مجله تاریخ ایران
سال سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 64، بهار 1389)

Following the emergence of certain changes in the trade direction and trade partners of Iran, the role of businessmen and money changers became more and more prominent. In this period, the Zoroastrians, impressed by the activities of the Akaber Indian Persians and the promotion of Yazd as a commercial center, found the opportunity to set up business and money changing offices in order to compensate for their social failures. As a result of establishing Jamshidian commercial firm in housing and business domains and also setting up some other branches in and out of the country, Jamshid Bahman became so influential among the economic officials and political statesmen that he was promoted to the position of the prime businessman of Iran. However, such a trend, which was indicative of the interaction of power structure with the minorities and the necessity of such a money changing office in the realm of commerce, ended in failure because of certain reasons such as the economic-political instability after the Constitution Era, the lack of an organized policy-making in the transition from the traditional economic structure to the modern one, and the invalid procedures adopted by the state banks (shahi Bank)and Isteghrazi (Russian) Bank which was receiving loans.

For Iranian society which was ruled by Mongols, Ilkhanid state (12581335- A.D) was not a unified hegemony, and even in Iranian historiography of the Ilkhanid period, they were called Chengizid Mongols. But, this holistic viewpoint is not appropriate or clear for explaining the political events of Iran in that time. Because, in the whole period of Ilkhanid dynasty which lasted one hundred year, Holakuid family ruled for only eighty years. In fact, from among Holakukhanian, six out of nine Ilkhans belonged to the branches of Abaqaid. Mongols called this division Oroghe. Finally, this was the Arghon, son of Abaga, who took the main power. In fact, this process was the result of the particular principle of Turanid society that took the place the old one which considered the royal succession a divine matter, not a terrestrial dominance.

The problem of the Helmand River has constantly been considered as the main cause of struggle between Iran and Afghanistan over the recent century, and it has not yet completely resolved. The problem was commenced in 1872A.D./1289A.H. with the arbitration of Goldsmid. During the age of Rezakhan’s ruling, negotiations began in 1310 which resulted in signing of the 1317 Treaty. The Iranian government and national council assembly as well as the Afghan government approved the treaty and the additional announcement, while the latter was rejected by Afghanistan’s national council assembly. Although there exists a variety of information respecting the issue of the Helmand River in Rezakhan’s era and some aspects of this question have been considered in the research literature, it is highly required to conduct a comprehensive, complete and documented research in this regard. This article, which is based on the unpublished documents of Iran’s foreign ministry, offering a meticulous, substantiated and abridged description with regard to historical background of the issue and expounding its various facets, is devoting effort to find an answer to the question that why and how the problem of the Helmand River did not lead to a decisive conclusion in the mentioned period. A multitude of reasons were implicated in not finding a solution to the problem of the Helmand River, among which Afghans’ suspicion and their lack of commitment to the exploitation of the Helmand River over Kamalkhan’s dam is of dramatic significance.

Oil was among the profoundest matters between Iran and England during Rezashah era. The British government aimed at extending the Darsi contract for another 60 years, and the Iranian part, on the other hand, desired to manage the contracts to its own benefit in order to increase the financial earnings for which Iran was in urgent need to renew its foundations. Abdolhosein Teymourtash on behalf of the Iranian part entered the complex negotiations with the oil company agents and English authorities in order to improve Iran’s portion. Applying the method of historical analysis and using some unpublished documents, this research aims at surveying the negotiations and dealing with the obstacles, goals, and final advantages in the field leading to the oil contract of 1933.

Publication of newspapers in the Qajar period reflected many social, cultural, economical, political, official problems and different aspects of people’s lives in various hinterlands and helped at least the literate class become aware of the situation in different cities. Meanwhile, newspapers such as Vaghaye Etefaghiye and Dolat-e Alie Iran published differing news about the circumstances in cities (Kerman, in particular). For different reasons, Kerman of the pre-constitutional period set up the social movement which finally resulted in the constitutionalism. Therefore, in addition to the local sources of this hinterland, newspapers can also describe that epoch in Kerman. The basic problem of this article is to investigate political, economical, military, judicial, security, religious/theological, cultural, service situations and also the natural events of Kerman from the view point of printed matters of the Qajar period. Investigation of the printed matters according to the historical research and on the basis of data analysis indicates that conditions of this hinterland has been reflected clearly in the newspapers of the pre-constitutional period and from these sources the events of that hinterland can be reconsidered.

After the entering of Shiite ulama into politics during the reign of king Tahmasp I, a new stage in the history of Shiite ulama and jurisprudence relations with Safavid kings began. These relations never stopped during the Safavid dynasty, although it experienced a little gap in the reign of King Ismail II. During the reign of king Abbas I, these relations have entered a predetermined domain and after the weakening of the Qizilbash, he has centralized power into his own hands. He controlled Shiite ulama and jurisprudence and also prevented them from entering the political matters. The ulama not only agreed on this new situation, they also cooperated with him by accepting regional positions and confirming his legitimacy. This process continued until the end of the reign of King Abbas II. The king, like his ancestor, tried to rule with absolute power and to keep the ulama at the service of himself and the Safavid state and, in this way, to use them for his own political goals.

The background and the history of urban relations and conditions in Iran are very lengthy and complicated. Therefore, the related discussions are also very difficult. Among these complicated discussions one may refer to the patterns of the emergence of the urban society which possess a unique place in the history of urban studies in Iran.The long history of urban relations in Iran, and the socioeconomic consequences of this form of communal life in the evolution of Iranian society show the importance of research in this field. The studies dealing with the similarities and differences between cities and villages and the continuity of urban and rural societies prepare the ground for studies in the social history of Iran. The present study attempts to observe whether urbanization was a natural consequence of the social relations in Iran or was it the result of a range of heterogeneous factors. The results of the present study show that, in spite of the usual ideas, urbanization in Iran is the result of multiple factors and it should not be attributed only to the political factor which is only one of the many influencing and affecting factors.