Gazetteer of Places Mentioned in Macquarie's 1807 Journal
PERSIAN GULF
Bushire: Bushehr
Principal Iranian seaport in the Persian Gulf.
Cape Musseldom: Cape Mussendom
Forms part of the Musanadam Peninsula in northern Oman; an area of steep rocky islands and spectacular fjords. Southern entrance to the Persian Gulf.
Gulph of Ormus: Hormuz Strait located between the northern tip of Oman, SE Arabian Peninsular, and the S coast of Iran.
Island of Carrach: Karak, Khark or Kharg
Small island in NE Persian Gulf, off SW coast of Iran, NW of Bushehr. Site of a major oil export terminal; oil storage and shipment from Khark was severely disrupted during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's. The island was noted in Macquarie's time as providing better quality drinking water than what was available at Bushire.
Island of Ormus [also Hormuz, or Hormoz]: island located in the Strait of Hormuz
Under Portuguese control 1514-1622, Persian control and ownership re-asserted by Persian leader Shah Abbas I in 1622.
IRAQ
Baucooba: Ba'qubah
Town in E Iraq, on Diyala River in fertile agricultural region. 32 miles (51 km.) NE of Bagdad.
Bagdad - Baghdad
Capital of Iraq.
Bussorah: Basra or Al-Basrah
Port at the head of the Shatt al Arab waterway, about 75 miles (121 kms.) from the Persian Gulf. Founded by Caliph 'Umar I in 638 A.D.
Coote: Koote, Kut or Al Kut
Located on the Tigris 100 miles (161 km.) SE of Baghdad.
Chorna [also Corny, Koorna, Kurnah]: Qurnah or Al Qurnah
Town located on the lower Tigris River where it joins the Euphrates to form the Shatt al Arab, about 45 miles (72 km.) NNW of Basra. Traditional site of the Garden of Eden.
Ctesiphon: Ctesiphon
Ancient ruined city in central Iraq located on the east bank of the Tigris opposite the Seleucid capital of Seleucia and the nearby Sasanian 'round city' of Veh Ardashir. Ctesiphon flourished as the Partho-Sasanian capital CE. Capital of the ancient kingdom of Parthia and of the later Sassanid empires [from the 2nd century BCE] until the Arab conquest in 637.
Hamareen Hills: Jebel Hamrin
The route between Baghdad and Kermanshah formimg part of the original Silk Road between the Mediterranean and China (also called the Great Khorasan Road). It follows the Diyala River up from Baghdad through the Hamrin range of hills. The crossing to the Iranian plateau is through various passes in the Zagros Mountains.
Kaussera Shaireen: Qasr-i Shirin
Khonachie: Khanaqin or Khanikin
Town on the present-day eastern frontier of Iraq; 90 miles (145 km.) NE of Baghdad on a tributary of the Diyala River.
Margill: Ma'quil
River Hie: Hye or Shatt el Hai
Referred to by Mignan [in 1826] as a 'canal'. "Immediately opposite the village [ie. Koote] is a canal called the Hye, which runs into the Euphrates to the north of Soogishiookh: its banks are a noted haunt for lions and other ferocious animals. At this time [ie. Oct. 1826] its bed is perfectly dry, though it is navigable for eight months in the year." [p.27]
River Deaala: Diyala [or Diala] River
River in central Iraq; rises in the mountains of northern Iraq and flows SW into the Tigris River at Baghdad. Length: approx. 275 miles (440 km); navigable for 50 miles (80 km), traverses a fertile region.
Shat el Amaara: part of the Tigris River
The waterway between Al 'Amarah, a town built in 1866 on the east bank of the Tigris River 100 miles (161 km) NW of Basra and Kut, 100 miles (161 km.) SE of Baghdad.
Soogle Shoogh: Soogishiookh, Suq-esh-Shiukh
Referred to by Mignan [in 1826] as the headquarters of the Montefiq Arabs.
Also Suq-esh-Shiukh.
