Hello again
Since my last message I've found a fascinating nineteenth century
account of travel to and within Persia which is available online and
will, I hope, be of great interest to you. Certainly, I've been
engrossed in it.....
But before I tell you more about that, I should offer you an
introductory paragraph about the situation in the later part of the
nineteenth century.
The Eastern end of the journey from Tehran to Paris meant a choice
between a challenging trip on horseback through difficult mountain
territory, or heading north for Russia and the relatively good Russian
railway connections with Western Europe. Either of these routes could
involve stretches of boat travel across the Caspian and Black seas. If
you didn't choose the northern route through Russia, you could come
from Western Europe to the Middle East by ship or, after 1883, the
famous Orient Express ran from Paris to Constantinople (modern
Istanbul). I found two examples of people sailing the Mediterranean
from Marseilles in France, though it was also possible to travel from
Venice or Trieste.
(If you want online maps to follow the travel stories coming next, see
the section lower down.)
============================
EDWARD GRANVILLE BROWNE 1887
============================
Browne was a young English scholar who travelled to Persia in 1887. He
doesn't say how long it took him to get to the Black Sea port of
Trebizonde (Trabzon) but from there he spent more than five weeks
travelling to Tehran - plus time spent sight-seeing/negotiating with
muleteers/waiting for the rain to stop.
Some extracts from his description:
"I at last settled the matter by booking my passage from Marseilles to
Batoum at the London office of the Messageries Maritimes, and by
adding to the two small portmanteaus into which I had compressed so
much clothing as appeared absolutely indispensable nothing but a
Wolseley valise, a saddle and bridle, a pith hat (which was broken to
pieces long before the summer came round), a small medicine-chest, a
few surgical instruments, a revolver, a box of a hundred cartridges, a
few books, a passport with the Russian and Turkish visas, and a
money-belt containing about 200 pounds in gold, paper, and circular
notes. At the last moment I was joined by an old college friend, H ,
who, having just completed a term of office at the hospital, was
desirous to travel, and whose proposal to join me I welcomed. He was
my companion as far as Teheran, where, as I desired to tarry for a
while, and he to proceed, we were obliged to separate.
We had booked our passage, as I have said, to Batoum, intending to
take the train thence to Baku, and so by the Caspian to Resht in
Persia. For this route, unquestionably the shortest and easiest, I had
from the first felt little liking, my own wish being to enter Persia
through Turkey, either by way of Damascus and Baghdad, or of
Trebizonde and Erzeroum."
"The sight of the Turkish shore and the sound of the Turkish tongue
(for we stayed two days at Constantinople, whence to Trebizonde the
deck of the steamer was crowded with Turks and Persians with whom I
spent the greater part of each day in conversing) swept away my last
[scruples] as to the wisdom of thus reversing at the outset a decision
which had been fully discussed. I consulted with H --, who raised no
objection; and we decided on reaching Trebizonde (where the steamer
anchored on 4th October) to enquire at the British Consulate as to the
safety and practicability of the old caravan road leading thence into
Central Asia, and, if the report were favourable, to adopt that
route."
"Next day (Friday, 7th October) the rain had ceased, and at an early
hour we were plunged in the confusion without which, as it would seem,
not even the smallest caravan can start. The muleteers, who had been
urging us to hasten our preparations. disappeared so soon as
everything was ready. When they had been found and brought back, it
was discovered that no bridle had been provided for H---'s horse; for,
though both of us had brought saddles from England, he had thought
that it would be better to use a native bridle. Eventually one was
procured, and, about 9 a.m., we emerged from the little crowd which
had been watching our proceedings with a keen interest, and rode out
of the town"
Having decided to go the more difficult but interesting way, it then
takes Browne and his companions seventeen days to get to the Persian
border. From the frontier to Tabriz takes a week and then it's another
two weeks before they arrive in Tehran.
=======================
BROWNE'S RETURN IN 1888
=======================
He goes home by a less challenging route, though even then he doesn't
want to go for the most popular option:
"In spite of my desire to get away from Teheran, it took me thirteen
days to transact all my business. First of all I had to find out about
the steamers from Mashhad-i-Sar, the port whence I intended to sail
for Russia (for I would not take the well-known Resht and Enzeli
route); then there were books to be bought, packed up, and sent off by
way of Bushire to Cambridge; ....
The box of books which I was sending home by Bushire would, I knew, be
months on the road, and I wished to begin to work at my manuscripts
immediately on my return. On the other hand, I had heard such dreadful
accounts of the Russian Custom-house that I was afraid to take them
with me. Finally I decided to sew them up carefully in thick linen,
direct the parcel to my home address, and send it, if I could obtain
permission, in the Embassy bag, which is conveyed monthly to
Constantinople by a special bearer, and there handed over to the
Queen's messenger for transport to London. It cost me an effort to
part with my beloved and hardly-won manuscripts, even for so short a
time, but I felt that this was the safest plan; and, accordingly,
having packed and directed them with the greatest care, I rode out to
Kulahak, the summer quarters of the English Embassy, situated about
six miles to the north of Teheran, and, to my great relief, saw the
precious packet sealed up in the bag."
From Mashhad-i-Sar to Odessa - by steamer, train and another steamer -
took nine days. Then it was three days of railway travel from Odessa
to Berlin and another day to get to England.
