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Early Swedish travelers to Persia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Bahram Sohrabi
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Iranian Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 631 - 660
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Copyright © 2005 The International Society for Iranian Studies

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Footnotes

For the sake of brevity, we have given only a few references for each traveler. See the detailed bibliography at the end of the article.

References

2 The reign of Shah Abbas the Great approximately coincided with those of several other rulers of renown; Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558–1603); Philip II of Spain (r. 1555–1598); and Akbar of India (r. 1556–1609).

3 Valle, Pietro Della, Delle conditioni di Abbas re di Persia, all'illustriss. & reuerendiss. sig. Francesco cardinal Barberino nipote di N.S. papa Vrbano 8. Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino, nella stamparia di Francesco Baba (Venezia, 1628), 31, 80–81Google Scholar.

4 After this event, in 1627 Charles dispatched Sir Dodmore Cotton, the first official English ambassador to the Persian court. See, Savory, Roger M., Iran Under the Safavids (Cambridge, 1980), 118Google Scholar.

5 Arne, Ture J., Svenskarna och Österlandet (Stockholm, 1952), 300Google Scholar.

6 Ludvig Fabritius' (1648–1729) father was Johan Gregorius Fabritius, a Dutch physician who married a Swede named Elisabeth Funck. His parents immigrated to Brazil where he was born. After the death of his father, his mother married a Russian Major named Paul Rudolf Beem and they returned to Europe. Fabritius entered the Russian army in 1663. After spending a few adventurous years in Russia, Fabritius traveled to Persia. Returning to Russia around 1673, he re-entered the Russian army and left Russia for Sweden in 1677. He offered his services to Charles XI (r. 1672–1697) and was granted Swedish citizenship. I have not dealt with the account of Ludvig Fabritius' commercial and diplomatic missions to the court of Safavids by the Swedish king, Charles XI (r. 1672–1697) in the last two decades of the seventeenth century (1679, 1683, 1697). The Fabritius missions definitely deserve to be discussed properly and in detail.

7 Dunlop, H., Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis der Oostindische Compagnie in Perzië, Eerste Deel 1611–1638 (The Hague, 1930), 273–75Google Scholar.

8 Pietro Della Valle visited Persia in 1617 for the first time. He has given the best western account of Persia in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. See Valle, Pietro Della, Voyages dans la Turquie, l'Egypt, la Palestin, la Perse, les Indes Orientales, & autres lieux (Rouen, 1745)Google Scholar.

9 The magnificent ruins of Persepolis lie at the foot of Kuh-i-Rahmat, or “Mountain of Mercy,” in the plain of Marv Dasht about 400 miles south of the capital city, Tehran. The palace complex at Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great around 518 B.C., although more than a century passed before it was finally completed. It was conceived to be the seat of government for the Achaemenian kings and a center for receptions and ceremonial festivities. The palaces were looted and burned by Alexander the Great in 331–330 B.C.

10 Rohnström, Johan, “Bengt Oxenstierna and his Adventures in Persia in 1617–18,” Iran through the Ages: A Swedish Anthology (Stockholm, 1972), 54–55Google Scholar.

12 Kiöping had evidently misread the text in Latin. It should have been 1617 or 1618.

11 Kiöping, Nils Matsson, En kort Beskriffning Vppå Trenne Resor och Peregrinationer, sampt Konungarijket Japan (Wijsindzborg, 1667), 49Google Scholar ff.

13 Adam Olearius was a seventeenth-century German scholar, employed as counsellor and secretary to an embassy sent by Friedrich III Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (r. 1597–1659) to explore an overland trade route with Persia. The first embassy headed by Otto Brüggemann was dispatched to Russia in 1633–34 to secure the permission of Tsar Mikhail Romanov (r. 1613–1645) to travel and ship through his realm. The second was sent in 1635 to complete the deal with the Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642) of Persia. After returning to Holstein in 1639, Olearius continued in the Duke's service and published the first edition of his travels in 1647. In 1656, he released a second, enlarged edition which became very popular throughout Europe and within a few years was translated into Dutch, French, Italian, and English. See Olearius, Adam, The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors Sent by Frederick Duke of Holstein to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia (London, 1662)Google Scholar.

14 Olearius, Adam, Offt begehrte Beschreibung der newen orientalischen Reise (Schleswig, 1647), 366Google Scholar.

15 Loenbom, Samuel, Anekdoter om namnkunniga och märkvärdiga swenska män, Konogliga Finska boktryckeriet (Stockholm, 1773), 2:13Google Scholar. For the most complete and authoritative biography of Bengt Oxenstierna, see Hedin, Sven, Resare Bengt, en levnadsteckning (Stockholm, 1921)Google Scholar.

