Picturing the homeland: Geography and national identity in late nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury Iran

Journal of Historical Geography

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 413-430

  Kashani Sabet, Firoozeh ^a  

^a YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL HISTORY; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; NATIONAL IDENTITY; NINETEENTH CENTURY; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

IRAN;

EID: 0032445015     PISSN: 03057488     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1006/jhge.1998.0099     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Tarbiyat, No. 54, 28 Rajab 1315/23 September 1897, 216.
2. Though my approach to geography is primarily historical, I have found Derek Gregory's work extremely helpful. See D. Gregory, Geographical Imaginations (Oxford 1994).
3. For other theoretical insights, see E. W. Said, Orientalism (New York 1978);
4. and M. Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (London 1970).
5. Studies on geography, national identity and empire include D. Hooson (Ed), Geography and National Identity (Oxford 1993);
6. A. Godlewska and N. Smith (Eds), Geography and Empire (Oxford 1994);
7. and M. Bell, R. Butlin and M. Heffernan (Eds), Geography and Imperialism, c. 1820-1940 (Manchester 1995).
8. On the Iranian economy in the nineteenth century, see C. Issawi (Ed.), The Economic History of Iran, 1800-1914 (Chicago 1971).
9. For a discussion of the controversial Reuter and Falkenhagen concessions in the nineteenth century, see F. Kazemzadeh, Russia and Britain in Persia: A Study in Imperialism, 1864-1914 (New Haven 1968).
10. On the tobacco concession, see N. R. Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891-92 (London 1966).
11. On the Russo-Persian Wars, see M. Atkin, Russia and Iran, 1780-1828 (Minneapolis 1980);
12. H. Algar, Religion and State in Iran, 1785-1906:
13. The Role of the 'Ulama in the Qajar Period (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1969).
14. For Persian accounts, see J. Mirza, Tarikh-i Nau (Tehran 1327 AH/1948),
15. J. Quzanlu, Jang-i dah salih ya jang-i avval-i Iran va Rus (Tehran 1315 AH/ 1936);
16. 'Abd al-Razzaq Maftun Dunbuli (Ed. G. Riza Husayn Sadri Afshar), Ma'asir-i Sultaniya (Tehran 1972).
17. On the delineation of Iran's boundaries in the nineteenth century, see F. Kashani-Sabet, Fragile frontiers: the diminishing domains of Qajar Iran, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 29 (1997) 205-34.
18. See A. Akbar Dihkhuda, Lughatnamah; entry for "Jam-i jam" and "Jam-i jahan nama".
19. F. Mirza, Mu'tamid al-Dawlah, Jam-i Jam (Tehran 1856).
20. M. Muhandis Bashi, Mumtahin al-Dawlah, Ma'asir-i Mahdiya (manuscript at the Kitabkhanah-i Milli, Tehran, #1324, 4). The author's background is described in
21. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya ibid., 1-3. For his memoirs,
22. see M. al-Dawlah (Ed. H. Quli Khan Shaqaqi), Khatirat-i Mumtahin alDawlah (Tehran 1362 AH/1983).
23. M. al-Dawlah, Ma'asir-i Mahdiya, 204. Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and John Couch Adams predicted the position of Neptune in 1845. However, the Berlin astronomers, Johann Gottfried Galle and Louis D'Arrest, using Le Verrier-Couch's earlier projection, determined the planet's exact location on 23 September 1846.
24. Mumtahin al-Dawlah, Ma'asir-i Mahdiya, 219.
25. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 219-26.
26. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 282.
27. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 283.
28. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 289.
29. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 289.
30. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 290.
31. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 292.
32. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 292.
33. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 292.
34. Ma'asir-i Mahdiya Ibid., 303
35. Tarbiyat, No. 47, 8 Jumada al-Ukhra 1315 AH/4 November 1897, 186.
36. Tarbiyat, No. 47, 8 Jumada al-Ukhra 1315 AH/4 November 1897, 186.
37. Tarbiyat, No. 119, 12 Rabi' al-Avval 1316 AH/1 August 1898, 473.
38. Tarbiyat, No. 119, 12 Rabi' al-Avval 1316 AH/1 August 1898, 474.
39. Tarbiyat, No. 119, 12 Rabi' al-Avval 1316 AH/1 August 1898, 475.
40. Tarbiyat, No. 120, 26 Rabi' al-Avval 1316 AH/15 August 1898, 477.
41. Mirza Husayn Khan cites Chardin for details regarding the size of Iran's population in the past. See Tarbiyat, No. 121, 27 Rabi' al-Avval 1316 AH/16 August 1898, 484.
42. Tarbiyat, No. 122, 3 Rabi' al-Thani 1316 AH/22 August 1898, 54866.
43. To my knowledge, this text has neither been published nor cited in relevant historical works.
44. It is beyond the purview of my study to analyse the mathematical measurements provided by Kirmani in this exhaustive manuscript though historians of geography would certainly find this data useful and enlightening.
