A Historical Survey on Tea Cultivation and Its Problems in Guilan Province During the Qajar Era

During the Qajar period, tea was cultivated and produced for the first time in the Guilan province in the North of Iran. Kāshif al-Salṭanah, the Iranian Ambassador of the time in Bombay, played a pivotal role in preparing the conditions for the transportation of tea seeds to Iran and their cultivation in Guilan. The region was considered a proper region for this agricultural purpose regarding its convenient climate. In this research, based on archived documents, the challenges of this process, from the first days of tea cultivation until its harvest, are investigated. The result shows that the strong resistance of the rulers and landlords against this new agricultural product was the main problem. However, the persistence of Kāshif al-Salṭanah, supported by the then king, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, eventually developed tea production in Guilan.