Mesopotamia and Persia, their provinces under the Abbasid Caliphs. The outlying provinces to the north-west and the north-east. The high roads from Baghdâd to the Moslem frontier. The Moslem geographers, and their works. Other authorities. Place-names in the Arabic, Turkish, and Persian provinces.
Mesopotamia and Persia had formed the kingdom of the Sassanian Chosroes, which the Arabs utterly overthrew when, after the death of Muhammad, they set forth to convert the world to Islam. Against the Byzantines, the other great power which the Moslems attacked, they achieved only a partial victory, taking possession, here and there, of rich provinces, notably of the coast lands to the south and east of the Mediterranean; but elsewhere the Emperors successfully withstood the Caliphs, and for many centuries continued to do so, the Roman empire in the end surviving the Caliphate by over two hundred years. …..
Contents
Chapter I Introductory Mesopotamia and Persia, their provinces under the Abbasid Caliphs. The outlying provinces to the north-west and the north-east. The high roads from Baghdad to the Moslem frontiers. The Moslem geographers, and their works. Other authorities. Place-names in the Arabic, Turkish, and Persian provinces / I
Chapter II 'Irâk The division of Mesopotamia, Northern and Southern. `Irâk or Babylonia. Change in the courses of the Euphrates and Tigris. The great irrigation canals. Baghdad. Macklin and the cities on the Tigris thence down to Fam-aş-Şilh / 24
Chapter III `Irâk (continued). Wâsit. The Great Swamps. Madhâr and Kurnah. The Blind Tigris. Başrah and its canals. Ubullah and 'Abbâdân. The Tigris above Baghdâd. Baradân. The Dujayl district. `Ukbârâ, Harbâ, and Kâdisîyah / 39
Chapter IV `Irak (continued). Sâmarrâ. Takrît. The Nahrawân canal. Ba'kûbâ and other towns. Nahrawân town, and the Khurâsân road. Jâlûlâ and Khânikîn. Bandanîjân and Bayât. Towns on the Euphrates from Hadîthah to Anbâr. The `Îsâ canal. Muhawwal, Şarşar and the Nahr-al-Malik. The Kûthâ canal / 53
Chapter V. `Irâk (continued). The bifurcation of the Euphrates. The Sûrâ channel. Kaşr Ibn Hubayrah. Nîl and its canal. The Nahr Nars. The Badât canal, and Pombedita. The Ktûfah channel. Kûfah city. Kâdisîyah. Mashhad `Alî and Karbala. The twelve Astâns of `Irâk. Trade. The high roads of ‘Irâk / 70
Chapter VI Jazîrah The three districts. The district of Diyar Rabî'ah. Mosul, Nineveh, and the neighbouring towns. Great Zâb, Hadîthah, and Irbil. Little Zab, Sinn, and Dâkûk. The Lesser Khabûr, Hasanîyah, and `Imâdîyah. Jazîrah Ibn `Omar and Mount Jûdî. Naşîbîn and Ras-al-'Ayn. Mardîn and Dunayşir. The Hirmâs and the Khâbûr. Arabân and the Tharthâr river. Sinjâr and Hadr. Balad and Adhramah / 86
Chapter VII Jazîrah (continued) The district of Diyâr Mudar. Rakkah and Râfikah. The river Balîkh and Harrân, Edessa and Hişn-Maslamah. Karkîsiyâ. The Nahr Saîd, Rahbah, and Dâliyah. Ruşâfah of Syria. 'Ânah. Bâlis, Jisr Manbij, and Sumaysât. Sarûj. The district of Diyâr Bakr. Âmid, Hanî, and the source of the Tigris. Mayyâfarîkîn and Arzan. Hişn Kayfâ and Tall Fâfân. Sâ'irt / 101
Chapter VIII The Upper Euphrates The Eastern Euphrates or Arsanâs. Milâsgird and Mûsh. Shimshât and Hişn Ziyâd or Kharptût. The Western Euphrates. Arzan-ar-Rûm or Kâlîkalâ. Arzanjân and Kamkh. The castle of Abrîk or Tephrike. Malatiyah and Tarandah. Zibatrah and Hadath. Hişn-Manşûr, Bahasnâ, and the Sanjah bridge. Products of Upper Mesopotamia. The high roads / 115
