A history of slavery and emancipation in Iran, 1800-1929

341 Pages·2017·16.832 MB·English

by  Mirzai, Behnaz A.

A History of slAvery And
emAncipAtion in irAn, 1800–1929
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A History of Slavery and
Emancipation in Iran, 1800–1929
BeHnAz A. mirzAi
University of texas Press   Austin
Copyright © 2017 by the University of Texas Press
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Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2017
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:
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♾ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of Ansi/niso
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liBrAry of congress cA tAloging- in- puBlicA tion dAtA
Names: Mirzai, Behnaz A., author.
Title: A history of slavery and emancipation in Iran, 1800/1929/ Behnaz A. Mirzai.
Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016024726 | isBn 9781477311752 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isBn 9781477311868 (pbk. : alk. paper) | isBn 9781477311875 (library e- book) |
isBn 9781477311882 (non- library e- book)
Subjects: lcsH: Slavery—Iran—History. | Slave trade—Iran—History. | Blacks—
Iran—History. | Slaves—Emancipation—Iran—History. | Iran—History.
Classification: lcc Ht1286 .m57 2017 | ddc 306.3/620955—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016024726
doi:10.7560/311752
to my sons BeHrouz And rouzBeH
in memory of my fAtHer, mAHmoud
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contents
A Note to the Reader ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
cHApter one. Commerce and Slavery on Iran’s Frontiers,
1600–1800: An Overview 26
cHApter two. Slavery and Forging New Iranian Frontiers,
1800–1900 35
cHApter tHree. The Trade in Enslaved People from Africa
to Iran, 1800–1900 53
cHApter four. Patterns of Enslavement 74
cHApter five. Slaves in Nineteenth- Century Iran 91
cHApter six. Slave-Trade Suppression Legislation 131
cHApter seven. Antislavery Debates Within Iran 159
cHApter eigHt. Emancipation 180
Final Thoughts 206
Glossary 215
Notes 217
Bibliography 291
Index 315
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A note to tHe reAder
in tHe Hopes of explaining the transformations of the slavery system in
Iran not only to academic specialists in Iranian history, but also of reaching
an audience unfamiliar with the history of Iran and literature on slavery in the
Middle East, I have avoided the use of specialized jargon.
My aim is to maintain the spellings of names exactly as they appear in ar-
chival sources in the endnotes unless there is a major discrepancy, in which
case I employ the correct modern spelling.
transliteration
In this book, I have used the transliteration system of the International Journal
of Middle East Studies for Persian, Arabic, and Turkish words.
translations
Translations of all foreign sources (Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and French) are
mine.
Dates
Dates in this book are written in the Gregorian style. In endnotes, the dates
of English sources are Gregorian, Persian documents of sAm and books are
cited in Hijri Shamsi (modern Iranian or solar calendar), and Persian docu-
ments of vuK are Hijri Qamari (Islamic or lunar calendar) unless noted Sh.
(Hijri Shamsi).
Units of MeasUre
weigHts
Man is an Iranian unit of weight equal to 3 kg.
Ray is an Iranian unit of weight equal to 11.87 kg.1
currency
It is impossible to determine the exact value of coins used in Iran. The most
common coin in circulation was the toman. Some coins were minted in Iran
while others were foreign. The exchange in every province and city differed