16 Shah Abbas the Second was contemporary with Queen Christina (r. 1644–1654) and Charles X (r. 1654–1660) and the Regency (1660–1672). Shah Abbas the Second's reign was the last fully competent period of rule by a Safavid Shah. He took an active role in government matters. He increased the central authority of state by increasing Crown lands.

17 Jacobowsky, C. V., “Svensk Ostindienfarare före Ostindiska Kompaniet; Ett apropos till dagens jubileum,” Göteborgs Handls sjöfars Tidning (Götoborg, 1931), 187:5Google Scholar; Almqvist, Sven, “Kiöping, Nils Matson,” Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon (Stockholm, 1977), 21:162Google Scholar.

18 Almqvist, “Kiöping, Nils Matson,” Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon 162.

19 Loenbom, Samuel, Anekdoter om namnkunniga och märkvärdiga swenska män (Stockholm, 1773)Google Scholar.

20 Shah Sultan Hossein ruled Persia from 1694 to 1722. He was the most incompetent Shah of the Safavids. Indifferent to affairs of state, he effectively brought the Safavid Empire to its sudden and unexpected end. In 1722, Afghan invaders under Mahmoud, a former Safavid vassal in Afghanistan who captured the capital city of Isfahan and murdered Shah Sultan Hossein.

21 Shah Sulyman (Sfi II) ruled Persia from 1667 to 1694. He was not a competent ruler and left his grand vazir Mirza Taher to cope with affairs of State.

22 Celse, Magno O., Bibliotheæ Regiæ Stockholmensis Historia Brevis er Succincta, Holmiæ, Typis Laurentii Salvii (Stockholm, 1751),188–194Google Scholar; Hydrén, Ericus L., Specimen Historico-Literarium de Fatis Literaturæ Orientalis in Svecia (Uppsala, 1755), 33Google Scholar.

23 Brenner, Henrik, “Unterthäniges Memorial betreffend die letzte Kriegs-Expedition des Czaaren wieder Persien. Präsentirt im Königlichen Schwedischen Cantzeley, Collegio,” Leben Petri des Ersten und Grossen Czaars von Russland, Verlegts (Leipzigs, 1722), 214Google Scholar ff.

24 The supporters of Arvid Horn, the President of the Council of the realm until late 1738, were called the Caps (“nightcaps” in the view of some—echoing the disparaging words of Fredrik I to the Council of the realm: “You are all nightcaps!” and his opponents were known as the Hats.

25 Eichhorn, C., “Otter, Johan,”Nordisk Familjebok, Konversationslexikon och Realencyklopedi (Stockholm, 1914), 20Google Scholar:1095.

26 Ibrahim Muteferrika (1674–1742), Ottoman statesman, diplomat, and a pioneer of reform policy, was born in present-day Cluj-Napoca Romania of Christian parents. He later converted to Islam. Ibrahim's fame relies more on his major contributions to the Turkish intellectual and cultural awakening. The enterprise, which has made his name memorable, was his establishment of a Turkish printing press. In addition to his pioneer work as a printer, he was also an editor, a compiler, a translator, and a writer. He also prepared a number of maps, printed the majority of them, and prided himself on being a geographer and cartographer.

27 Nader Shah (1688–1747) was the founder of Afsharid Dynasty. In 1719, the Afghans had invaded Persia. They deposed the Shah Sultan Hossein of the Safavid Dynasty in 1722. He expelled the Afghans in 1729 and in 1732 became regent. In 1736, he took the Persian throne for himself. Nader was Persia's most gifted military genius. By 1738, he had conquered Afghanistan and in 1739, he invaded northern India, capturing Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire.

28 Verna Bergström, 1980. “Ett Språkgeni från Kristianstad,” Byahornet (Malmö, 1980), 39:113–19Google Scholar; Toll, Christofer, “Otter, Jonas (Jean),” Svenska Biographiska Lexikon (Stockholm, 1994), 28:428–29Google Scholar.

29 From fifty-two chapters of this book, thirty-two chapters dealt with Persia and Nader Shah's military adventures.

30 Lüdeke, Christoph Wilhelm, Beschreibung des türkischen Reiches nach seiner Religions-und Staatsverfassung in der letzten Hälfte des achtzehnten Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1771–1789), 3:187Google Scholar.