45. For instance, Kirmani disputes the notion that Jamshid was the same as the Biblical figure Solomon (Suleyman). See ibid., 270.
46. Ibid., 341-2.
47. Ibid., 343.
48. Ibid., 343.
49. Surraya, No. 7, 29 Rajab 1317 AH/3 December 1899, 2.
50. For more on the school's aims, see Surraya, No. 6, 22 Rajab 1317 AH/25 November 1899.
51. Habl al-Matin, No.34. 18 Rabi' al-Avval 1318 AH/16 July 1900, 14-15. This article is continued in the next issue.
52. For a copy of the school constitution (nizam-namah), see Habl al-Matin, No. 20, 5 Dhulqa'da 1318 AH/25 February 1901, 9.
53. Jahan nama-yi Muzaffari (Tehran 1334 AH) 6. This text is partly printed, partly handwritten text. Despite its educational aims, the work contains many geographical mistakes, including an erroneous passage on p. 49 which locates the Indian Ocean to the north-west of Africa.
54. Jahan nama-yi Muzaffari, 7.
55. Jahan Nama-yi Muzaffari Ibid., 7.
56. Jahan Nama-yi Muzaffari Ibid., 172.
57. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 2, 2 Jumada al-Thani 1318 AH/15 October 1900, 12-13. The article also notes that prior to the aforementioned developments, Fakhim al-Saltanah had translated many books on farming into Persian and also started the newspaper, Falahat-i Muzaffari. The Minister of Agriculture was Asif al-Dawlah, who was also minister of the crown lands and governor of Tehran. A subsequent article endorses this attention to agriculture.
58. See Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 4, 4 Rajab 1318 AH/29 October 1900, 21-22.
59. R. Quli Mirza, Safarnamah-yi Riza Quli Mirza Navih-yi Fath Ali Shah (Tehran 1361 AH/ 1983) 631-2.
60. B. Masters, The Treaties of Erzurum (1823 and 1848 [sic]) and the changing status of Iranians in the Ottoman Empire, Iranian Studies 24, (1991) 3-15 discusses the use of passports by Iranians in the Ottoman lands.
61. Sbornik Dieistvuiushchikh Traktatov (St. Petersburg 1896) Vol. 4, 376. The Iranian signatory was Hajji Mirza Aqasi, minister to the third Qajar king, Muhammad Shah.
62. M. Shafi' Qazvini (Ed. I. Afshar), Qanun-i Qazvini (Tehran 1370 AH/1991) 46. This passage is discussed in Iraj Afshar's introduction on pp. 28-29.
63. Qanun-i Qazvini Ibid., 46.
64. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 25, 11 Dhul hijja 1318 AH/1 April 1901, 10.
65. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 28, 2 Muharram 1319 AH/22 April 1901, 3.
66. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 28, 2 Muharram 1319 AH/22 April 1901, 3.
67. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 28, 2 Muharram 1319 AH/22 April 1901, 4.
68. Majlis, No. 11, 27 Shavval 1324 AH/14 December 1906, 3-4 as one such example.
69. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, No. 17, 11 Shavval 1325 AH/18 November 1907, 1. In addition, the constitution also designated an official flag (bayraq-i rasmi) consisting of the colors green, white and red as well as an insignia of the lion and the sun.
70. See also P. Brummett, Dogs, women, cholera, and other menaces in the streets: cartoon satire in the Ottoman revolutionary press, 1908-1911, International Journal of Middle East Studies 27 (1995) 433-61.
71. For another example of references to maps in cartoons to depict the political situation in Iran, see A'inah-i Ghayb Nama, 15 Jumada al-Avval 1325 AH/26 June 1907, in which "worshippers of the homeland" were encouraged to draw their swords in order to rid the country of foreigners.
72. Kashkul, No. 7, 7 Rabi' al-Thani 1325 AH/17 May 1907, p. 3.
73. R. Schofield (Ed.), The Iran-Iraq Border, 1840-1958 (Buckinghamshire, UK 1989), Vol. 4, 113-4
74. E. G. Browne translated several articles from Habl al-Matin in his account of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran. In addition, he included a map depicting the spheres of influence though this is based on an English rather than a Persian source.
75. See E. G. Browne, The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909 (Cambridge 1910).
76. Habl al-Matin, Calcutta, 27 Ramadan 1325 AH/4 November 1907, No. 15, 1.
77. For examples of other Persian maps and pictorial references to the homeland, see F. Kashani-Sabet, Frontier fictions: land, culture, and shaping the Iranian nation, 1804-1946 (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Yale University 1997).
78. It is interesting to note that Iran is referred to as an empire on this map, even at this late date. In the text, the term vatan is also used in connection with Iran. It is worth noting that
79. Habl al-Matin clearly recognized the strategic significance of maps. Sir John Malcolm's Sketches of Persia (1828),
80. which contained maps of Iran, was on sale in the Calcutta office of Habl al-Matin, and the newspaper ran several notices to this effect in consecutive issues. For one such example, see
81. Habl al-Matin, No. 19, 25 Shavval 1325 AH/2 December 1907, 10.