Identifier: stranglingofpers00shus (find matches)
Title: The strangling of Persia; a story of the European diplomacy and oriental intrigue that resulted in the denationalization of twelve million Mohammedans, a personal narrative
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Shuster, W. Morgan (William Morgan), 1877-1960
Subjects: Eastern question (Central Asia)
Publisher: New York, The Century Co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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vince on the Caspian. In the Province of Azarbayjan the trees and fruits there,grapes, melons, peaches, pears, plums, etc., are not to be sur-passed. The central part of Persia is a large salt desert. The mountains are generally treeless and rocky. Theirsnows act as storage reservoirs, and thousands of streams pourdown all summer, furnishing water for the plains, large areasof which, for want of any or proper irrigation arrangements,go to waste. The soil responds promptly to irrigation, and the potentialagricultural wealth of the country is unlimited. From what isknown of the mines of turquoise, gold, copper, and coal, min-eral wealth is also an important item. Up to the present nota railroad has been allowed to enter Persia, lest some strategicadvantage should be obtained or lost by Russia, Great Britain orTurkey. At present, camels, mules and donkeys spend weeks on theroads, transporting Persian goods to the ports of Bushir, Ban-dar-i-Abbas and Mohammerah on the Persian Gulf, and to
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INTRODUCTION lix Ahwaz, near the Gulf, on the Karun River (upon which plythe steamers of the Lynch Transportation Company), or toEnzeli and other ports on the Caspian, and Trebizond on theBlack Sea, in Turkey, or out through Kirmanshah to Bagdadand the Tigris River. Little merchandise goes out to the east-ward, as the British Protectorates of Afghanistan and Balu-chistan block that way. Of interior commerce there is no lack,particularly the business of transporting grain and other foodsfrom the fertile or irrigated portions of the country to othersections. Teheran, not being in a grain section, is thus sup-plied from a distance, although its neighborhood when watered,as at Shah-Abdu1-Azim, just to the south of the city, producessplendid wheat. Wood and coal are carried by pack animals. Coal is broughtfrom the mines some thirty miles to Teheran. It is of goodquality and somewhat resembles the bituminous coal of WestVirginia. Of the great trade routes, one crosses the country from north

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