Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
In the course of the 19th century Iran was drawn into the network of the international economy mainly through foreign trade. Immigration into Iran was negligible, unlike some other countries of the Middle East and North Africa and, until the very end of the period, foreign investment was very small.
This survey of foreign trade emphasizes mainly the first half of the period and attempts to answer five broad questions:
(1) What was the growth in value and quantum of trade?
(2) What was the composition of imports and exports?
(3) With which countries did Iran trade?
(4) What were the channels through which trade flowed?
(5) Who carried on the trade?
I have converted all figures into pounds sterling, since the pound was both the stablest currency and the one most widely used in international trade.
For further details and the text of some of the documents cited in this paper, see my Economic History of Iran, 1800-1914 (Chicago University Press, 1971).
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