Chapter IX. Rûm or Bilâd-ar-Rûm Bilad-ar-Rûm or the Greek country. The line of fortresses from Malatiyah to Tarsûs. The two chief passes across the Taurus. The Constantinople high road by the Cilician Gates. Trebizond. Three sieges of Constantinople. Moslem raids into Asia Minor. The sack of Amorion by Mu'taşim. Invasion of Asia Minor by the Saljûks. The kingdom of Little Armenia. The Crusaders. The chief towns of the Saljûk Sultanate of Rûm / 127
Chapter X Rûm (continued) The ten Turkoman Amirates. Ibn Batûtah and Mustawfî. Kaysârîyâh and Sîvas. The Sultan of Mesopotamia. The Amir of Karamân. Kûniyah. The Amîr of Tekkeh, Alâyâ, and Antâliyah. The Amîryah of Hamîd, Egridûr. The Germiyan, Kutâhîyah, and Sîvrî-Hişar. The Amîr of Menteshâ, Mîlâs. The Amîr of Aydîn, Ephesus, and Smyrna. The Amîr of Şârûkhân, Magnesia. The Amîr of Karâsî, Pergamos, The `Othmânlî territory, Brusa. The Amîr of Kizil Ahmadlî, Sinûb / 144
Chapter XI Adharbayjan The lake of Urmiyah. Sarâv. Marâghah and its rivers, Pasawâ and Ushnuh. Urmiyah city and Salmâs; Khoi and Marand. Nakhchivân. Bridges over the Araxes. Mount Sablân. Ardabîl and Âhar. The Safîd Rûd and its affluents. Miyânij. Khalkhâl and Fîrûzabâd The Shâl river and Shâh Rûd district / 59
Chapter XII. Gîlân and the north-west prvinces The Gîlâns. Daylam and the Tâlish districts. Barvân, Dûlâb, and Khashm. Lâhîjân, rasht. Lâhîjân, Rasht, and other towns of Gîlân. The district of Mûghan. Bajarvân and Barzand. Mahmûdabâd. Warthân. Warthan. The province of Arrân. Bardhâ'ah. Baylakân. Ganjah and Shamkûr The rivers Kur and Aras. The province of Gurjistan or Georgia. Tiflîs and Karş. The provence of Armenia. Dabîl or Duwîn. The lake of Vân. Akhlât, Arjish Vân, Bitlîs. Products of the northern provinces / 172
Chapter XIII Jibâl The province of Jibâl, or `Irâk `Ajam, with its four districts. Kirmasîn or Kirmânshâhân. Bîsutûn and its sculptures. Kanguvâr. Dînavar. Shahrazûr. Hulwân. The great Khurâsân road. Kirind. Kurdistan under the Saljûks. Bahâr. Jamjamâl. Alânî and Alîshtar. Hamadan and its districts. Darguzin. Kharakânayn and the northern Âvah. Nihâvand. Karaj of Rûdrâvar, and Karaj of Abu-Dulaf. Farâhân / 185
Chapter XIV Jibâl (continued) Little Lur. Burûjird. Khurramâbâd. Shâpûrkhwâst. Sîrawân and Şaymarah. Isfahan and its districts. Fîrûzan ; Fârifân and the river Zandah Rûd. Ardistân. Kâshân. Kum, Gulpaygân, and the Kum river. Âvah and Sâvah. The river Gâvmâhâ / 200
Chapter XV. Jibâl (continued). Ray. Varâmîn and Tihrân. Kazvîn and the castle of Alamût. Zanjân. Sultânîyah. Shîz or Satûrîk. Khûnaj. The districts of Tâlikân and Târum. The castle of Shamîrân. The trade and products of the Jibâl province. The high roads of Jibâl, Adharbâyjân and the frontier pro vinces of the north-west / 214
Chapter XVI. Khûzistân. The Dujayl or Kârûn river. Khûzistân and Ahwâz. Tustar or Shustar. The Great Weir. The Masrukân canal. 'Askar Mukram. Junday Shâpûr. Dizfûl. Sûs and the Karkhah river. Başinnâ and Mattûth. Karkûb and Dûr-ar-Râsibî. Hawîzah and Nahr Tîrâ. Dawrak and the Surrak district. Hişn Mahdî. The Dujayl estuary. Râmhurmuz and the Zutt district. Territory of Great Lur. Îdhaj or Mâl-Amîr. Sûsan. Lurdagân. Trade and products of Khûzistan. The high roads / 232
