ABSTRACT
Documentation for Iranian land tenure and taxation is scarce—even more so than for other economies in the Middle East. There was no land register during the nineteenth century, and in the absence of national archives similar documents have not survived, or are so scattered that they are not easily accessible. As a result, it is difficult to measure the exact rate of taxation on land. Similarly, it is not possible to determine the size of the land-holding and its probable changes over time. We know, however, that private property in land increased at the expense of lands owned by the state towards the end of the nineteenth century. 1
