an agreement that had been arrived at between Great Britain
and Persia for a 10 days quarantine upon caravans arriving from infected
countries), declined to accept any orders except those which came directly from
the Russian Legation, and for a time absolutely closed the Herat-Meshed road,
in spite of orders to the contrary from the Persian Government—the object of
this measure being to divert Afghan trade from Meshed to Panjdeh and Merv
in Russian territory. It was significant that upon crossing the Russian frontier
the caravans, which had been refused passage through Persia under any condi
tions, were only detained fur three days in quarantine. The Persian Govern
ment, after a feeble protest, acquiesced in these proceedings; and it may almost
he said that Southern Khorasan passed for a time nnder Russian control.
31. It was with the object of anticipating a similar Russian intervention
in Seistan that, in the spring of 3 897, the Government of India despatched
Surgeon-Major Brazier-Creagh to superintend any preventive measures that
miglit he required in that district. Already Lieutenant Webb Ware, who had
visited Seistan in Mi arch, in connection with the trade route, had repoited . I
was disagreeably astonished to find what ascendency Russia had gained thiough-
ont Seistan ”. ‘Major Brazier-Creagh, a few months later, wrote : “ I was by
no means surprised to find what ascendency the Russians had gained in the
country. In the past four years Russian activity has been very manifest.
It is not limited to Seistan, but extends all along the Perso-Afghan frontier up
to Meshed, News-writers and agents being established at all the important trade
centres, viz., Neh, Birjand, Tabbas, Khaf, and lurbat-i-Haidari
32 The recommendations made by the British officer were ignored by
the Persian authorities; and he had not been long in Seistan when the expected
Russian doctor (Miladchevsky by name), witii an escort of eight Cossacks,
appeared upon the scene, a detachment of ten Cossacks under a Russian
officer being also posted at Turbat-i-Haidan, 80 miles south of Meshed a
point of junction of several caravan roads, so as effectually to stop any traffic
fo or from^Seistan. An incidental result of Dr Miladchevsky s ^ Se^an
was the dismissal, in consequence of a report from ^
Russian agents to whom reference has been made, and
the Persian sub -contractors for customs for Ram 1 , vere
duals proved to be equally faithless to the interests of then employer,, and wem
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’ [225r] (457/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740555.0x00003a> [accessed 25 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