پژوهش نامه تاریخ اجتماعی و اقتصادی
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 9، بهار و تابستان 1395)

Geographically located at the juncture of international trade routes, the Western border of Iran used to be one of the goods smuggling center. The establishment of Iraq and its extended border with Iran influenced the relations between these two countries, particularly with regard to wheat smuggling. The significance of wheat as the main source of nourishment, the geographical location, the Second World War and unwanted engagement of Iran in this issue intensified the smuggling of goods in Iran-Iraq border. This had some consequences and eventually resulted in new supervisory laws to be passed for commercial relations with Iraq. The present study, employing a library-oriented and descriptive-analytic research method, examines the actions of the government against wheat smuggling in Iran-Iraq border during the first Pahlavi era up to the early months of occupation of Iran by the Allied forces. The findings of the study reveal that despite the efforts of the government for preventing wheat smuggling to Iraq, other issues like poverty, lack of facilities for legal economic activities, variety of decision-making organs likedeputy of security affairs and customsduties, bordersinsecurity, internal struggles in Iraq, and lack of cooperation with Iran, and occupation of Iran by the Allied forces acted as obstacles that prevented the Iranian government from acting against wheat smuggling to Iraq.

The lucrative commerce of ArdshirKhorrah which widely encompassed the majority of Persian Gulf commercial ports required an ordered system of connecting and commercial routes. The routes mainly used by caravans, from Asia Minor to Transoxiana, had long terminated to northern and eastern sides of the Persian Gulf (ArdshirKhorrah coasts) and the products of Transoxiana were exported to ArdshirKhorrah ports for consumption and export and from there to India, China and East of Africa. Being geographically located at the juncture of commercial lands and seaways, ArdshirKhorrahwas considered as a commercial pole and alinkingchain that connected the East to the West. In this paper, through adopting a historical-descriptive and library-oriented research method, we attempt to examine the connecting land routes and seaways of ArdshirKhorrah and analyze the role of such routes in commercial affluence and proliferation of that area. Imported and exported products of this province will also be studied.

Qajar era was the era of vast interaction of Iran with the West. Such interactions paved the way for Iranians to get familiar with modern sciences and establishment of new factories one the one hand and expansion of domination of the foreigners on the other hand. The present study examines the relation between modern sciences and new education and establishment of factories in the country and evaluates a number of factors that impeded local industrial proliferation. The study was conducted through examining sources and documents and through employing a descriptive-analytic method. The findings indicate that despite the practical approach of the movements which led to the establishment of factories, lack of tenacity on the part of official authorities for improving the factories, huge import of goods, shortage of and insecurity of connecting routes and unawareness of the Iranian merchants of imperialistic policies of the foreign countries and their need for cheap raw materials and suitable sale markets all led to fierce competition in production and eventually caused the failure of nascent factories.

Sickness and death as a result of contagious and unknown diseases were the social realities of Qajar era. Pre-modern perceptions of peopleof human body and biological causes of diseases had a root in people conventional beliefs and were thus reflective of socio-cultural structure of the society of that time. The present study treats the common beliefs of the people and their related actions concerning diseases as part of social realities, and attempts to examine what these common beliefs of this era concerning the causes of diseases were and what solutions were prescribed for curing diseases accordingly. Analysis of historical documents and theoretical interpretation of the findings reveal that common beliefs played an important role in preserving health both with regard to disease causes and cures. Based on common beliefs, health and treatment were provided through reference to traditional medicine and common curing methods. By attributing diseases to metaphysical issues, people made use of magic and talisman as treatment. Moreover, taking advantage of the energy of individuals and holy objects for healing purposes suggests lack of facilities, lack of recognition of body structure in confronting infectious diseases and the complexities of diseases afflicting body organs on the one hand, and attempts for prevention of condition deterioration and maintainingsurvival on the other hand.

During law governance era in Iran with the establishment of national parliament in 1906, drug consumption was not contrary to Islamic jurisprudence; however, the government by considering the conditions of the worldpassed opium restriction law in 1911 which was approved by the parliament and was thenenforced. Opiumrestriction law faced various reactions and disagreement by different groups of the society. Merchants and businessmen were among those groups that by sending complaints and telegraphs requested that the law be nullified, modified, or reduced. The present study, through considering Islamic Parliament documents, attempts to examine the reactions of merchants to opium restriction law and this way examines and evaluates the general reaction of merchants as a sample of law enactment of an important group in Iran who also had a leading role in Constitutionalism. Opiumrestriction law, despite disagreements, could overcome conventional and religious obstacles and paved the initial way for the Iranian society to move towards law enforcement and governance.

The content of what mankind consumes throughout his life as nutrient plays an important role in his life and health. Accordingly,the dominance of certain products like red meat, oil or grains or vegetables can represent the quality of his nourishment. The present study investigates two cooking dissertations left fromSafavid Era (First Shah Esmail and First Shah Abbas), extracts the type of various foods in these two dissertations, identifies the dominance of food types, and then compares them with each other. The present study seeks to identify what differences could be seen in categorizing nutrient types in these two dissertations and what materials were of more use. It seems that no significant difference could be seen in application of nutrients in these two dissertations and red meat and grains had the highest application in both dissertations. The findings reveal that the cook of the First Shah Abbas and the cook of the First Shah Esmail employed less meat and more grains in their presented foods.