31 de Bougainville, J. P., “Éloge de M. Otter,” Histoire de L'Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, (Paris, 1756), 23:297–308Google Scholar; Goujet, Claud Pierre, “Jean Otter Professeur en Arabe,” Mémoire historique et littéraire sur le Collège Royal de France (Paris, 1758), 3:344–348Google Scholar.

32 Elgenstjerna, Gustaf, Den introducerade Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor med Tillägg och Rättelser (Stockholm, 1927), 820–21Google Scholar.

33 Hildebrand, E., “Trenne svenska adelsmäns bref från Persien,” Historisk Tidskrift (Stockholm, 1882), 360–363Google Scholar.

34 The Nader's nephew, Ibrahim Khan, was originally called Mohammad Ali Beg, but Nader, after his brother's death in 1738, gave him the name of Ibrahim. He was the governor or Azarbaijan and vast parts of northern Persia.

35 Spilman, James, A Journey through Russia into Persia by Two English Gentlemen who went in the year 1739 from Petersburg, in order to make a Discovery how the Trade from Great Britain might be carried on from Astracan over the Caspian. To which is annex'd a Summary Account of the Rise of the famous Kouli Kan, and his Successes, till he seated himself on the Persian Throne (London, 1742)Google Scholar.

36 Arne, Svenskarna och Österlandet, 119.

37 Björck, Staffan, “von Heidenstam,” Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon (Stockholm, 1971), 18:522Google Scholar.

38 Abbas Mirza was a younger son of Fath Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1798–1834), but on account of his mother's royal birth was destined by his father to succeed him. He was an accomplished forward-looking statesman.The command of the Persian army had been vested in Abbas Mirza and he tried to initiate some military reforms. He found himself soon at war with Russia, and in October 1813, Persia was compelled to make a disadvantageous peace, ceding some territory in the Caucasus (present-day Georgia, Daghestan, and most of the Republic of Azerbaijan). His second war with Russia, which began in 1826, succeeded as little as the first one, and Persia was forced to cede nearly all of Persia's Armenian territories and Nakhchivan. He died before his father in 1833. In 1834, his eldest son, Mohammed Mirza, succeeded Fath Ali as Shah.

39 Captain Henry Willock entered the service of the East India Company. In 1808, he traveled to Persia from Bombay with Harford Jones' mission as commander of the escort and interpreter to the mission. He and his younger brother George remained in Persia until 1830, mixing soldiering with diplomacy. They assisted in the training of the Persian army with which they fought against the Russians and Kurds. Both were decorated with the Order of the Lion and Sun by Fath Ali Shah for their services.

40 Heidenstam, Carl Peter Von, Några underrättelser samlade under en resa ifrån Turkiet till Persien af en swensk officer (Uppsala, 1825)Google Scholar; Arne, , Svenskarna och Österlandet (Stockholm, 1952), 121Google Scholar.

41 Lager, Birgitta, “Fagergren, Conrad Gustaf Ferdinand,” Svenska Biographiska Lexikon (Stockholm, 1953), 14:742Google Scholar

42 The death of Fath Ali Shah unchained fierce rivalries. Mohammed Mirza, who was Governor of Azerbaijan and the rightful heir, was able to march on Tehran at the head of a considerable force. The most important incident during this Qajar king was his attack to recapture Herat, which was followed by the British occupation of Kharg Island and his forced retreat after suffering considerable losses.

43 The ducat was a gold coin with high gold purity of over 23 carat and weight of ca. 3,4 grams. This coin was minted for the first time in Venice in 1284 and was in circulation until 1797. On the face of the coin was the picture of Jesus and on the other side the picture of Saint Marcus and his dog. Later on, the ducat was minted in most of the European countries. As Fraser has noted, much of the gold, which came into Persia through foreign trade, continued to circulate in the Shape of ducats, while the rest was converted into tomans and the silver coined into rials. See Fraser, James Baillie, An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia (Edinburg, Oliver &Boyd, 1834), 290Google Scholar.

44 Hellberg, Johan Carl, Ur Minnet och Dagboken om Mine Samtida Personer och Händelser Efter 1815 Inom och Utom Fäderneslandet (Stockholm, 1871), 6:7–8Google Scholar.

45 Forsstrand, Carl, “Conrad Fagergren,” Svenska lyckoriddare i främmande länder (Stockholm, 1916), 109Google Scholar.

46 The union, which was forced upon Norway in 1814, came to an end after a referendum held in 1905.

47 Hedin, Sven, Overland to India, vol. 1 (London, 1910), 1:167Google Scholar.

48 Forsstrand, Conrad Fagergren,'' Svenska lyckoriddare i främmande länder, 109.

49 Forsstrand, Conrad Fagergren,'' Svenska lyckoriddare i främmande länder, 106.

50 Vámbéry, Hermann, Resa i Persien, Familjebibliotek, (Landskrona, 1869), 8:168–170Google Scholar. See also Tegnér, Esaias, Frihiofs Saga (Stockholm, 1825)Google Scholar.

