Description

The present map, representing the territory of Iran in the late 19th century in the time of the Qajar dynasty, was drafted by Ali Ashraf Qarajeh Daghi and it is the first separately published map of Iran made by an Iranian map-maker.

It was printed in 1869 or 1870 by the Governmental Press in Tehran, established under Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (reign. 1848 – 1896), contemporary with the first governmental newspaper. The first big projects were entrusted from 1277 AH (1860/1861) on to the court painter Abu’l-Hasan Sani al-Mulk (1814-1866) and after his death to Aliqoli Mirza Qajar (1822 – 1880), an Iranian prince of Qajar dynasty, a scholar who served as the headmaster of Dar ul-Funun from 1858 and the first Minister of Science in Iran.

The present map was made under Aliqoli Mirza Qajar’s directorship of the press, where he promoted science under the Western influences.

We could not trace any examples of the map in Western Libraries nor any other examples of the map appearing on the market. Malek National Library and Museum in Tehran holds at least one example.

References: Cf.: Zeinab Azarbadegan. “Imagined Geographies, Re-Invented Histories: Ottoman Iraq as Part of Iran.” Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 115–41. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2979/jottturstuass.5.1.07. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024, ill. 1.