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0403 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 403 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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dition, as described by Vambéry in the early sixties, was
most pitiable. Even as late as 1880, when conditions had
much improved, owing to the proximity of Russia, O'Dono-
van relates that murderous affrays were frequent even in
the vicinity of Astrabad. Yet in almost the same paragraph
the author enlarges on the density of the population, Per-
sian villages of from twenty to thirty houses being scattered
every five or six hundred yards. The fertility of the region
is so great that people persisted in coming into it, in spite
of the fact that their numbers were frequently decimated
by the Turkomans.

Azerbaijan, the northwestern province of Persia, furnishes
a more striking example of the same sort. This, according
to Curzon, the best authority on Persia, "is the province
which, excepting only Khorasan, has more often been vio-
lated by foreign invasion than any other part of Persia. . . .
Its fertility of resources entitles it to be called the granary
of northern Iran." Tabriz, the capital, "has fallen the first
victim to invading armies, and has been successively held
by Arabs, Seljuks, Ottomans, Persians, and Russians.
What the rage of conquest has spared, nature has interfered
to destroy. The city has been desolated by frequent and
calamitous earthquakes. Twice we hear of its being leveled
to the ground before, in 1392, it was sacked by Timur, whose
path was strewn with ruins that vied with the convulsions
of nature. Five times during the last two centuries has it
again been laid low. A reliable historian tells us that 80,000
persons perished in the earthquake of 1721, and we hear
from another source that half that number were claimed
for the death-roll by its successor in 1780." Yet in spite of