ABSTRACT

Iran’s encounters with Britain and Russia after the turn of the nineteenth century necessitated coming to terms with British and Russian imperialism, modern ideas of border implementation and the modern skills of surveying and mapping, all of which were to perform roles in modifying Iran’s pre-modern frontiers. Iran’s engagement with this imperial modernity proved to be an even greater challenge during Naser al-Din Shah’s reign in the second half of the nineteenth century. Iran’s ability, under the reign of Naser al-Din Shah, to counter and ameliorate the power and wishes of the British and Russians was facilitated by incorporating these modern methods. This paper will explore, set against a background of Iran’s own “enlightenment” in cartography and negotiating skills, how the Iranians were able to mitigate against the worst possible outcomes as their borders were re-drawn. Using Persian language sources and Iranian maps together with British archives, and concentrating on the Dargaz-Kalat region between 1881 and 1884, this paper will show that the Iranians did have agency and were not always the victims in this process.

摘要

十九世纪之交后，伊朗与英国和俄罗斯的遭遇迫使其接受英俄帝国主义、现代边界实施理念和现代测绘技术，所有这些都在改变伊朗前现代的过程中发挥了作用。边境。伊朗与这种帝国现代性的接触事实证明，在十九世纪下半叶纳赛尔丁沙统治期间，这是一个更大的挑战。在纳赛尔丁沙的统治下，伊朗对抗和改善英国和俄罗斯的力量和愿望的能力是通过融入这些现代方法而得到促进的。本文将以伊朗自身在制图和谈判技巧方面的“启蒙”为背景，探讨伊朗人如何能够减轻边界重新划定时可能出现的最坏结果。本文利用波斯语资料、伊朗地图以及英国档案，重点关注 1881 年至 1884 年间的达尔加兹-卡拉特地区，表明伊朗人确实有行动力，而且并不总是这一过程中的受害者。