Geopolitics Quarterly

Geopolitics Quarterly

Iran Lost Territories: A Revisited Nineteenth- Century Persia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Farshad Amiraslani 1
Qadir Ashournejad 2
1 School of Geography & Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Life & Health Sciences, Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.
10.22034/igq.2023.144793
Abstract
Over millennia, many territories and countries have been attacked, intruded, captured, or divided. In this research, we debate surrounding the territories that have been lost in Iran (then Persia) over the past. No effort has been made to investigate such territorial claims despite historical knowledge gaps and uncertainties. As such, this first-ever data-driven paper undertook such investigation by digitising two maps prepared based on historical documents by a few well-known Iranian geographical and historical scholars. While we did not check the correctness of the boundaries drawn at that time, we strived to digitise boundaries using GIS methods with high precision. Those boundaries delineated old territories lost during the Qajar dynasty. It was revealed that the country lost a total land area between 1,827,160 km2 and 2,119,349 km2 during the 19th century.
Keywords
Iran؛ Persia
Qajar؛ Territory
Historical Atlas

Subjects

  1. Abdi, A; Isania, H. (2015). The Ideology and Changes in Place’s Names in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. Geopolitics Quarterly, 11(38), 115-133. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17354331.1394.11.38.5.8. [In Persian]
  2. Alesina, A; Spolaore, E; Wacziarg, R. (2000). Economic Integration and Political Disintegration. The American Economic Review, 90(5), 1276-1296. Retrieved June 14, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2677851
  3. Cura, R; Dumenieu, B; Abadie, N; Costes, B; Perret, J; Gribaudi, M. (2018). "Historical Collaborative Geocoding" ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 7, no. 7: 262. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7070262.
  4. Elden, S. (2010). Land, terrain, territory. Progress in Human Geography 34(6), 799–817. 10.1177/0309132510362603.
  5. Elden, S. (2013). How should we do the history of territory? Territory, Politics, Governance, 1(1), 5–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671. 2012. 733317.
  6. Gharehbeygi, M; Pourali Otikand, S. (2018). Analysis of Iran’s International Borders from the Perspective of Stephen Jones. Geopolitics Quarterly, 13(48), 308-33. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17354331.1396.13.48.14.1. [In Persian]
  7. Grigor, T. (2007). Orient Oder Rom? Qajar “Aryan” architecture and Strzygowski’s art history. Art Bulletin, 89(3), 562–590. https://doi.org/1080/00043079.2007.10786361.
  8. Jafari Valdani, A. (2008). England's Role in Delimitation of Kuwait and Iraq's Borderlines (According to Britain's Foreign Office Documents). Geopolitics Quarterly, 4(13), 163-196. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1. 17354331.1387. 4.13. 7.1. [In Persian]
  9. Janparvar, M. (2016). Explain and Leveling Basic Dimensions of Border Studies. Geopolitics Quarterly, 12(44), 100-122. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001 .1.17354331.1395.12.44.6.8. [In Persian]
  10. Kashani-Sabet, F. (1997). Fragile frontiers: The diminishing domains of Qajar Iran. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 29(2), 205–234. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800064473.
  11. Kashani‐Sabet, F. (1997). The frontier phenomenon: Perceptions of the land in Iranian nationalism. Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 6(10), 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/10669929708720098.
  12. Neuman, M. (2021). Borders and the Design of the Civic †. 302–307.
  13. Molnár, G. (2010). Making a georeferenced mosaic of historical map series using constrained polynomial fit. Acta Geod. Geoph. Hung 45, 24–30 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1556/AGeod.45.2010.1.5.
  14. Revel, J. (1991). Knowledge of the territory. Science in Context, 4(1), 133–162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269889700000181.
  15. Knoema, (2021). https://knoema.com/atlas/Iran/Land-area accessed online 12/6/2021.
  16. Mcdaniel, R. A. (1971). Economic change and economic resiliency in 19th century Persia. Iranian Studies, 4(1), 36–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/002108 671
  17. Mojtahed-Zadeh, P (1993). Evolution of Eastern Iranian Boundaries: Role of the Khozeimeh Amirdome Qaenat and Sistan. Unpublished PhD thesis, The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
  18. Mokhtari Hashi, H; Naseroleslami, G. (2016). Investigation of the Middle East and North Africa Boundaries from Human Features Perspective. Geopolitics Quarterly, 12(41), 83-103. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.173541395.12.41.4.0. [In Persian]
  19. Uhl, J.H.; Leyk, S; Chiang, Y.Y; Duan, W; Knoblock, C.A. (2018). "Map Archive Mining: Visual-Analytical Approaches to Explore Large Historical Map Collections" ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 7, no. 4: 148. https://doi.org/10. 3390 /ijgi7040148.
  20. Yao, X. (2009). Georeferencing, Geocoding. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 458–465. doi:10.1016/b978-008044910-4.00448-x.
Geopolitics Quarterly
Volume 19, Issue 4
Autumn 2023
Pages 33-44

  • Receive Date 21 August 2021
  • Revise Date 21 November 2021
  • Accept Date 02 December 2021