Chapter XVII Fârs Division of province into five districts or Kûrahs. The district of Ardashîr Khurrah. Shiraz. Lake Mâhalûyah. The Sakkân river. Juwaym. Dasht Arzin lake. Kuvâr. Khabr and Simkân. Kârzîn and the Kubâd Khurrah district. Jahram. Juwaym of Abu Ahmad. Mândistân. Îrâhistân. Jar or Firûzâbâd. The coast districts of Fars. Kays island. Sîrâf. Najîram and Tawwaj. Ghundîjân. Khârik and other islands of the Persian Gulf / 248
Chapter XVIII Fârs (continued) The district of Shâpûr Khurrah. Shâpûr city and cave. The Ratîn river. Nawbanjân. The White Castle and Sha'b Bavvân. The Zamms of the Kurds. Kâzirûn and its lake. The rivers Ikhshîn and Jarshîk. Jirrah and the Sabûk bridge. The Arrajân district and Arrajân city. The Tab river. Bihbahân. The river Shîrîn. Gunbadh Mallaghân. Mahrubân. Sînîz and Jannâbah. The river Shâdhkân / 262
Chapter XIX Fârs (continued) The Iştakhr district, and Iştakhr city or Persepolis. Rivers Kur and Pulvâr. Lake Bakhtigân and the cities round it. The Marvdasht plain. Baydâ and Mâyin. Kûshk-i-Zard. Sarmak and Yazdikhwâst. The three roads from Shiraz to Isfahan. Abarkûh. Yazd city, district, and towns. The Rûdhân district and its towns. Shahr-i-Bâbak and Harât / 275
Chapter XX Fârs (continued) The Dârâbjird Kûrah or Shabânkârah district. Dârâbjird city. Darkân and Îg. Nîrîz and Iştahbânât. Fasâ, Rûnîz, and Khasû. Lâr and Furg. Tatum and Sûrû. The trade and manufactures of Fars. The high roads across Fars / 288
Chapter XXI Kirmân The five districts of Kirmân. The two capitals. Sîrjân, the first capital, its position and history. Bardasîr, the second capital, now Kirmân city. Mahan and its saint. Khabîş. Zarand and Kuhbinân, Cobinan of Marco Polo / 299
Chapter XXII Kirmân (continued) The Sîrjân district. Barn and Narmâsîr districts. Rîgân. Jîruft and Kama-dîn, Camadi of Marco Polo. Dilfarîd. The Bâriz and Kafş mountains. Rûdhkân and Manûjân. Hurmuz, old and new, and Gombroon. The trade of the Kirmân province. The high roads / 311
Chapter XXIII The great desert and makrân The extent and characteristics of the Great Desert. The three oases at Jarmak, Nâband and Sanîj. The chief roads across the desert. The Makrân province. Fannazbûr and the port of Tîz. Other towns. Sind and India. The port of Daybul. Manşûrah and Multân. The river Indus. The Tûrân district and Kuşdâr. The Budahah district and Kandâbîl / 322
Chapter XXIV Sijistân Sijistan, or Nîmrûz, and Zâbulistân. Zaranj the capital. The Zarah lake. The Helmund river and its canals. The ancient capital at Ram Shahristân. Nih. Farah and the Farah river. The Khâsh river and the Nîshak district. Karnîn and other towns. Rûdbâr and Bust. The districts of Zamîn Dâwar. Rukhkhaj and Bâlis, or Wâlishtân. Kandahar, Ghaznah, and Kabul. The silver mines. The high roads through Sijistan / 334
Chapter XXV Kûhistân The province called Tunocain by Marco Polo. Kâyin and Tûn. Turshîz and the Pusht district. The Great Cypress of Zoroaster. Zâvah. Bûzjân and the Zam district. Bâkharz district and Malin. Khwâf. Zîrkûh. Dasht-i-Biyâd. Gunâbâd and Bajistân. Tabas of the dates. Khawst or Khûsf. Birjand and Mûminâbâd. Tabas Masînân and Duruh / 352
Chapter XXVI Kûmis, tabaristân and jurjân The province of Kûmis. Dâmghân. Bistâm. Biyâr. Sampan and Khuvâr. The Khurâsân road through Kûmis. The province of Tabaristân or Mâzandarân. Âmul. Sâriyah. Mount Damâvand, with the districts of Fâdûsbân, Karin and Rûbanj. Fîrûzkûh and other castles. Nâtil, Sâlûs, and the Rûyân district. The fortress of Tâk and the Rustamdâr district. Mamtîr and Tamîsah. Kabûd Jâmah and the Bay of Nîm Murdân. The province of Gurgân or Jurjân. The river Jurjân and the river Atrak. Jurjân city and Astarâbâd. The port of Âbaskûn. The Dihistân district and Âkhur. The high roads through Tabaristân and Jurjân / 364
