Historical Map of Karun River Route toward Shushtar and the Source of Zayandeh Rud, By the Efforts of Najm Al-Mulk(1299AH=1260SH)

“Historical map of Karun river route toward Shushtar and the source of Zayandeh Rud” is among the historical map series of Khuzestan which was prepared and drawn by Abd Al-Ghaffar in Ramadan 25th, 1299AH. This map illustrates Karun River, Zardkuh Mountains, Dez river in Dezful, Kuhrang Mountain, Zayandeh Rud River as well as coal mines, farms and roads of the region. Najm Al-Mulk, the well-known engineer of Qajar era, has professionally implemented the mapping methods of those years to draw this map. In addition to Najm Al-Mulk’s services to modern engineering and topography of natural areas system of Iran and particularly of Khuzestan, the details of the map are also explained here. The title mentioned in its identity certificate which includes the main Karun River toward Shushtar and the source of Zayandeh Rud, has been chosen as the title of this research. Fortunately, it is known who has drawn this historical map; it is the late Haj Abd Al-Ghaffar Naj Al-Mulk (1839-1908AD), The engineer, historian and astronomer of Naseri era who played a significant role in preparing the geographical maps of Khuzestan. His scientific-engineering records are the indicative of his great activities in this field. Moreover, his “Khuzestan travelogue” is seen as a golden sheet of the history and geography of Khuzestan in Qajar era which can be a valuable heritage for future generations. Based on the data written on the map, it dates back to Ramadan 25th, 1299(1882AD). The name of the drawing location, Tehran, and the drawer’s, Abd Al-Ghaffar, have also been declared on the map. The year 1299AH coincides with 1260SH. Therefore, the map dates back to 136 years ago (based on solar calendar) and 141 years ago (based on lunar calendar). One of the most important traits of this map is illustrating the natural zones, the terrain as well as Karun, Dez and Zayandeh Rud rivers zones which have been shown using particular lines. The lawn and farming surroundings of Karun, Dez and Zayandeh Rud rivers in addition to the longitudinal and transverse shears of Karkonan Mountain are also reported on this map. The sentence “The scale is one part of 20000 parts” shows that the area scale is 1 to 20000 which seems really small in comparison to the river length. The map dimensions are 48×69 cm which seems mediumsized in comparison to the maps existing in the archives of Foreign Affairs Ministry. Among the series of the historical maps remained from Haj Abd Al-Ghaffar Najm Al-Mulk (Najm Al-Doleh), this map has outstanding traits such as showing natural resources including rivers, mountains, the lawn, farms and fertile lands since the ultimate goal has mostly been planning for agriculture and optimal exploitation of rivers as well as getting accurately acquainted with the region to obtain annual taxes. The historical map of “Karun toward Shushtar and the source of Zayandeh Rud” is a clear evidence of such attitude existence. Another noteworthy point is the longitudinal and transverse shears of Karkonan Mountain on such a scale which is a rare one compared to the other maps of Qajar era. This is the indicator of the late Najm Al-Mulk’s precision who was a distinguished cartographer of that era. Keywords: Karun