Old Photographs

This page displays 19th and 20th photographs and illustrations on Baluchestan.

These photographs are from 1901, and were included in the British document "Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra". The first photo shows the Iranian governor of Bam, Aqa Vali Khan (seated), and his entourage. Aqa Vali Khan was at various times the governor of Bam and Baluchestan, and led an army in 1908 to relieve the fort of Bampur (which was being assaulted by Bahram Khan).
The second photograph shows the entrance to Bam fort. Bam was the last Iranian outpost before Baluchestan was reached, and it's strategic location endowed Bam with much importance. Bam became a refuge for people from outlying villages to flee to during Baluch raids from the Sarhad.

This is a photograph of Sardar Zeyn ol-'Abedin Khan, titled "As'ad ol-Dowleh", who was the governor of the district/sub-province of Baluchestan from 1884 to 1887, and again from 1889 to 1897.
This photograph was taken from the Persian book "بلوچستان در سالهای 1307 تا 1317 قمری", or "Baluchestan in the lunar years 1307 to 1317". The book provides documents and information about Baluchestan from 1889 to 1899, most of which was the period of Zeyn ol-'Abedin Khan's governorship.

This is a photograph of Sardar Hoseyn Khan of the Shirani Naruis, who led a rebellion against Iranian rule in 1897 and was, at various times, governor of several Makrani districts (Geh, Qasr-e Qand, Sarbaz) and the district of Rudbar. This photograph is taken from "The Glory of the Shia world, the tale of a pilgrimage".
Although the book is a fictional story, it was written by the British diplomat Percy M. Sykes, who travelled through Iranian Baluchestan during the 1890s and was directly involved in the supression of Hoseyn Khan's revolt. In addition, there are a variety of other photographs of historic figures and landscapes in the book, the authenticity of which can be verified.
He also cites his sources for every photograph (in this case, a N. Wilson, who perhaps might be the British official at Chabahar's telegraph office that he mentions in his book "Ten Thousand Miles in Persia : or, Eight Years in Iran".
There is another photograph that some claim is a photo of Hoseyn Khan and his entourage around 1902, during his governorship of Sarbaz. However, this is not a depiction of Hoseyn Khan, but of another Baluch leader, Ebrahim Khan Sanjarani, chief of Chakhansur, in 1884. Perhaps this photograph was taken by members of the Afghan Boundary Commission, who visited the town.