51 De Gobineau, Comte A., Trois ans en Asie (de 1855 a 1858) (Paris, 1859), 175–6Google Scholar.

52 Polak, Jacob Edward, Persien, das land und seine bewohner (Leipzig, 1865), 12–16Google Scholar.

53 Arne, Svenskarna och Österlandet, 314.

54 Grill, Erik, “Hybbinette,” Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon (Stockholm, 1973), 19:521Google Scholar.

55 Hedin, Sven, Genom Persien, Mesopotamien och Kaukasien —Reseminnen (Stockholm, 1887), 80–81Google Scholar.

56 Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the younger son of Mohammad Shah Qajar (r. 1835–1848), began his reign as a reformer. He introduced telegraph and postal services into Persia. During his reign, the first technical school of higher education, The Dar al-Fonun (House of Sciences), along the western line, was inaugurated. Naser al-Din Shah had visited Europe in 1873, 1878, and 1889.

57 Hedin, Genom Persien, Mesopotamien och Kaukasien —Reseminnen, 81.

58 Muzaffar al-Din Shah came to power in 1896 after his father, Nasir al-Din Shah, was assassinated. He was not a very competent ruler and relied on his chancellor to do much of the administration. Persia continued to fall under foreign domination. In 1901, oil concessions were granted to William d'Archy. Muzaffar al-Din Shah made three visits to Europe and had to borrow money from Russia.

59 Shahnameh (the Book of Kings), the national epic of the Iranians, is one of the definite classics of world literature. Shahnameh was completed by the poet Hakim Abol Qasem Firdowsi in 1010. Its traditional 60,000 couplets outline exploits of Persian heroes, legendary as well as historical, before the Islamic conquest.

60 Hakim Abol Qasem Ferdowsi Tusi was born in Khorasan in a village near Tus in 940. Ferdowsi is considered the greatest Persian poet, author of the Shahnameh (the Book of Kings).

61 Ta'aziyeh, or passion play, was born during the sixteenth century, and performed during the annual mourning ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hossein and his family, massacred on the 10th of the first Arabic month of Mohar'ram in the 61st year of the Muslim era, 10 October A.D. 680. Hossein, the third Shi'it Imam, was the son of Imam Ali by the Prophet Mohammad's daughter, Fatima.

62 Slavik, Jan and Bagherzadeh, Farzaneh, “Shahens svenske tandläkare,” Sverige och den islamiska världen - ett svensk kulturarv (Värnamo, 2002), 225–29Google Scholar.

63 The Nobel brothers, who then controlled many of the oil wells, had laid the foundations of their family fortune there.

64 Grill, Erik, “Hedin, Sven Anders,” Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon (Stockholm, 1973), 18:472Google Scholar.

65 While in high school, one summer Hedin got a few weeks' instructions in drawing. He used to work with lead pencil and sometimes with pen. Considering the low quality of photographs in those days, he often preferred sketching to taking photographs.

66 For details of Sven Hedin's expeditions, see Kish, George, To the Heart of Asia, The Life of Sven Hedin (Ann Arbor, 1984)Google Scholar.

67 Nordenskjöld (1832–1901) was a Swedish geologist, geographer, and map authority. In 1878 and 1879, he became the first person to sail through the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He tells of this journey in his book, Voyage of the Vega published in 1881. As a great Arctic explorer, he was the most famous Swedish traveler of the time.

68 The overland telegraphic system in which Persia became a vital link was created by authorities in London and India in order to connect London with its Indian empire. It ran across Europe and Turkey to Tehran and thence all the way to Calcutta. A branch line connected Tehran with the Persian Gulf. Stations along the line had European managers who made it their business to look after fellow Europeans who turned up in their territory. From the mid-1860s until the end of the Qajar period, the Indo-European telegraph was Britain's most precious interest in Persia, outranking in importance both the imperial Bank and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Reza Shah took over all telegraphic landlines from the British in 1931 despite a 1913 agreement extending British control until 1945. See Wright, Denis, The English Amongst the Persians During the Qajar Period 1781–1921 (London, 1977), 128Google Scholar.