Chapter XXVII Khurâsân The four quarters of Khurâsân. The Nîshâpûr quarter. Nîshâpûr city and Shâdyâkh. The Nîshâpûr district. Tûs and Mashhad, with its shrine. Bayhak and Sabzivâr. Juwayn, Alarm, and Isfarâyin. Ustuvâ and Kûchân. Râdkân, Nis', and Abîvard. Kalât, Khâbarân, and Sarakhs / 382
Chapter XXVIII. Khurâsân (continued). The Mary quarter. The Murghâb river. Great Mary and its villages. Âmul and Zamm, on the Oxus. Marv-ar-Rûd, or Little Marv, and Kaşir Ahnaf / 397
Chapter XXIX Khurâsân (continued) The Herât quarter. The Herât river, or Harî Rûd. The city of Herât. Mâlin and towns on the upper Harî Rûd. Bûshanj. The Asfuzâr district. The Bâdghîs district and its towns. Kanj Rustâk. Districts of Gharjistân and Ghûr. Bâmiyân / 407
Chapter XXX Khurâsâ n (continued) The Balkh quarter of Khurâsân. Balkh city and Naw Bahâr. The district of Jûzjân. Tâlikân and Jurzuwân. Maymanah or Yahûdîyah. Fâryâb. Shuburkân, Anbâr and Andakhûd. The Tukhâristân district. Khulm, Siminjân, and Andarâbah. Warwâlîz and Tâyikân. The products of Khorâsân. The high roads through Khurâsân and Kûhistân / 420
Chapter XXXI The Oxus Transoxiana in general. The names Oxus and Jaxartes. The upper aflaffluents the Oxus. Badakhshân and Wakhkhân. Khuttal and Wakhsh. Kubâdhiyân and Şagbâniyân, with their towns. The Stone Bridge. Tirmidh. The Iron Gate. Kâlif, Akhsîsak, and Firabr. The Aral Sea or Lake of Khwârizm. Freezing of the Oxus in winter / 433
Chapter XXXII Khwârizm The province of Khwârizm. The two capitals : Kâth and Jurjânîyah. Old and new Urganj. Khîvah and Hazârasp. The canals of Khwârizm: towns to right and left of Oxus. Lower course of the Oxus to the Caspian. Trade and products of Khwârizm / 446
Chapter XXXIII Sughd Bukhârâ, and the five cities within the Great Wall. Baykand. Samarkand. The Buttam mountains and the Zarafshân or Sughd river. Karmîniyah, Dabûsiyah and Rabinjan. Kish and Nasaf, with neighbouring towns. The products of Sughd. Routes beyond the Oxus as far as Samarkand / 460
Chapter XXXIV The provinces of the Jaxartes The Ushrûsanah province. Bûnjikath the capital. Zâmîn and other towns. The Farghânâh province. The Jaxartes or Sayûn. Akhsîkath and Andîjân. Ûsh, Uzkand, and other cities. The province of Shish. Shish city or Binkath. Banâkath or Shâhrukhîyah, and other towns. The Îlâk district. Tûnkath city and the silver mines of Khasht. The Isbîjâb district. Isbîjâb city or Sayram. Chimkand and Fârah or Utrâr. Yassî and Şabrân. Jand and Yanghikant. Tarâz and Mîrkî. Outlying towns of the Turks. Products of the Jaxartes countries. Routes to the north of Samarkand / 474
Index / 491
List of maps
I. The Provinces of South-western Asia during the Caliphate / I II. The Provinces of `Irâk and Khûzistân with part of Jazîrah / 25 III. The Provinces of Jazîrah and Adharbâyjân with the North-west Frontier / 87 IV. The Province of Rûm / 127 V. The Provinces of Jibâl and Jîlân with Mâzandarân, Kûmis, and Jurjân / 185 VI. The Provinces of Fârs and Kirmân / 249 VII. The Province of Makrân with part of Sijistân / 323 VIII. The Provinces of Khurâsân, Kûhistân with part of Sijistân / 335 IX. The Provinces of the Oxus and Jaxartes / 433 X. The Province of Khwârizm / 447
