ABSTRACT
From among a wide range of characters and events that would fit into the frame-work of Russian–Iranian relations since 1800, the choice of Haj Kazem Malek al-Tojjar was dictated by new evidence about his prominent role in three key events that highlight the rivalry over the control of Iran’s resources and trade in the late nineteenth century. Significantly, only R. A. Seyyedov, erstwhile director of the Institute for the People of the Near and Middle East in Baku, has dealt with all three. 1 They include Malek al-Tojjar’s crucial role in the Tobacco Rebellion of 1891–1892, a concerted run on the silver reserves of the British-owned Imperial Bank of Iran in 1897 and the founding of Iran’s first public joint-stock company, Sherkat-e ‘Omumi, and its subsidiary, Sherkat-e Tariq-e Mozaffari, which obtained the concession for building the road from Ardabil to Astara.
