ABSTRACT
After the turmoil of the eighteenth century, the Qajars, particularly during the long reigns of Fatª Al¥ ShÇh (1797-1834) and his greatgrandson NÇ‚ir al-D¥n ShÇh (1848-96) enjoyed a period of relatively stable rule. This occurred despite the loss of Georgia, the Caucasus and north Azerbaijan to the Russians (ratified by the Treaties of Gulestan in 1813 and Turkomanchai in 1828) and the recurring disputes concerning Herat and Sistan from the 1830s to the 1860s which reduced Iran to its present boundaries by the late nineteenth century. Within this still impressively large territory both rulers aimed to maintain peace and control through a network of provincial governorships distributed among members of the extensive Qajar family, combined with attempts at administrative, military and economic reform.1 Inseparable from these internal affairs was the need to come to terms with the accelerating intrusion of Western powers, especially Britain, France and Russia, who were interested in Iran both for its strategic value and as an export market for their manufactured goods. Contacts which had begun with the missions of envoys of the East India Company and Napoleon to the court of Fatª Al¥ ShÇh developed into a regular traffic of diplomats, soldiers, merchants, technicians, missionaries, archaeologists and travellers who collectively drew Iran into international politics. The many travel accounts, official reports, paintings, sketches, maps and later photographs in which these Europeans
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Qajar period.2