PREFACE
In the following pages an attempt is made to gather within a convenient compass the information scattered through the works of the medieval Arab, Persian, and Turkish geographers, who have described Mesopotamia and Persia, with the nearer parts of Central Asia. The authorities quoted begin with the earlier Moslem writers, and conclude with those who described the settlement of these lands which followed after the death of Timûr,—the last great Central Asian wars of conquest,—for with the fifteenth century the medieval period in Asia may be said to come to an end.
The present work is also the complement of Baghdâd under the Abbasid Caliphate published in 1900, and carries forward the geographical record which I began in Palestine under the Moslems, a work that appeared in 189o.
To keep the volume within moderate compass, the geography of Arabia, with the description of the two Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, though these for the most part were under the dominion of the Abbasids, has been omitted. Perhaps some other scholar may take up the subject, with fuller knowledge than I have, and write the historical geography of Arabia with Egypt across the Red Sea under the Fatimid Caliphs ; completing the circuit of Moslem lands by describing the various provinces of North Africa, with the outlying and shortlived, though most splendid, western Caliphate of Spain.
If Moslem history is ever to be made interesting, and indeed to be rightly understood, the historical geography of the nearer East during the middle-ages must be thoroughly worked out. I have made a first attempt, but how much more needs to be done, and better done than in the present volume, I am the first to recognise. The ground, however, for future work is now cleared; the authorities for each statement are given in the footnotes; some mistakes are corrected of previous writers, and a. beginning made of a complete survey for this period of the provinces of the Abbasid Caliphate. But my book is only a summary, and does not pretend to be exhaustive; also to keep down the size, I have been obliged to omit translating in full the Itineraries, which our Moslem authorities give us. In this matter a new edition, duly corrected from recently published texts, is indeed much needed of Sprenger's Post and Reise Routen des Orients, though the translation of the Itineraries which Professor De Goeje has appended to his edition of Ibn Khurdâdbih and Kudâmah, goes far to supply the lack.
With each province I have given such information as our authorities afford of the trade and manufactures ; the record, however, is very fragmentary, and for a general survey of the products of the Moslem east, during the middle-ages, the chapter on the subject (Handel and Gewerbe) in A. von Kremer's Culturgeschichte des Orients is still the best that I know.
A chronological list of the Moslem geographers referred to in the notes by initial letters is given at the end of the Table of Contents. The fuller titles of other works quoted in the notes are given on the first reference to each author, and the names of their works will easily be recovered, for subsequent references, by consulting the index for the first mention made of the book.
In the introductory chapter a summary description will be found of the works of the Arab geographers; but this matter has already been more fully discussed in Palestine under the Moslems.
