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Silk Production and Trade in Iran in the Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Ahmad Seyf
Ahmad Seyf*
Affiliation:
The Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, The University of Reading, England
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Extract

It is difficult to give more than a rough sketch of Iranian agriculture in the nineteenth century or to indicate any but the most general developments that took place in it. On the one hand, the government made very few studies of rural conditions and kept practically no statistics on land acreage or output; on the other, most foreign observers had little interest in the condition of the peasantry or agriculture as a whole. Nonetheless, because of the importance of silk in Iranian foreign trade foreign observers, especially British consuls in Rasht, took a special interest in various aspects of its culture and trade.

This paper sets itself the objective of studying production and trade in raw silk in Iran during the nineteenth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 1983 , pp. 51 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1983

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Footnotes

The author would like to express his thanks to Dr. E. J. T. Collins, H. Hakimian, M. Messkoub who read an earlier draft of this paper and made many valuable suggestions. I am especially grateful to H. Hakimian for his constructive criticisms. The responsibility for the final outcome, however, is entirely mine.

References

Notes

1. For the text of some of these studies, see the valuable collection of documents edited by Issawi, C., The Economic History of Iran, 1800-1914 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), pp. 226–27, 231-238.Google Scholar

2. Quoted in J. Rabino, “Banking in Persia,” Journal of the Institute of Bankers (January 1892), p. 15.

3. Petrushevsky, P. I., Keshavarzi va Monasebat-e Arzi dar Iran… (Tehran, 1965), Vol. 1, p. 287.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 287; see also, Rabino, pp. 15-16.

5. Steensgaard, N., The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (Chicago, 1974), p. 155.Google Scholar

6. Ibid., p. 159.

7. Ibid., p. 159.

8. Ibid., p. 367

9. Quoted in Petrushevsky, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 290. Curzon, using the same original source, gave the total at 4,320,000 1b. See, Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892), Vol. 1, p. 367.Google Scholar

10. Petrushevsky, ibid., Vol. 1, p. 290. Once again, the total as given by Curzon is 6,072,000 1b., op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 367.

11. Benjamin, S. G. W., Persia and the Persians (London, 1887), p. 417.Google Scholar

12. This issue has been examined at some length in my paper, “Land Tenure and Taxation in Iran, 1800-1906,” unpublished.

13. K. E. Abbott, “Narrative of a Journey from Tabriz, along the Shores of the Caspian Sea to Tehran, 1843-44,” in F.O. 251-40. See also note 38 below.

14. W. G. Abbott to Thomson, 5 April, 1870, F.O. 60-328.

15. See H. L. Churchill, Consular Report (hereafter CR) “Gilan,” in Parliamentary Accounts and Papers (hereafter PAP), 1893/94 xcv, 1895 xcix, 1898 xcvii.

16. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1893/94 xcv.

17. Lafont, F. and Rabino, H. L., L'Industrie Sericole en Perse (Montpellier, 1910).Google Scholar Partly reprinted in Issawi, op. cit., p. 236.

18. H. L. Rabino, CR, “Gilan and Asterabad,” PAP, 1907 xci.

19. Lafont and Rabino, L'Industrie…, in Issawi, op. cit., pp. 235-36.

20. Benjamin, op. cit., p. 418.

21. Lovett, CR, “Asterabad,” PAP, 1882 lxxi.

22. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1895 xcix.

23. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1898 xcvii.

24. Ibid.

25. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1893/94 xcv.

26. Wilson, S. G., Persian Life and Customs (London, 1896), pp. 129–130.Google Scholar

27. C. F. Mackenzie, “Narrative of a Journey from Rasht in Gilan through Mazandran…in 1858/59,” in F.O. 60-245.

28. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1893/94 xcv.

29. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1904 c.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. W. G. Abbott, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1873 lxvii.

33. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1876 lxxvi, 1897 xcii, 1898 xcvii.

34. Ibid.

35. G. Ouseley, dispatch, August 5, 1812, F.O. 60-7; K. E. Abbott, “Silk Trade of Gilan,” in F.O. 60-90.

36. For further discussion of the effects of the Great Plague, see my paper “Iran and the Great Plague, 1830-31,” studia Islamica (forthcoming).

37. Mackenzie, “Report of the Province of Gilan,” 1858, in F.O. 60-235.

38. K. E. Abbott, CR, “Silk Trade of Gilan,” PAP, 1866 lxix.

39. W. J. Dickson, CR, “Tehran,” PAP, 1867/68 lxviii.

40. K. E. Abbott, CR, “Silk Trade of Gilan,” PAP, 1866 lxix. See also his report in PAP, 1867 lxvii. H. H. Ongley, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1867/68 lxviii.

41. Curzon, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 367.

42. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1898 xcvii.

43. W. G. Abbott, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1872 lvii.

44. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1904 c.

45. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1893/94 xcv.

46. See sources given under 48. In addition, Rabino, loc. cit. (1892), pp. 8-9.

47. K. E. Abbott, loc. cit., F.O. 60-90; and Rabino, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1907 xci.

48. Compiled from: Ouseley, loc. cit., F.O. 60-7; Fraser, J. B., Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Bank of the Caspian Sea (London, 1826), p. 358Google Scholar; Chodzko, A., Sarzamin-e Gilan (Persian trans., Tehran, n.d.), p. 101Google Scholar; K. E. Abbott, loc. cit., F.O. 60-90 and F.O. 251-40; Mackenzie, loc. cit., F.O. 60-235; Benjamin, op. cit., p. 418. Additional information is from CR, “Gilan,” in PAP various volumes.

49. Churchill, CR, “The Silkworm Disease in Gilan,” PAP, 1876 lxxiv.

50. Chodzko, op. cit., pp. 102-03.

51. K. E. Abbott, loc. cit., F.O. 60-90.

52. K. E. Abbott, ibid.; see also his CR in PAP, 1866 lxix. Chodzko, op. cit., p. 103.

53. Chodzko, op. cit., pp. 102-03; K. E. Abbott, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1867 lxvii.

54. Churchill, CR, “The Silkworm Disease in Gilan,” PAP, 1876 lxxiv.

55. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1878 lxxiv. In addition to silkworm disease, the plague outbreak in 1877 also contributed to trade depression.

56. Churchill, CR, “Gilan,” PAP, 1898 xcvii.

57. H. L. Rabino, CR, “Gilan and Asterabad,” PAP, 1907 xci.