Mirza Mohammad Ali (Persian: میرزا محمد علی), better known as Hajj Sayyah (Persian: حاج سياح "the traveler", 1836–1925), was an Iranian American world traveler and political activist.
He was the first Iranian to obtain American citizenship. According to a decree issued by the District Court of the 12th Judicial District of the State of California, he was naturalized on May 26, 1875.
Hajj Sayyah was born in 1836 in the town of Mahallat, Sublime State of Iran. [1] His studies exposed him at a young age to modern and democratic ideas that were then spreading throughout parts of the world. The stark difference that he observed between the treatment suffered by most Persia under their autocratic rulers and those ideas he studied inspired him to see the rest of the world.
At the age of 23, Hajj Sayyah embarked on a remarkable journey around the globe, and which would last for nearly 18 years. He began his travels by wandering throughout Central Asia and Europe for more than six years. Often, he traveled alone and in poverty. [2]
The motivation for his travels was his thirst for knowledge and spiritual strength. He wanted to learn as much as he could about the world and how other people lived to bring those ideas back to Persia. As a result of his observations throughout his travels, he concluded that human beings are supposed to live in reasonably-humane societies and, to enjoy basic human rights.
Hajj Sayyah came to the United States through New York City. During his ten-year stay in the country, he met with many prominent personalities such as US President Ulysses Grant on more than one occasion. His travels across the United States eventually took him to San Francisco, where he spent several months.
In the course of studying Hajj Sayyahʼs life, Dr. Ali Ferdowsi recently discovered through State Department documents that Hajj Sayyah had become a US citizen on May 26, 1875, the first Iranian to do so. [3]
Upon returning to Persia in July 1877, Hajj Sayyah became politically active and was imprisoned for having instigated a clandestine letter writing campaign to the monarch and clergy regarding the unbearable living conditions in Persia. After his release, fearing further persecution he sought the protection of the US legation in Tehran. That move puzzled many Persians, who wondered why he felt that the US government would protect him.
Hajj Sayyah went on to play a major role in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 in Persia, and he remained active until his death in 1925, at the age of 89. [4]
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek Jahan Khanom and the third longest reigning monarch in Iranian history after Shapur II of the Sassanid dynasty and Tahmasp I of the Safavid dynasty. Nasser al-Din Shah had sovereign power for close to 51 years.
The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British bank that operated as the state bank and bank of issue in Iran between 1889 and 1929. It was established in 1885 with a concession from the Persian government to Baron Julius De Reuter a German–Jewish banker and businessman who later became a Christian and a British subject.
The Shāh Abdol-Azīm Shrine, also known as Shabdolazim, located in Rey, Iran, contains the tomb of ‘Abdul ‘Adhīm ibn ‘Abdillāh al-Hasanī. Shah Abdol Azim was a fifth generation descendant of Hasan ibn ‘Alī and a companion of Muhammad al-Taqī. He was entombed here after his death in the 9th century.
James Baillie Fraser was a Scottish travel writer, and artist who illustrated and wrote about Asia Minor and India. Some of his watercolours made in the picturesque style represent early views of India and Persia.
Qajar art refers to the art, architecture, and art forms of the Qajar dynasty, which lasted from 1781 to 1925 in Iran (Persia).
Asadollah Alam was an Iranian politician who was prime minister during the Shah's regime from 1962 to 1964. He was also minister of Royal Court, president of Pahlavi University and governor of Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
Ordubad is the second largest city of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the capital of an eponymous district. Ordubad is a medieval city of the Caucasus and in its current capacity of a town was founded in the 18th century. The town is divided into five districts: Ambaras, Kurdtatal, Mingis, Sarshahar, and Uch.
Alexander Kasimovich Kazembek, born Muhammad Ali Kazim-bey, was an orientalist, historian and philologist. He was the great-grandfather and namesake of the Mladorossi founder Alexander Kazembek.
The history of the Jews in Iran dates back to late biblical times. The biblical books of Chronicles, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia". This great event in Jewish history took place in the late 6th century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
Gulistān, sometimes spelled Golestan, is a landmark of Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1258 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa'di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and has proved deeply influential in the West as well as the East. The Golestan is a collection of poems and stories, just as a flower-garden is a collection of flowers. It is widely quoted as a source of wisdom. The well-known aphorism still frequently repeated in the western world, about being sad because one has no shoes until one meets the man who has no feet "whereupon I thanked Providence for its bounty to myself" is from the Golestan.
