Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule
The collection contains documents from the British National Archives on the history of Persia, Central Asia and Afghanistan. These range from correspondence or minutes to Intelligence reports, newspaper extracts and maps.
Description of the provider
This collection of Foreign Office files examines the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia and Afghanistan from the decline of the Silk Road in the first half of the 19th century to the establishment of Soviet rule over parts of the region in the early 1920s. It covers the era of "The Great Game" - a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian and British empires over influence, territory and trade in a vast region, from the Black Sea in the west to the Pamir Mountains in the east.
Consisting of correspondence, intelligence reports, agent diaries, logs, maps, newspaper clippings and other materials from the FO 65, FO 106, FO 371 and FO 539 series, this resource forms one of the largest existing historical documents relating to the region and offers insights into not only the impact of great power politics on the region, but also the peoples, cultures and societies of the region.
Font recognition and download
The database is searchable in full text. The English texts in the archive were obtained by digital character recognition (OCR). Documents can be downloaded in their original layout as PDF files.
Licensing was carried out in cooperation with the Specialised Information Service Asia and completes the "Archives Direct" series, from which further national licences through the Specialised Information Service Asia were acquired.
The database can be searched in full text. Documents can be downloaded in their original layout as PDF files. The service is available throughout Germany and at German institutes abroad via the system of national licences accessible free of charge.