ABSTRACT
Through the centuries that have elapsed since the Arab conquest of Persia, many travellers have visited Iran. Catholic friars bent on converting Mohammedans; traders pursuing commerce in the Caspian or the Persian Gulf; ambassadors from different nations paying court to Shah Abbas (the Grand Sophy, as they called him from a mispronunciation of his dynastic title); gallant gentlemen—adventurers such as the Sherley brothers; or master-craftsmen like the French jewellers Tavernier and Chardin, with others whom it would take too long to enumerate.