Tauhk Kaissera: Taq-i Kisra [also Tauk Kesra or Taq i Kesra]
Located within the ruins of Ctesiphon. A huge vaulted iwan known as the 'Throne of Khusrau'. It was still intact in 1807 and 1826 during the respective visits by Macquarie and Mignan:
"This stupendous, stately fragment of ages long since forgot, is built of fine furnace-burnt bricks, each measuring twelve inches square by two and three quarters thick, and coated with cement. The full extent of the front, or eastern face, is three hundred feet. It is divided by a high semicircular arch, supported by walls sixteen feet thick; the arch itself making a span of eighty-six feet, and rising to the height of one hundred and three feet. The front of the building is ornamented and surmounted by four rows of small arched recesses, resembling in form the large one. The style and execution of these are most delicate, evincing a fertile invention and great experience in the architectural art." [Mignan pp. 71-72]. However, in 1908, half of the remaining vault and façade of the Taq-I Kisra collapsed following flooding by the Tigris. In 1915 there was heavy fighting on the site between Turkish and British armies.
PERSIA (Iran)
Alwand Mountains: Alvand, Alwand, or Alvand Kuh
Mountain chain in western Iran, located near Hamadan, with several peaks over 3,500 m and a summit of 3,580 m. Part of the Zagros mountains, approx. 50 km long, with a maximum north-south breadth is 30 km. The range bears a trilingual ancient inscription (Neo Elamite, Neo Babylonian and Old Persian) of King Darius the great and king Xerxes I, called Gané-nama, 10km south of Hamadan.
Anseley: Bandar-e Anzali
Iran's foremost Caspian Sea port city.
Beesatoon: Bisitun, Bisotun or Behistun
Strategically located, scenically dramatic site in western Iran, 20 miles (32 km) east of Kermanshah (Bactaran) (34° 35' N, 47°25' E). Bisitun is noted principally for the rock-cut relief and inscriptions on the precipitous southeast face of the Bisitun mountain; erected by the Achaemenid ruler Darius the Great (522-486 BCE). The relief is approximately 3 m high and 5.5 m wide. It is bordered on three sides by trilingual inscriptions in Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian commemorating Darius' military victory over five rebel chiefs and asserting his claims to the Achaemenid throne. The whole composition has a height of approx. 7 m. and an overall width of 18 m.
The monument stands 70 m above the ancient Silk Road. For many centuries the meaning and significance of the Bisitun monument was wholly lost; then in the C19th Henry Rawlinson (1810-1895) re-established the identity of the monument as being the handiwork of Darius. Rawlinson examined and copied the inscriptions in the period 1835-1847. He shares with the Irish cleric Edward Hincks and the Frenchman Jules Oppert the credit for the decipherment of cuneiform writing and establishing that Babylonian was a Semitic, polyphonic language. The later erected statue of Hercules has been vandalized in recent times and is now missing its head and one arm.
Casbeen: Qazvin or Kazvin
City located approx. 90 miles (145 miles) NW of Tehran. Founded under Sassanid dynasty in 3rd or 4th century A.D.; flourished under Muslims in 7th century; fortified by Caliph Harun al-Rashid in C8th century A.D.; capital of Persia 1548-1598.
Gillan: Gilan or Ghilan
Province in NW Iran, SW of Caspian Sea.
Hamadan: Hamadan
Ancient city of Ecbatana, capital of Median empire in C6th B.C. Situated on the ancient Silk Road.
Kermansha: Kirmanshah or Kermanshah
Largest and busiest city in central western Iran. Situated at the foot of the Parom mountain massif - glowing red rock mountains. Established in the Sasanid period in C4th AD astride the Royal Road to Baghdad. Suffered missile attack during the Iran-Iraq War. Re-named Bakharan or Bactaran [briefly] in the 1980's.
Kongiawaur: Kangavar
Town located 40 miles (64 km.) SW of Hamadan on the high road to Kermanshah. Region in the altitude of 6000 ft (1829 m.). Near the town is a site known as the Temple of Anahita, built by the Archaemenian emperor Ardeshir II (Artaxerxes II), 404 B.C.-359 B.C.
Rusht: Rasht
City in Gilan province, NW Iran, near the shore of the Caspian Sea. Famous silk-manufacturing centre.
Sultania: Sultaniyya, Soltaniyeh or Soltanieh ('Town of the Sultans')
Located midway between Tehran and Tabriz. Site of the Shah's summer camp each year. The Soltanieh Plain, surrounded by bare, barren hills, formed an oval area of approximately 22 miles from east to west. The imperial camp was circular and the Shah's tents were placed at the centre, opeing in the directionj of Mecca.
Tauk [21 May]: Tak-i Bustan or Taq-e Bostan
Located three miles east of Kirmanshah - carved rock reliefs of Khusrau II from the late Sasanian period [C3rd A.D.]. Scenes of the king in an investiture scene flanked by Anahita and Ahura Mazda; as a knight in armour riding a horse; a royal hunt with the king standing in a boat surrounded by boars and elephants. [Tak means 'arch']
Telflis (or Tiflis): Tbilisi
Located in the present-day Republic of Georgia, on both banks of the Kura River, 280 miles (451 km.) WNW of Baku, Azerbaijan.
