History - Iran - page 546

and Darya-e Nur diamonds; see the latter diamond in Tehran's National Jewels Museum.
His constant warring rapidly wore out the country and his assassination in 1747 brought a
welcome, if temporary, end to hostilities.
A Lor from western Iran, Karim Khan Zand (r 1750-79) grabbed power. He had little
interest in warfare and is instead remembered for moving the capital to Shiraz, where he
built the impressive Arg-e Karim Khan and the Masjed-e Vakil (Regent's Mosque).

The Qajars & the Constitutional Revolution
The Qajar dynasty was a disaster for Iran, taking just a few years to turn the country into
an international laughing stock. Following Karim Khan's death in 1779, eunuch Aga Mo-
hammad Khan united the Azari Qajars and created a new capital in the village of Tehran.
By 1795 he had wrested control of Persia from Lotf Ali Khan.
Both the Russians and British had their eyes on Iran. Russia was determined to gain ac-
cess to the Persian Gulf and India, while Britain was equally determined to deny them.
During the undistinguished reign of big-bearded Fath Ali Shah (r 1797-1834) Russia cap-
tured Georgia, Shirvan (today's Azerbaijan), eastern Armenia and Daghestan, all semi-in-
dependent entities previously within Persia's sphere of influence.
While responsible for a broad campaign of
modernisation, Nasser al-Din Shah (r 1848-96)
was generally more interested in collecting art,
building museums and servicing his numerous
wives. The Qajar shahs spent so much on lux-
uries that the treasury needed to hastily sell
state assets. Foreign buyers were more than
happy to pick up the bargains. In one notorious incident, Nasser al-Din tried to sell exclus-
ive rights to exploit Iran's economic resources (including all the banks, mines and rail-
ways) for a one-off sum of UK£40,000 to be followed by payments of UK£10,000 for the
next 25 years. He was made to cancel the deal once news of it leaked out.
When news broke of an attempt to sell the tobacco monopoly, discontent boiled over in-
to revolt. In 1906 the third-last Qajar shah, Muzaffar al-Din (r 1896-1907), was forced to
introduce an embryo parliament, the first majlis, and a constitution. It became known as
the Constitutional Revolution.
However, the majlis didn't appeal to ruthless new Shah Mohammad Ali, who attacked
it with artillery and, in 1908, introduced martial law. This led to an uprising in Tabriz in
1909 ( Click here ) . Shah Mohammad Ali was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, who
was still a child.

For millennia Iran was called Persia. However,
Reza Shah hated the name and in 1934 changed it
to Iran - derived directly from Aryan (meaning 'of
noble origin').