Anguran District in Zanjan
One of the 17 districts of Khamseh, it occupies all
the east face of the range, which stretches up to the north as far as the
Qaplan Kuh, and is broken by innumerable ravines, generally running in an
east-by-south direction, which swell the waters of the Kizil Uzun; in the beds
of these ravines are situated the villages of the peasantry, smiling, and
happy. The district contains about 55 villages and pays an annual assessment of
3,000 tomans to Government, besides furnishing nearly 200 men for the
army. This revenue is mainly realized from the produce of lead, large
quantities of which are received by Government in lieu money.
The Anguran lead mine is situated some miles
north-west of Ganjabad in the Arghun Kuh at an elevation of 8,210ʹ. Work goes
on there for four months in the year only, as the mine is under snow the
remainder of the year. When Schindler visited the mine is 1880, 110 men were employed
in it and the yearly output did not exceed 14 tons of lead. The Government tax
on the mine was ₤40 per annum. There are 7 shafts, one over 300 feet in depth.
Some distance above the lead mine is an old and very extensive fluor-spar mine,
which, however, is not worked now. The principal place of the district is the
little town of Anguran on the Anguran river, which rises in the Arghun Kuh and
flows into the Kizil Uzun; but the Government of the district resided at
Ganjabad. The produce of grain in the district is very limited, and does not
suffice for the wants of the population. The Anguranis are Turks, and consider
themselves to be part of the great tribe of Afshars. The Government was
formerly hereditary in the family of a particular chief, subject, however, to
the approval of the provincial governor appointed from Tehran.
In common with the surrounding districts, it suffered
greatly in the harassing conflict which was kept up all along this frontier
between the Kurds and Kizilbash, previous to the rise of the Safavian dynasty.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century, when the Turks had overrun
Azarbaijan, Khamseh and the dependent districts as far as Hamadan were confided
to the care of a chief named Daulat Yar Khan, of the Kurdish tribe of Siah
Mansur; and, as the safety of ‘Iraq depended upon the defence of this frontier
government, the power of the Chief was strengthened with all the disposable
means of the Empire. Daulat Yar Khan, elated with this power and relying on the
natural strength of his country, now took occasion to assert his independence;
he built a very strong fort in these mountains of Anguran and defeated the
first army that was sent against him; it was not until Shah ‘Abbas the Great
undertook in person the siege of his stronghold that this dangerous rebellion
was finally crushed. The remains of Daulat Yar’s castle are still shown upon a
high peak north of Yengijah (? Yangizeh).―(Rawlinson, Schindler.)
Gazetteer of Persia. Volume II. ― Simla: Government of India Monotype
Press, 1914, pp. 34―35.
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