69 It was Hedin's first encounter with a caravan and one he always remembered. Sixty years later, he wrote of the sound of the caravan: “It still happens that in my dreams I hear the melancholy sound of the caravans'' bronze bells, that song of the deserts, unchanged through thousands of years.” See Hedin, Sven, Stormän och Kungar (Helsingfors, 1950), 1:9Google Scholar.

70 For full details of this journey, see Hedin, Sven, Genom Persien, Mesopotamien och Kaukasien—Reseminnen (Stockholm, 1887)Google Scholar.

71 Kish, To the Heart of Asia, The Life of Sven Hedin, 16.

72 Oscar Fredrik II (r. 1872–1907) was the king of Sweden and Norway. After a referendum, which was held in 1905, Norway left the union.

73 Hedin, Sven, Konung Oscars Beskickning till Schahen af Persien år 1890 (Stockholm, 1891), 2–3Google Scholar.

74 For details of this mission, see Kish, To the Heart of Asia, The Life of Sven Hedin, 23–25

75 King Oscar II was one of the contributors to the expenses of Nordenskiöd's great expedition to the Northeast Passage.

76 Hedin's measurement of the height of the Mount Damavand—which is five thousand six hundred meters—turned out to be inaccurate.

77 The only Europeans who were permitted to accompany Naser al-Din Shah in his summer vacations were two Frenchmen, his first livmedikus Dr. Tholozan, and Dr. Feuvrier and his Swedish dentist Dr. Hybennet. But in 1890, Dr. Tholozan was in France to spend his holiday. See Hedin Stormän och Kungar, 1: 164.

78 Hedin, Sven, “Der Demavend nach eigener Beobachtung,” Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin (Berlin, 1892), 19, 304–332Google Scholar.

79 As a seasoned Explorer, Hedin returned to this place fifteen years back to investigate and map what was truly unknown territory.

80 Hedin was always fascinated by the desert and attracted to its people and to the ever-present beast of burden of the desert, the camel. The following passage describes nightfall in the desert: “Soon the last gleam of light dies away in the west, the curtain falls, night builds up its thick walls around us, perspective and distance vanish, the far-distant horizon which lately presented the illusion of a sea has been swallowed up in darkness, and the outlines of the camels are thin and indefinite…. But still the air around them is filled with the same never-ending clang of bells, which follows them through the desert; a sonorous, vibrating, ever-repeated and prolonged peal, melting together into a full ringing tone in my ears, a jubilant chord rising up to the sphere of the clouds and stars, spreading its undulations over the surface of the desert; a glorious melody of caravans and wanderers; the triumphal march of the camels, celebrating the victory of their patience over the long distances of the desert in rhythmic waves of song; a hymn as sublimely uniform as the ceaseless, unwearied march of the majestic animals through the dreary wastes of ancient Iran.” See Hedin, Sven, Overland to India (London, 1910), 1:365Google Scholar.

81 The Persians' Constitutional Movement resulted as early as 5 August 1906, when Muzaffar al-Din Shah by his own datstkhat (autograph decree or a note in the Shah's hand writing) reluctantly granted a form of constitution and authorized the opening of the First Majles-e Showra-ye Meli. The First Majles convened on 7 October 1906, and the Constitution Law prepared in record time. After just five months, the draft proposals could be submitted to the Shah for receiving royal assent. For details, see Browne, Edward Granville, The Persian Revolution 1905–1909 (Washington DC., 1995)Google Scholar. This book was originally published in 1910 by the Cambridge University Press. See also Bayat, Mangol, Iran's First Revolution (New York, 1991)Google Scholar.

82 Mirza Reza Khan Danesh, better known as Arfa' al-Dowleh (c. 1846–1937) was born in Tabriz. His father, Haji Sheikh Hassan Yrevani, was an émigré from Yerevan. He was appointed around 1895 as Iranian Minister in St. Petersburg and also Sweden and Norway, the two countries that then were united under King Oscar II. In 1900, he was appointed Ambassador at Constantinople, the only Embassy Iran had; all other Persian representations were Legations.

83 Hedin, , Overland to India, vol. 1, I:127Google Scholar.

84 See, Hedin, Sven, “Dr Sven Hedin in Persia,” The Geographical Journal (London, 1906), 26, 6:619Google Scholar.

85 In the seventeenth century, knowledge of medicine grew considerably in Sweden. Medical faculties were installed and many medical doctors started traveling abroad. As Lindroth (1975:399) has noted, “No academicians were more frequent travelers abroad than the Swedish doctors of the seventeenth century who completed their studies at European universities,” preferably Paris. See Lindroth, Sten, Svensk Lärdomshistoria (Stockholm, 1975), 2:399Google Scholar.