The dates are given according to the years of the Hijrah, with the corresponding year A.D. (in brackets). The method of transcription adopted needs no comment, being that commonly in use; it may be noted that the Arab w is usually pronounced v in Persian ; and that besides the emphatic z the Arab dh and d are both indifferently pronounced z in modern Persian, while the th has the sound of s. In a work like the present, almost entirely composed from eastern sources, many errors will doubtless be found; also, with the great number of references, mistakes are unavoidable, and I shall feel most grateful for any corrections, or notice of omissions.
My hope is that others may be induced to set to work in this field of historical geography, and if this essay be soon superseded by a more complete survey of the ground, it will have served its purpose in having prepared the way for better things.
G. Le Strange
Chapter I
Introductory
Mesopotamia and Persia, their provinces under the Abbasid Caliphs. The outlying provinces to the north-west and the north-east. The high roads from Baghdâd to the Moslem frontier. The Moslem geographers, and their works. Other authorities. Place-names in the Arabic, Turkish, and Persian provinces.
Mesopotamia and Persia had formed the kingdom of the Sassanian Chosroes, which the Arabs utterly overthrew when, after the death of Muhammad, they set forth to convert the world to Islam. Against the Byzantines, the other great power which the Moslems attacked, they achieved only a partial victory, taking possession, here and there, of rich provinces, notably of the coast lands to the south and east of the Mediterranean; but elsewhere the Emperors successfully withstood the Caliphs, and for many centuries continued to do so, the Roman empire in the end surviving the Caliphate by over two hundred years.
The kingdom of the Sassanians, on the other hand, the Arabs completely overran and conquered; Yazdajird, the last of the Chosroes, was hunted down and slain, and the whole land of Iran passed under the rule of Islam. Then further, and to no inconsiderable extent, the empire of the Caliphs, which had taken over bodily the administration of the older Persian kingdom, came itself to be modelled on the pattern in government which the Chosroes had established; this more especially under the Abbasids, who, rather more than a century after the death of the Prophet, overthrew their rivals the Omayyads, and changing the seat of the Caliphate from Syria to Mesopotamia, founded Baghdad on the Tigris, a few miles above Ctesiphon, the older winter capital of the Sassanians.
.....
G. Le Strange
The lands of the Eastern Caliphate
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge geographical series General Editor: f. H. H. Guillemard, M.D. Formerly lecturer in geography in the University of Cambridge
Cambridge University press warehouse, C. F. Clay, manager. London: Ave. Maria Lane, E.C. Glasgow: 50, Wellington Street.
Leipsig: F. A. Brockhaus. New York: The Macmillan Company. Bombay and Calcutta: Macmillan and co. ltd.
The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia From the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur
By G. Le Strange Author of Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, Palestine under the Moslems etc.
Cambridge : at the University Press 1905
Printed by John Clay, M.A. At the University Press
Abbreviations and chronological list of Moslem geographers
A. H. / A.D. I. K. Ibn Khurdâdbih 250 (864) Kud. Kudâmah 266 (880) Ykb. Ya'kûbî 278 (891) I. S. Ibn Serapion 290 (903) I. R. Ibn Rustah 290 (903) I. F. Ibn Fakîh 290 (903) Mas. Mas'ûdî 332 (943) Ist. Iştakhrî 340 (951) I. H. Ibn Hawkal 367 (978) Muk. Mukaddasî 375 (985) N. K. Nâşir-i-Khusraw 438 (1047) F. N. Fârs Nâmah 500 (1107) Idr. Idrîsî 548 (1154) I. J. Ibn Jubayr 580 (1184) Yak. Yâkût 623 (1225) Kaz. Kazvînî 674 (1275) Mar. Marâsid 700 (1300) A. F. Abu-l-Fidâ 721 (1321) Mat. Mustawfî 740 (1340) I. B. Ibn Batûtah 756 (1355) Hfz. Hâfiz Abrû 820 (1417) A. Y. 'Alî of Yazd 828 (1425) J. N. Jahân Numâ 1010 (1600) A. G. Abu-l-Ghâzî 1014 (1604)
