Historical Reference |
Quchan/Ghoochan, Shirvan and Bojnurd |
Bojnurd Quchan Ghoochan and Shirvan Quchan/Ghoochan, Shirvan and Bojnurd are south of the Kopet Dagh in Iran. Quchan/Ghoochan sits on the main pass on the road from Mashhad to Ashgabat. Shah Abbas the Great populated Kurds and Afshar in that area to provide a buffer against the Turkmen. "Turkmenia has
not suffered immunity from invasion. "I should have mentioned that both Bojnurd and Kuchan are peopled by Kurds, whom Shah Abbas (the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth) transported from his north-west to his northern frontiers, in order to form a buffer between Persia and the Turkmen. The experiment may be considered to have been a success, as the Kurds are splendid fighters, and have never been greatly worsted by the Turkmen. The town of
Bujnurd, which is situated on a fair-sized and well-
watered plain at an elevation of 3800 feet, contains
perhaps 20,000 inhabitants, and is increasing at a rapid
rate. The bazaars are extensive and well stocked with
Bussian and English goods, sugar, hardware, and crockery
coming from Bussia, while the calico and muslin bore
Manchester or Bombay labels." "From the Astrabad province, with its appanage of
acute political problems, we have now crossed into
Khorasan proper, and with our faces turned in an easterly
direction may pursue our inspection of the frontiers. We
pass from the Turkmen
to the Kurds, and in the Bujnurd district encounter the
first of the Kurdish communities whose ancestors were
transplanted by Shah Abbas about 1600 A.d. to the
mountain border of Khorasan. I have already in the
chapter upon Kuchan described with much fulness the
circumstances under which these military colonists
entered the country, the conditions of their tenure, and
then- present relations with the central power ; and what
I there said will apply to Bujnurd equally with Kuchan.
"Whereas Kuchan, however, is chiefly peopled with
Zaferanlu Kurds, it is the Shahdillu tribe who settled at
Bujnurd. and still constitute the large majority of its
inhabitants. Like Kuchan, they are ruled by a Khan,
bearing the title of Ilkhani, who, though appointed by
the Shah, is selected usually in hereditary descent from
the reigning family ; who collects his own revenues, and
furnishes in return a military contribution to the state,
and who is generally in a superior position to an
ordinary provincial governor. The cavalry contingent
supplied by the Ilkhani of Bujnurd consists at present of
500 men. His district comprises the upland valley of
Bujuurd, contiguous to that of Shirwan and Kuchan, the
upper waters of the Atrek, and further south Jajarm in
the Isferayin plain." "Three hundred years ago the north-eastern border
of Of the five
Kurdish states originally settled in Khorasan, three
alone—Kuchan, Bujnurd, and Deregez—now remain.
Of a simple, if rude and independent, character when
first they entered the country, their turbulent existence
and the opportunities of plunder which they enjoyed soon
exercised a deteriorating influence upon the morale of
the colonists; and travellers who visited them during the
days of Turkmen
border warfare, and saw both parties at work, reported
that there was very little to choose between the methods
of the two. Both raided, pillaged, and massacred whenever
they had a chance. A Turkmen
was always fair game to a Kurd, and a Kurd to a Turkmen;
and if we have heard more of the awful results of the
Tekkes' devastations in Persia than of the return
compliments paid by the Kurds to the Atek, it is probably
because no curious stranger ever dared to penetrate the Turkmen
desert, while a hundred eyes have witnessed the desolated
villages and hamlets of Khorasan. In appearance the Kurds
are easily distinguishable from the Persians, both in
physiognomy and dress. They are a fine masculine race,
with open countenances, strongly marked and well-shaped
features, sometimes fair complexions, and untrimmed
beards and hair. They have adopted the principal articles
of Persian costume, but they wear rough sheepskin bonnets
(instead of the smug koltah or the small egg-shell
felt cap) and long sheepskin coats or poshtins. Until
quite recently they were distinguished for their tribal
cohesion and attachment to their chiefs, whom they were
ready to support at any time in an insurrection against
the central power.
The title of Ilkhani has always been hereditary in one
family, though nominally subject to the ratification of
the Shah. The Persian Government has, on occasions, tried
the experiment of appointing its own officials; but this
has invariably led to rebellion and the compulsory
withdrawal of the intruder. Till the accession, or rather
till the assertion in the last twenty-five years of the
authority, of the present Shah, the Kurds have uniformly
regarded the Kajar dynasty as an alien usurpation. They
were the subjects of their own rulers, but not of the
Persian monarch. The Ilkhanis dispensed law and justice
in their own name, without reference to Teheran, and even
wielded the power of life and death. An incident,
however, which had occurred just before my arrival in
Kuchan will better indicate than any words the change
that has taken place. The Vizier or Deputy-Governor of
Kuchan, one Ramzan Khan, had been shot by a would-be
assassin in pursuit of personal revenge. Though the
injured man had not died, the Ilkhani, without any
reference to Teheran, put the attempted murderer to
death, it was said with horrible tortures. This was
regarded by the Shah as an unwarrantable encroachment
upon his own prerogative; and I have no doubt that the
old Ilkhani did not escape without paying a substantial
indemnity." See my Ghoochan Rugs the O'Connell Guide |
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Barry O'Connell's Notes Main Index See also Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guide |
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