IOR/L/PS/20/MM11

The volume consists of memoranda produced by the Government of India Foreign Department. It contains monthly memoranda of information received ‘relating to affairs in Persia [Iran]’ for the months of January-December 1908, and ‘relating to affairs in Persia, and the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf’ for the months of January-December 1909. The memoranda for January-December 1908 are each divided into two sections: ‘Persia’ and ‘Seistan [Sistan] and Khorasan’.

The main subjects covered include:

• Reports on the political situation in various parts of Persia, including Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbas], Bushire [Bushehr], Meshed [Mashhad], Shiraz, Azerbaijan, and Kerman
• The activities of European powers in the region, including Germany, Italy, and Belgium
• The financial situation in Persia
• The insecurity of certain roads in Persia
• Red oxide mining concessions in the Gulf
• Arms traffic in the Gulf
• The Russian involvement in Persia
• Control over and maintenance of telegraph lines in Persia
• The governorship of Kain [Qa’en]
• The situation of Zil-es-Sultan [Mas‘ūd Mīrzā Zill al-Sulṭān Qājār]
• The granting of a concession for the irrigation of the Karun river
• The affairs of the Sheikh [Shaikh] of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]
• The medical work of the British consulates in Seistan [Sistan] and Kain
• Turkish [Ottoman] activity in the Gulf
• The affairs of the Sheikh of Koweit [Shaikh of Kuwait]
• Events in Abu Thabi [Abu Dhabi]
• Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrein [Bahrain].

There are tables of contents for each memorandum.