IOR/L/PS/20/C201/1

Military report on Persia (volume IV, part I, covering Persian Baluchistan, Kermān and Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]), dated 1922, and published by the Central Government Press at Simla in 1923. The report’s chapters cover:

• History, including: Persia’s recent political history; a recent history of Persian Baluchistan, and military operations in Persia Baluchistan, notably the operations at Dizak in 1901-02, operations against maritime arms trafficking in 1909, an expedition against Makrān in 1911 to check arms trafficking, and operations against the Dāmānīs in East Persia in 1916, to protect British interests in Persia; b) a brief history of Kermān; and c) a brief history of Bandar-e ʻAbbās.
• Geography for Persian Baluchistan; Kermān; and Bandar-e ʻAbbās, with headings for boundaries, administrative districts, and the principal villages for each region, as well as sections on rivers, lakes, mountains, harbours and deserts as appropriate. The section on Bandar-e ʻAbbās includes a description of buildings, water supply, camping grounds, roads and local industry. There are also descriptions of the principal islands off the Persian Baluchistan coast: Qishm [Qeshm], Henjam [Hengam] and Hormuz.
• Ethnography, including: general characteristics; notes for intelligence officers; sections on the population and tribes of Persian Baluchistan, Kermān Bandar-e ʻAbbās.
• Climate and Health, including details of medical facilities.
• Resources, including: transport (camels, mules, donkeys, horse and oxen); and supplies, chiefly of agricultural crops, by region and village.
• Military, including: British garrisons and South Persia Rifles; the Persian Army; the fighting strength of the Persian tribes, organised by region and village; military notes on Persian Baluchistan, including the arms traffic in the Persian Gulf.
• Communications, including: the railway line between Mirjāwā [Mīrjāveh] and Duzdāp, its facilities (water, rolling stock, telegraph), and risks of damage to the line; other proposed lines between Bandar-e ʻAbbās and Kermān, and Gwadar and Kermān; cable, wireless, telephone lines, and visual signalling stations.
• Political, including an outline of administration in Persian Baluchistan, Kermān and Bandar-e ʻAbbās, and information on currency, weights and measures.

Appendix A is a list of the nomadic tribes of the Kermān province, listed by district and the number of families in each tribe. Appendix B is a list of the annual subsidies paid to chiefs in Persian Baluchistan by the Indo-European Telegraph Department, for the protection of lines passing through their district. Appendix C is a table of resources (livestock, agricultural produce), with figures indicating the requirements for local consumption in each district. Appendix D is a distribution statement of the Sarhad Levy Corps as of 1 July 1922.

The maps and plans include: a map of Persian Baluchistan (folio 78); a map of Kerman and its environs (folio 77); a diagram of the Mīrjāveh station yard (folio 74); a diagram of Duzdāp station yard (folio 76); a sketch map showing signalling and heliograph posts between Chahbar and Geh (folio 75); and a sketch map showing communications between Kerman and Saidabad (folio 79).