Cities of Khorasan, 1870s–1910s: Eyewitness Accounts of Russian Travelers and Diplomats

Abstract

Introduction. Perceptions of Khorasan cities by Russian travelers and diplomats have so far remained historiographically uninvestigated. Goals. The article attempts an analysis of corresponding eyewitness accounts compiled by the latter between the 1870s and the 1910s. Results. The paper reveals some reasons behind the interest towards Khorasan, including Russia’s annexation of Transcaspia. The work outlines how images of Khorasan cities would take shape in narratives of Russian subjects, their attitudes to spatial layouts of the cities, development of suburbs, everyday life of citizens, and the latter’s moral portraits. Special attention is paid to the Russian travelers and diplomats’ analyses of what caused the crisis — and how it was manifested — faced by Khorasan cities in the late nineteenth century. In addition, the article shows the articulated prospects for further development of the cities, mainly through expanded relations between Khorasan and Russia. Conclusions. The article resumes somewhat Orientalist tradition dominated the examined works of Russians, which lead to critical attitudes and misunderstandings of many life foundations across the cities of Khorasan. The authors would constantly draw analogies between cities of Europe and Persia to show backwardness of the eastern settlements. They insisted political instability, traditionalism, and economic problems had most negative impacts on urban culture of Eastern Persia. Despite the emerging signs of civilization — in European eyes — the cities of the region never met their expectations of how ‘folktale-type’ cities of the East were to look like (including the observed stagnation and desolation). And the only exception therein was Mashhad.