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"This is an important book for those interested in Russian, Central
Asian, and Persian studies."
Choice, January 2008
return to top
List of Illustrations ix
Foreword xi
Preface xvii
Departure from Astrakhan 3
Darband 6
Darband to Niyazabad and Kuba 19
Departure for Baku 21
Arrival at Baku 25
Naphtha 26
Baku Town 31
Departure to Shamakhi 34
Shamakhi 35
Saliyan 43
Enzeli 48
Description of Birds 50
Use of Reeds and Methods of Fishing 63
Sojourn at Enzeli 64
First Section: The current political condition in Persia in view of its
form of government 67
Second Section: The current situation in Persia concerning justice,
Persian money, weights and measures. 77
Third Section: The disposition and temperament of present-day Persians,
their corporal characteristics, dress code, health and diseases as well
as their knowledge in siences 80
Fourth Section: Eating and drinking habits of the Persians, the incivility
of the rabble, and the cleanliness, circumcision, marriage and funeral customs.
90
Fifth Section: The current Khan of Gilan, Hedayat: His revenues, government
and court 97
Sixth Section: The Persian calendar and the festive days 103
Seventh Section: The principal religion of the Persians 105
Eighth Section: Persian monks 124
Ninth Section: The Caspian Sea in general 128
Continuation of my journey: Rasht Province 147
Smoking 150
Paper-making and writing implements 151
Gilani fruits 152
Catching of birds and jackals 153
Making of syrup and bathhouses 154
Persian medical science 156
New Year and other forms of merry-making 158
Naturalist observations 164
The Jews of Rasht 169
Moharram festival 170
Persian Medical Science 172
Visit to Lahejan and Langerud and the examination of the Gilani shoals 186
The Gilani Language 191
A journey from Rudesar to the mountains, returning to Rasht 196
Sojourn in Shaft 204
The Persian attitude toward Christians 209
Types of melons and prayer for rain 211
Departure from Shaft 213
Masula 216
Kasma 218
Rasht again 220
Departure to Mazandaran 233
Amol 235
Mazandaran: Recent history and administrative structure 238
Barforush 242
Mazandaran: fortified line; products; trade 244
Sari 246
Ashraf 247
Qajars 249
Barforush: problems with the governor 250
Mazandaran: produce, wines, and Barforush Palace 252
Mountain sheep 257
Bezoar 260
Gazelle and small carnivores 262
Return to Enzeli 264
Return to Astrakhan 268
Departure from Astrakhan 271
Description of Mangyshlak Bay and its hinterland 274
Description of Tyub-Karagan and its hinterland 277
Turkmen tribes: their myth of origin, organization and other particulars
278
Nephtenoy Island 284
Bay of Astarabad 287
Qajars: their recent history 288
Departure for Enzeli 289
Journey from Enzeli to Talesh 290
Lenkoran and Talesh 292
Talesh: recent history 293
Journey from Lenkoran to Saliyan 295
Local politics—the battle for Shamakhi 296
Miscellaneous naturalist observations 297
Journey from Saliyan to Baku 298
Journey from Baku to Darband 299
Fate in the realm of the Usmi 301
The Qara-Qeytaq and other peoples of Daghestan 303
Who Is the Usmi? 306
The Qeytaq 307
Appendices
I. Description and observations on Russian trade via the Caspian Sea 315
II. Carl Hablizl’s observations in the Persian province of Gilan in
1773 325
Naturalist observations 325
Three methods of bird hunting 329
Descriptions of various animals 331
Fishing methods 332
Trade issues 333
Journey to the mountains 334
Naturalist observations 335
The making of vinegar 349
Observations on birds and cheese-making 350
The Samam Mountains 351
Description of the `Amarlu and their district 353
Naturalist observations 355
Description of the wild ass 356
Enzeli; description of the Ichneuma 359
Return to Astrakhan 361
Index 363
Dear Reader,
You find herewith an English translation of volume 3 and most of volume 4 of Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin’s Reise durch Russland zur untersuchung der drey natur-reiche (Travels through Russia to investigate the three natural realms). There are two reasons why I decided to translate this Travelogue. First, it is an important source of information hardly ever used by scholars because the text is in German, which fewer and fewer scholars read, and, even if they do, they are put off by its Gothic script. The second reason is that this travelogue is very rare and the only way I ever could hope to own a copy of it was to translate it. As this has now been done I hope that more scholars will mine this travelogue for its information, which thus far very few have done. There is a French summary of it, but this is also a rare work and scholars have to know French, which fewer do than is desired. A Russian translation is also available, which is even rarer than the German version and for obvious reasons seldom used.
