Towards A Social and Economic History of Eighteenth-Century Iran

Abstract

Research in Iranian social and economic history is still relatively unknown. This situation is puzzling in view of the social and economic research in Arab and Turkish history, particularly from 1955 onwards. in the past ten years, social and economic research in these two areas of Middle East history have produced some excellent results. But similar research in Iranian history has not developed. This state of affairs is disappointing when we recall the words of Vladimir Minorsky in his "Foreword" to the Tadhkirat al-mulūk in 1943:The study of the Islamic period of the history of Iran--which alone covers thirteen centuries--is still in its infancy, not so much for want of useful outlines of single periods as because of the limited methods of research which were so long employed.