This is all from chapters 2-4 and 18 in
"A Year Amongst the Persians" by Edward Granville Browne (Cambridge
1926)
First published 1893 and online at:
http://bahai-library.org/books/ayatp/index.html#toc
==============================
MARCEL & JANE DIEULAFOY 1881-2
==============================
This couple set off from Marseilles for Constantinople where they were
informed that the best way to travel by road to Tehran was via Tiflis
(Tbilisi in Georgia). It took them three months to get as far as
Kasvin. There Monsieur Dieulafoy became ill and his wife had to find a
wagon for him to travel the last hundred miles to Tehran. Because it
was March the snows were thawing and they had to contend with flooding
and mud, on at least one occasion needing to hire "peasants with oxen"
to pull them free of a muddy patch.
These details came from:
Passenger to Teheran" by Vita Sackville-West Penguin (1985)
Some facinating reading about their time actually *in* Persia can be
found in a Harper's article:
"The Excavations at Susa", by Madame Jane Dieulafoy June 1887
put online by Cornell University Library:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABK4014-0075-3&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fharp%2Fharp0075%2F&tif=00014.TIF&pagenum=3
If that link doesn't work you can enter 'dieulafoy' in the search box
at:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_search.html
==============
OTHER JOURNEYS
==============
In 1900 Shah Muzaffar al-Din made a two month journey from Tehran to
France:
" The Shah sets out from Tehran and travels eastward, crossing the
Aras river on the northeast of Iran to Russia. He travels through
Russia by either train or carriage recording the different instances
he asked his akkasbsh (the court photographer) to take pictures. (He
himself also takes some pictures.) Almost all instances mentioned are
pictures of diplomats and other functionaries that visit the Shah of
Iran on his trip. On his last day in Russia, the "theater" was set up
for him in a park where "for the purposes of paying respects to us
(tashrifat), a large number of the nobility were invited for free."
Three curtains of dance were shown. The final destination of the
Shah's trip is a health spa in France where he hopes to improve his
health by drinking the mineral waters. He and his entourage arrive
there at night after two months of constant traveling and settle into
a "hotel" with all his servants and assistants.
"Muzaffar al-Din Shah's encounter with cinema" August 24, 2001
The Iranian
http://www.iranian.com/NaghmehSohrabi/2001/August/Cinema/
In 1888 Harold Nicolson, eighteen month old son of a British diplomat
and later a diplomat himself, had made the journey from Tehran to
England.
"We had travelled by train across the Russian steppes" he says in:
"Some People", by Harold Nicolson OUP (1983)
The situation in 1900 will have been much the same as these accounts
from the 1880s. Certainly, there was no major railway building in Iran
until after 1925. As for 1870, I haven't found much detail to go on.
It would be unsafe to assume that trains and steamers would have been
as advanced as in 1887. It certainly wasn't possible to travel direct
by train from Constantinople to Paris and it was a time of constant
development in transport.
===================
FURTHER INFORMATION
===================
I also wondered about the route into Persia from the Eastern end of
the Mediterranean. This was one of the ancient 'Silk Road' routes
between the West and the Orient as you can see on this rather faint
map:
Silk Road map
http://www.silkroadproject.org/silkroad/map.html
Vita Sackville-West, who went that way in 1926, says it was far too
dangerous to go from Palestine to Tehran via Baghdad until after the
first world war, but Granville Browne was obviously considering it.
Other people who made the journey from Persia to Western Europe
include:
Nasseredin Shah Qajar
A picture of him visiting the Paris Expo in 1889
http://www.iranian.com/Pictory/2003/January/7.html
Lord Curzon was in Iran in 1889. He wrote:
"Persia and the Persian Question", by George N. Curzon Longmans,
Green and Co.(1892)
"1883 : Departure of the first Express d'Orient from Paris to
Constantinople (Istanbul). The trip actually includes a boat transfer
form Varna to Constantinople. This is the very first official Express
train from Compagnie des Wagons-Lits. Passengers are recommended to
carry guns and rifles, just in case…
1889 : Departure of the first Express d'Orient, from Paris to
Constantinople, without changing train. The trip lasts about 70 hours.
Major cities traveled through are Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest
and Bucarest."
http://www.wagons-lits-paris.com/an/histoire.asp
====
MAPS
====
Map showing the Caspian, mountains between Constantinople and Tehran,
etc.
Remember 19th century and modern names can vary - e.g. Browne's Batoum
is shown as Bat'umo
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/middleeast_ref01.jpg
Another map with more of Russia
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/comm_indep_states_ref_00.jpg
Map showing railway from north to Tiflis in 1882 but apparently not
yet at Baku
http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/re-cac.html
Links to 1882 maps of Russia showing railways
http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/mapiruse.html
Thank-you for giving me such a fascinating research project. I started
on it because I already knew something about Harold Nicolson and Vita
Sackville-West's journeys and thought I remembered their writing had
details of earlier travellers. (They were husband and wife, by the
way.) Once I found Edward Granville Browne's book I couldn't stop
reading. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Please let me know if I can help further with this by using the
'request clarification' option.
Regards - Leli
PS I'm afraid I can't help out with the Jules Verne novel suggested by
beckybob - I don't have a copy to hand.
search strategy:
used names I found in Sackville-West's book - Dieulafoy etc.
also searched with:
railway railroad "silk road"
combinations of 'from' and 'to' Paris Constantinople Istanbul Teheran
Tehran Tabriz Tiflis
nineteenth 19th century
also searched "The Iranian" at:
http://www.iranian.com |