Since volumes 1 and 2 deal with Southern Russia I have not translated them,
because I am only interested in those parts that deal with Gmelin’s
travels through Persia. Volume 3 starts in Astrakhan, where Gmelin leaves
by ship in June 1770. He travels to Darband, Baku, Shamakhi, Saliyan, Enzeli,
Rasht and its hinterland, and then via Tonakebon to Mazandaran, where he
falls foul of its governor, but he is finally allowed to depart and returns
by ship via Enzeli to Astrakhan in April 1772. Volume 4 starts with a short
trip to Zaryzin and the Kuban steppe; this covers 40 pages, but I have not
translated them, because they do not deal with Persia. In July 1773, Gmelin
once again leaves by ship from Astrakhan, this time to the East Coast of
the Caspian Sea, to what is now Kazakhstan and provides interesting information
on the Turkmen tribes and Nepthenoy Island. He then sails via Astarabad to
Enzeli and from there travels overland through Talesh to Baku and Darband.
Here Gmelin arranges for the last leg of his trip to Tarki, but things go
wrong. The Usmi, one of the local mountain lords imprisons him and holds
him hostage in February 1774. The lengthy negotiations finally result in
a peaceful resolution, but too late for Gmelin, who died shortly before his
scheduled release due to the miserable conditions in which he was held. Gmelin’s
death provided the Russian government with an excellent excuse to launch
a punitive expedition, which they had wanted to execute anyway. The fact
that Fath `Ali Khan of Kuba, who was under siege by the Usmi in 1774, had
asked for Russian assistance also provided a further incentive to invade
the Northern Caucasus.
Peter Simon Pallas, the editor of Gmelin’s travelogue, has enlarged
Volume 4 by adding a report on Russia’s Caspian trade, which Gmelin
had prepared as a separate report. He further added a report by Hablizl,
one of Gmelin’s students, who had been charged to collect additional
information in the hinterland of Rasht, when Gmelin departed on his final
journey to Darband.
The areas visited by Gmelin were also visited by other travelers during the
18th century in the post-Safavid era; none of these areas, however, were
visited during the Zand period. Hanway visited Gilan, Mazandaran and Astarabad
in the 1740s, while Bruce (1720s), Lerch (1730s, 1740s), and Cook (1740s)
were in the Caucasus and Gilan either with Peter the Great’s troops
(Bruce, Lerch) or with the embassy led by prince Golitsyn (Lerch, Cook).
Apart from the passage of time, these other travelers did not provide detailed
information on some of the ethnic groups living in Daghestan, the Turkmen
on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, or on the `Amarlu in Gilan as did Gmelin.
His detailed information on the towns and areas he visited is also of great
importance, in particular his enumeration of the town quarters, the takiyehs
of the `Ashura festival and the description thereof. Needless to say his
discussion of political events during the years 1770-1772 and in particular
the areas that he visited is of special importance. Other significant source
books that the reader may wish to consult include that by Müller, which
Gmelin refers to on occasion. Finally, I want to mention the book by Bakikhanuf,
which deals with events in Azerbaijan and Daghestan. There are, of course,
many other books and articles that are of relevance, but I have decided to
mention only these. For those who are interested to read more, the footnotes
mention other books, whose bibliographies will provide further suggestions
and attractions to read.
