Iron Poles, Wooden Poles: The Electric Telegraph and the Ottoman–Iranian Boundary Conflict, 1863–1865

Abstract

In spite of a series of negotiations and treaties since 1639, the border between Iran and the Ottoman Empire, in mid nineteenth century, was not yet completely settled nor was it delimitated. Under the terms of the Second Treaty of Erzurum (1847), both sides agreed to maintain the status quo pending further agreements.' This situation posed a serious problem for the British government, who, at the beginning of the 1860s, wished to connect London and Calcutta by electric telegraph through Ottoman and Iranian territories. By that time European and Indian telegraphic expansion, moving towards each other, had reached Baghdad and Karachi, respectively. In order to bridge the remaining gap, the British government entered into negotiations with its Iranian counterpart, for a land-line from Baghdad to Karachi through Iranian territory and along the Makran Coast. Only in 1863, and after almost three years of quite tough negotiations, did the Iranian government agree to allow its construction. But the British government soon learned that they would have to confront one of the longest and most complicated disputes, namely the border dispute between the Ottoman Empire and Iran, in order to complete the desired Indo European telegraph line (IETL); for it had to be specifically determined at exactly which point the telegraph line stopped to be Ottoman and began to be Iranian and vice versa, and this seemed to be impossible if the border was not delimitated. The Anglo-Iranian telegraph convention of 6th February 1863 called for the construction of an overland telegraph line from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf through Iranian territory. This line was to be constructed 'without delay' by the British government on behalf of its Iranian counterpart, while the Iranian authorities committed to 'assist in the work of construction by supplying such materials as were locally available'.2