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Qajar Iran on the Cusp of Modernity

Idea of Iran Vol. 12

Qajar Iran on the Cusp of Modernity cover

Qajar Iran on the Cusp of Modernity

Idea of Iran Vol. 12

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Pre-order. Available 10 Dec 2026
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Description

The nineteenth century saw the consolidation of the Qajar State and changed relations with the European powers that had been transformed by political, industrial and agricultural revolutions. When Iran emerged from its own turbulent eighteenth century, it entered a new world dominated by expanding imperial forces, particularly Britain and Russia. Among the many consequences were the remorseless losses of territories in the North and East, by the end of which Iran took on the outlines of its present borders. At the same time, the encounter with the West gave rise to dissatisfactions, realisations of weakness, backwardness and many calls for change that led, ultimately, to revolution, nationalism and the formation of a centralising secular state, the outcome of the revolutionary struggle and the first World War. The essays in this volume contribute to exploring the world's and Iran's own discovery of her ancient past and the value attached to it. The interactions with her regional neighbours (Turkey, the south Caucasus, Afghanistan and India) in a variety of ways, cultural, political and commercial and the confrontation with new ideas required a redefinition of Iran's place in the new world order and a clarification of the distinctive features of Iran's religious and artistic identity.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Contributors


Iran on the Cusp of Modernity: An Introduction
Charles Melville

The archaeological Discovery of Iran by French Missions and its Impact 19 on Iranian Nationalism (1884–1927)
Nader Nasiri-Moghaddam

Ottoman-Armenians and Ideas of Iran: Dikran Kelekian, Kirkor
Minassian and Hagop Kevorkian's 'Persian' portable Arts in Europe and America at the Turn of the twentieth Century
Alyson Wharton

Struggle, Strife and Sacrifice: The Role of Armenians and Georgians in 81 Caucasian–Iranian Connections
Houri Berberian

German Diplomacy and Iranian Nationalism during the Constitutional Revolution
Jennifer Jenkins

From Bazgasht (Return) to Enqelab (Revolution): Debating literary Modernity in the late Qajar Press
Bianca Devos


The Place of Iran in Persian Literature: Views from India and late Qajar Iran
Alexander Jabbari

Inventing the modern Iranian landscape: Kamalal-Molk's Paintings of Qajar and post-Qajar Iran
Layla S. Diba

Qajar still-life Painting in Context
Maryam Ekhtiar

The Ulema and the Statein early Qajar Iran: Mirza Mohammad Akhbari and Fath-'Ali Shah
Robert Gleave

Tariffs, Treaties, Trade: Qajar Persia's Markets and Commerce with Russia in the nineteenth Century
William Bullock Jenkins


The Idea of Commerce and its Configurations in late Qajar Iran: Domestic and transregional Contexts
Ali Gheissari

The Transformation of the Ottoman–Iranian Boundaries
Sabri Ates

Questions of Identity in Qajar Herat
Charlie Gammell

Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 10 Dec 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 496
ISBN 9780755656967
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Series The Idea of Iran
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Charles Melville

Charles Melville is Professor Emeritus of Persian…

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