For those not too familiar with, or totally ignorant of, this time of Persian
history, I will provide a very brief sketch so as to place Gmelin’s
travelogue in historical context. Those who want to know more are referred
to a number of studies on this subject and era.
Since 1501, Persia had been ruled by the Safavid dynasty. The Eastern Caucasus
area, although regularly contested by the Ottoman Empire in the past, had
remained safely in Safavid hands since 1620. This remained so until the fall
of the Safavid dynasty in 1722, when Afghan and Seystani forces led by Mahmud
Khan of Qandahar took Isfahan and then the greater part of the kingdom. This
led to a decade of turmoil. In 1723, the Russians took an area stretching
from the Terek to Baku in the Caucasus, while they also took Enzeli and Rasht.
Meanwhile, the sole surviving son of Shah Soltan Hoseyn (r. 1694-1722), who
had fled besieged Isfahan established himself as Shah Tahmasp II, first in
Azerbayjan, and when that became too unsafe in Gilan-Mazandaran. After suffering
a defeat at the hand of the Afghans he moved to Astarabad around 1724. Here
he received support from Fath `Ali Khan Qajar, whom he appointed as his vakil
or regent. This exacerbated rivalry with one of Shah Tahmasp’s new
supporters, the leader of a band of successful robbers, Tahmasp Qoli Khan,
which resulted in the fall of Fath `Ali Khan, who was executed in 1726. Slowly,
but gradually Safavid power was re-established over Khorasan culminating
in a major battle in 1729 with the Afghan leader Ashraf Khan, who was totally
defeated. Tahmasp Qoli Khan soon established control over the rest of the
country and by the end of 1730 the Afghan threat had been eliminated. Meanwhile,
relations between Shah Tahmasp II and Tahmasp Qoli Khan soured. The former
played at being shah, leading a dissolute life doused with alcohol and women,
while leading a disastrous campaign against the Ottomans, thus undoing some
of the major gains that Tahmasp Qoli Khan had brought about. The latter,
therefore, decided to engineer the shah’s disposal which took place
in 1732. Tahmasp Qoli Khan, or Tahmasp Khan as he was henceforth known, became
regent for the baby-shah `Abbas III. To make a clean break with the past
Tahmasp Khan had himself hailed as Nadir Shah in 1736 on the Moghan steppe
by a large gathering of local leaders from all over Persia. His continuous
wars with the Ottomans, Moghuls, and Lezgis brought him fame, but the price
was the ruination and death of the people of his kingdom, who suffered terribly.
His increasingly outrageous behavior even upset his closest collaborators,
and these were no daisies, so that revolts broke out and finally they decided
to murder him. This happened in 1747 with the connivance of his nephew, who
declared himself as `Adel Shah. The latter’s rule was challenged by
his brother Ebrahim who defeated him in 1748. However, he in turn was defeated
by his nephew Shahrokh in 1750. The result was that the kingdom that Nadir
Shah had held together began to disintegrate and a succession war started
between numerous contenders amongst which `Ali Mardan Khan Bakhtiyari, Hoseyn
Khan Qajar, Azad Khan Afghan and Karim Khan Zand. Finally, it was Karim Khan
Zand, who, as of 1763, was able to impose his will on most of the kingdom
and he ruled not as shah, but as regent (vakil) for the absent Safavid kings
until 1779. Thus Gilan, Mazandaran, Astarabad and Talesh, four governates
that Gmelin visited in Northern Persia, were all nominally under Karim Khan’s
control.
However, not all the parts that Gmelin visited were under Karim Khan’s
influence. For example, the Caucasus, like the rest of the kingdom, had become
the prize over which many contenders fought. One of the major winners was
the Khan of Kuba who was able to acquire control over Shirvan, Darband, Shamakhi,
Baku, Saliyan and Talesh. These were the very parts that Gmelin visited.
