Textiles in the Qajar Era: the Production and Trade of Textile

The present research aims to study the status of the textile industry in Iran during the Qajar Era. The Qajar Era in Iran was concurrent with the Industrial Revolution in Europe. In this era, the textile industry of Iran, which was based on manual methods of production, could not compete with the machine-made products of Europe. Various types of foreign textiles entered Iran's market and local textile workshops lost their previous prosperity due to lack of governmental support. This trend became even worse after indiscriminate concessions were granted to foreign governments, especially Russia and Britain.Methodology/ Approach: This study employs descriptive-analytic research. The theoretical section of the present research is based on library method and data collection has been carried out by taking notes and reviewing records. The findings of the research show a recession in local industries due to a rise in the import of European textiles. Furthermore, an increase in the price of raw material led traders to export more of their raw materials and this made the recession of domestic industries even worse.