Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

1 IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Iran and its People

The Safavid Dynasty

Nader Shah Afshar

First-Person Testimony: Sheikh Hazin



2 THE RETURN OF THE ZANDS

The Lurs Go Home

Safavid Pretenders

Enter the Qajars

Pretenders Lost and Found



3 THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTH, 1759–1763

Exploits of Mohammad Khan and Sheykh-Ali Khan Zand

First-Person Testimony: Le Sieur Simon

Neutralization of the Qajars

Azerbaijan: The Defeat of Azad and Fath-Ali Khan



4 CONSOLIDATION OF THE CENTER, 1763–1766

Retribution and purges

Reconquest of the south: the revolt of Zaki Khan Zand

Lar, Yazd, and Kerman: the two Taqis

Curbing the Qajars, 1759–1777



5 THE PERSIAN GULF AND KHUZISTAN

Kharg Island: The Dutch and Mir Mahanna

Perspicacious Semi-Fiction: The “Rostam of Histories”

The Banu Ka’b

War with the Pashalik of Baghdad, 1774–1779



6 KARIM KHAN’S DEATH AND SUCCESSION, 1779–1795

Reigns of Zaki, Sadeq, Ali-Morad, and Ja’far Khan Zand (1779–1789)

Lotf-Ali Khan Zand (1789–1994)

First-Person Testimony: Mr Jones and Lotf-Ali Khan’s diamonds

The Qajar Conquest



7 PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT AND FOREIGN RELATIONS

Western approaches

The Caspian Rim and Azerbaijan

Georgia and Transaraxia: into the Russian Orbit

Ottoman Turkey and India

The Dutch and French East India Companies

The British East India Company



8 KARIM KHAN’S CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The people’s deputy

Religious policies

Rebuilding the economy

Rebuilding Shiraz

Leisure and the arts

The legend and the legacy



Bibliography

Index