Other parts of the Caucasus were held by various other rulers, who do not
concern us here. Fath `Ali Khan of Kuba (r. 1758-1789) was Gmelin’s
main interlocutor in the Caucasus and it is therefore interesting to provide
some background information about him. Fath `Ali Khan’s ancestors were
of the Qeytaq ethnic group (north of Darband) and of one of the two lineages
that traditionally supplied the ruling head or Usmi. In the late 1660s, all
members of one of these two lineages, except for one infant, were killed
by the other rival lineage in a grab for uncontested power. This infant,
the later Hoseyn Khan, was taken by loyal servants to Tarki and from there
they fled to the Safavid court to save his life. The young Hoseyn Khan converted
to Shi`ism and was then appointed by Shah Soleyman (r. 1666-1694) as governor
of Kuba (1680-1721). Hoseyn Khan took residence in the town of Khodat, where
he built a fortress-like residence. In 1722 his great-grandson Hoseyn `Ali
became the new governor of Kuba. He was able to retain his position when
Russian troops occupied the area in 1723, while he did the same under Nadir
Shah (r. 1736-1747), who had negotiated an agreement with the Russians resulting
in their withdrawal from Safavid lands in 1732. When Nadir Shah was killed
in 1747, Hoseyn `Ali Khan did not support any of the pretenders to the throne,
but carved out an independent position for himself. He also moved from Khodat,
located in the coastal area, to Kuba in the high lands, which was easier
to defend, and where he also built a fort. In 1757 Hoseyn `Ali Khan was also
able to establish control over Saliyan. He died one year later and his son
Fath `Ali Khan succeeded him. He continued to pursue his father’s policy,
i.e. to maintain his independence, while extending his realm. Thus, he was
able to annex Darband (1759), Baku (1767), Shamakhi (1768) and Talesh (1785).
Fath `Ali Khan’s lands thus stretched from the Terek to the Astara
and although his rule was not unchallenged (of which Gmelin gives several
examples) he was able to bring some stability to a large area that had known
devastating warfare for many years.
I do not provide an introduction to the life and works of Gmelin as this
has already been done in 1774 by Pallas, the editor of the first and only
edition of his travelogue, which follows this foreword. As to the translation
itself, I have modernized all place names and Persian personal names and
words. However, the first time these occur, I have also provided the orthography
as used by Gmelin, which appears within (parentheses) after the modern version
of the name or term. For example, to refer to Shi’ites or the Shi`a
religion he uses terms such as Schias, Schachi, Schahier, Alianer, Aliani
or he sometimes uses the term Iranski instead of Persian. Given that the
orthography of Nadir is so common I have not changed it. Otherwise in transcribing
Persian words a long ‘i’ is an ‘i’ and short ‘i’ is
an ‘e’, a long ‘u’ is a ‘u’ and a short
one an ‘o’. The long and short ‘a’ are both presented
by an ‘a’.
Although the original text has neither a table of contents nor an index I
have made both so as to facilitate the use of this travelogue. Whenever I
have added clarifications in the text itself they appear between square [brackets].
This also holds when I have been unable to identify a village or a term or
when I am uncertain about the identification. In that case the relevant original
word is followed by [?]. I have also placed some other clarifications in
the footnotes, which I have kept to a minimum. When the footnotes are by
Gmelin, Hablizl or Pallas, I have explicitly indicated that. Gmelin sometimes
uses Russian words in Cyrillic script in the text, which I have left as they
were. Also, I sometimes provide Russian words in Cyrillic script, but only
in the footnotes. I have not translated the few short descriptions of plants
and animals that are in Latin. They do not really add to the information
already available and anybody with a Latin dictionary will be able to understand
what he or Hablizl have written. Gmelin referred to Carl von Linné as
Linne or Ritter von Linne, which I have left unchanged in the text. Also,
although I have translated where specific figures illustrate the text this
does not mean that these illustrations are all to be found in this book.
Only a limited number of figures has been reproduced from the third volume,
while those found in volume 4 have all been reproduced. Furthermore, to facilitate
verification of important passages with the original, I have indicated where
the pages of the original German text end by inserting the page number in
bold between square brackets [1].
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