Tiran: Tehran
Capital of Persia (Iran).
CASPIAN SEA REGION
Astrakhan
Major city in southern European Russia, capital of Astrakhan' Oblast. The city lies on the Volga river, close to where it empties into the Caspian Sea. In the middle of the 17th century Astrakhan became one of the border fortresses of Russia, protecting the mouth of the Volga. In the 18th century a strong naval fleet, dockyards and port were created in Astrakhan, and in C16th-C19th centuries it became the main center of trade within the Caucasus and Trans-Caucasus, with Central Asia, Iran and India. A cholera epidemic ravaged this region in early 19th century. Plague had
appeared at Constantinople in 1802-1803, about the same time in Armenia (Kars), and in 1801 in Bagdad. It had prevailed since 1798 in Georgia and the Caucasus, and in 1803-1806 began to spread from the north of the Caucasus into Russia, till in 1806 it was established at or near Astrakhan, and in 1807 reached Zareff, 200 m. higher up the Volga. To control the situation, quarantine posts had to be established, and this task was partly entrusted to Astrakhan cossacks in addition to their responsibilities in cordoning and military operations against the tribes, and protection of post houses and mail deliveries. In 1807, 500 additional cossack troops were brought to Astrakhan' to prevent the riots arising from the spreading epidemics.
Baku:
Capital and the largest city of Republic of Azerbaijan; located on the southern shore of the Apsheron Peninsula. For most of its history Baku was an integrated part of Persia.
Kura River: a river in the Caucasus Mountains
Starting in Eastern Turkey (formerly Georgian province of Tao), it flows through Turkey to Georgia, then to Azerbaijan, where the Araks River joins it as a it receives as a right tributary, and thereafter enters the Caspian Sea.
Lenkoran
Caspian seaside city in Azerbaijan near the southern border with Iran, a long time the capital of the Talysh Khanate established in the late 18th century. It was first held by Russia from 1728 to 1735, but only fell definitively to Russia in 1813, status confirmed by the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), signed by Russia and Iran (Persia) at Gulistan, a village in what is now N.W. Azerbaijan. It ended the Russo-Persian war that had begun in 1804. Persia ceded the khanates forming the present-day state of Azerbaijan and renounced its claim on Georgia and Dagestan.
Sallian: Salyan (Salyani)
Town and district centre in Azerbaijan 193 km SW of Baku, major forward post of Talysh Khanate in the North before it was annexed by Russia in 1806.
Sara: Sara
Originally an island in SW Caspian Sea. A Russian Naval station was established on the island of Sara, near Lenkoran, in 1800 and remained there till 1843-43. In Febuary 1806, in the course of negotiations held between the Russian General P. D. Tsitsianov (1754-1806) and Khan Huseingulu, the then ruler of Baku, the General was shot and his soldiers had to make a hasty retreat to Sara Island. Seven months later, on September 18, 1806, the Russians returned and this time captured Baku and the surrounding region. In 1809, the island of Sara was used as a refuge by the population of Lenkoran when it was attacked by Persian troops. In the 20th century, the island of Sara grew into a peninsula, and then into a strip of land, connected to the mainland by a dam between Bol'shoy Kyzylagach Bay and Malyi Kyzylagach Bay.
DENMARK & NORTH SEA
Cate-cat: Kattegat or Cattegat
Broad arm of the North Sea between Sweden on east and northern Denmark and Jutland on the west. Maximum width 88 miles (142 km.) Connected with the North Sea through the Skagerrak and with the Baltic through Oresund, the Great Belt, and Little Belt.
Flamborough Head
Promontory on E coast of Humberside, north England, 18 miles (29km.) SE of Scarborough. Chalk cliffs with sea caves.
The Naze: Lindesnes
Cape on S. extremity of Norway, projecting into the North Sea.
Oresund: The Sound
The strait separating the Danish island of Zealand from the southern coast of Sweden. At its narrowest point the distance between Elsinore, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden is 4 km.
Skager-Rack: Skagerrak or Skagerak
Broad arm of eastern North Sea extending between Norway and Denmark, connecting with the Kattegat on the east; approximately 130 miles (210 km.) long and more than 70 miles (110 km.) wide.
