نشریه پژوهش های علوم تاریخی
پیاپی 1 (پاییز 1388)

In the age of atom, electricity and computer, there are many people who give their hearts to their leaders! Those can be Mr. Reagan, Lady Nehro, Brezhnev or King of Borneo!This is what our history and other nation’s is abundant in. there is no difference between that fisherman from Deilam who went to somebody claiming to be “an astrologer and dream reader” to interpreter his dream and Brezhnev whose leader, he claimed, had been a rural monk; or between Shah ‘Abbas and the court astrologer who, for the suppression of Hurufis, did counsel with the King, and lady Nehro who, to launch her satellite ship to space, sought the reading of an old Indian astrologer on the auspicious time or inauspicious. Here is the teaching: people in this world are still abecedarian children and listen with their hearts to the language which is no human.

With the French occupation of Egypt in 1798 AD, the communication route of Britain to India was threatened and a new stage of conflict and competition began between the two countries in eastern Mediterranean, Ottoman, Iran, Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Although threats temporarily subsided with the French abandoning Egypt, but the continuous French expansionism in the east caused them persist as much potential. While Ottoman and Iran were coming into closer relationships with France and entering the European political circle, their territories were among the first to be met on the route to attack India. In 1808, after the Tilsit Treaty and the alliance between France and Russia, Sir John Malcom proposed the plan of occupation of Khark aimed at blocking the probable attack to India by a European army through Ottoman and southern Iran. This article deals with these threats, the British reaction and Malcom’s within the frameworks of European diplomacy and hence, French and British regional policies.

The vivid description in the history of Beyhaqi of the political realities of its time is known to the researchers of this invaluable heritage of Iranian history. In the mass of Khwaja Abolfal Beyhaqi’s (385-470 AH) political reports which usually encompasses details and an awareness of the hidden and overt of political events of the Qaznavid era, the theme of psychology of power is clearly traceable. One of the most fundamental elements in this era is the principle of “Uniqueness” or “Matchlessness” of the King which the Qaznavid court did best attempt in imprinting it in the mind of every vassal and there had been exact and watchful supervisions on King’s subjects to prevent them from displaying the least gesture of similitude to Kingship. In Addition, vassals were permanently prohibited from seeking similitude to the King in the guise of political advices.In this article, it will be tried to present a detailed discussion on the above mentioned panoramas based on the History of Beyhagi.

One of the influential phenomenal in the post-Islamic history of Iran is the coming of social groups from outside of its territory in the form of tribes and nomad. It first happened through the immigration of Muslim Arab tribes who came to Iran for Jihad. But after the conquest of Iran by the Muslim Arabs and fall of the Sassanid political administrative system, lack of central government in the first centuries of the Islamic period in Iran and collapse of political borders, opened the way for the coming of other tribes from the neighboring countries, especially the Turk tribes of Central Asia. The coming of the latter had a deep impact on the fate of the social history of post-Islamic Iran. Seljuquid era is one of the most important in the history of coming of these tribes to Iran. The purpose of this article is to study the role of the Central Asian immigrant tribes in the incidents of the eastern parts of Iran during the second half of the Seljuqid rule with an emphasis on the reign of Sultan Sanjar.

Iranian historiography during the Safavid era affected by religious upheavals and intellectual and political developments, witnessed the emergence and evolution of a new approach towards Time and techniques for recording history. The most important feature of this historiography was the continuance of pre-Safavid models and regulations on the one hand, and the formation of typical Safavid structure of historiography continued to be practiced and historians recorded events based on the previous models. What distinguishes this era from the historiography point of view is the gradual penetration of Shiite doctrines into the mind of historiographer and its reflecting in the historical texts. Ever since, Shiite cosmology and ideological themes became fundamental to the minds of historians, and the historical view base on the specific political understanding of this era and he distinct Shiite theory on the categorization of Time became pervasive. The present article is a brief research on emergence of and development of Iranian historiography during the Safavid era. This is achieved by the introduction of contemporary viewpoints towards historiography of the era, its procedures and classification of different types of the Safavid historical texts from 1038 to 1148AH/1629 to 1736AD.

Jezyah had been part of the tax system imposed on religious minorities. From the very first days of its introduction to Islam, it was addressed to as demeaning and humiliating towards religious minorities. The abolition of many laws concerning religious minorities was the result of some developments in Iran, especially in foreign relationships during the Qajar era. Jezyah is a prominent example of these developments. On the dawn of modernization in Iran, by the efforts of Mirza ‘Isa Qaem Maqam and probably on the request of European, Jezyah was abolished for Christians but Zoroastrians were still severely suffering because, in addition to Jezyah, they were under several other enforcements. With the rise in abroad journeys, Parsis of India became informed about the deplorable situation of their Iranian coreligionists. They founded “Zoroastrians Welfare Society” and following that, Charity Institution, sent representatives to Iran and diligently endeavored to make improvements in their status. Parsis’ representative, Mankji came to Iran and after more than three decades of effort and paying huge amounts of money, not only succeeded in abolishing Jezyah for Zoroastrians but, with multilateral supports, improved their cultural, social and economic status. The present article has been prepared based on some original, unpublished documents in possession of the writer.

One of the outcomes of the Hormuz conquest in 1037 AH/1622 AD by the Iranian army was the foundation of a new portal city named Bandar ’¬Abbasi. Actually, this city appeared in this year and has been one of the most important commercial centers of the Persian Gulf ever since. The present article deals with the genesis of this city and quality of its urban development during the reign of Shah ’Abbas I. based on a survey of the primary historical sources.