Iranians in France include immigrants from Iran to France as well as their descendants of Iranian heritage or background. Iranians in France are referred to by hyphenated terms such as French-Iranians or French-Persians.
Farrokh Khan, also known by his title of Amin od-dowleh (امینالدوله), was a high-ranking Persian official, and vice premier to the court of the shah of Qajar Fath-Ale Shah. He was also the Persian ambassador to the emperor of France, Napoleon III, and the queen of Great Britain, Queen Victoria. The visit followed the outbreak of the Anglo-Persian War (1856–1857) between Persia and Great Britain.
Haj Aqa Nourollah was a political leader in the Persian Constitutional Revolution.
Aliqoli Mirza Qajar was an Iranian prince of Qajar dynasty and scholar who served as the first Minister of Science in Qajar Iran. He was the forty-seventh son of Fath-Ali Shah, King of Iran. Aliqoli Mirza was fascinated by the European Enlightenment and tried to spread its ideals in Iran. During the heyday of the Dar ul-Funun college, he was the headmaster of the school and played a key role in its survival.
Qajar Iran, also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran and also known as the Guarded Domains of Iran, was an Iranian state ruled by the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin, specifically from the Qajar tribe, from 1789 to 1925. The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus. In 1796, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad with ease, putting an end to the Afsharid dynasty. He was formally crowned as Shah after his punitive campaign against Iran's Georgian subjects.
The Diary of H.M. the Shah of Persia during his tour through Europein A.D. 1873 has been written by Naser al-Din Shah (1831–1896) while on his tour through the European continent in 1873, during the zenith of European imperialism. The book was translated into English by James Redhouse in 1874. It is the first of three diaries written by Naser al-Din Shah, who was King of Persia from 1848 until 1896, corresponding to his three tours through Europe respectively in 1873, 1878 and 1889. In the 1873 diary, Naser al-Din Shah relates his travel departing from Tehran and he describes his travel through the countries of Russia, Prussia, Germany, Belgium, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Turkey and Georgia. The book has been criticized for its long and very detailed descriptions.
Willem Marius Floor is a Dutch historian, writer, and Iranologist. He was born in 1942 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. After finishing high school, he attended the University of Utrecht where he studied economics, non-Western sociology, and Islamic studies. He also studied Arabic and eventually became interested in Persian. He received his PhD from the University of Leiden in 1971. The title of his PhD dissertation was "The Guilds In Qajar Persia." Ever since, he has been engaged in Iranian studies. Throughout this time, he has published extensively on the socio-economic history of Iran. As an independent scholar, Willem Floor has published numerous works of history as well as translations. Dr. Floor is also a winner of Farabi International Prize for Humanitarian Studies.
Prince Mehdi Qoli Khan-e Qajar-Qovanlou Amirsoleimani[1] known as "Majd ed-Dowleh", was a prominent Qajar prince and one of the most influential politicians of his time in Persia. He served as steward and administrator during the reign of Nasser al Din Shah.
Faramosh Khaneh was one of the most influential secret societies during the constitutional period in Iran, based on Masonic lodges founded by Mirza Malkam Khan, an Iranian intellectual and writer. The idea of the Faramosh Khaneh was introduced during the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah after Mirza Malkam Khan returned to Iran from a trip to Britain, and with the consent of Nasser al-Din Shah, the House of Forgetfulness was established in 1859. The Faramosh Khaneh ideology was rooted in Malkam Khan's teachings of the socio-political teachings of nineteenth-century Europe, especially the French Revolution: teachings such as liberalism and humanism. Despite Malkam Khan's preparations, the wave of opposition rose very quickly. Although the internal organization of Faramosh Khaneh was derived from those Freemasonry lodges in Europe, Malkam Khan's Faramosh Khaneh had nothing to do with European Freemasonry circles.
Hossein Gholi Khan Ilkhani (1821-1882) was an Iranian nobleman of the Bakhtiari tribe and a powerful khan (lord). Hossein Gholi Khan united the Bakhtiari tribes, killing many opponents in the process, and eventually turning the Bakhtiari clan - which hitherto had no role in politics - into one of the most powerful political poles of Qajar Iran. Most of Hossein Gholi Khan's children, including Ali-Gholi Khan Bakhtiari, played a role in important events in contemporary Iranian history, such as the Constitutional Revolution.
