Persia 1700–1800

The article offers brief descriptions and analyses of five virtually unknown 18th-century European sources on Persia written in different languages and spanning a period from the reign of Shah Soltan Hoseyn Safavi to the very first years of the reign of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. It also presents the commented text of a sixth source, of unknown author, entitled Varij ragionamenti sopra lo stato presente, e la Crisi, in cui la Persia si trova, and advances the hypothesis that it could have been written by the famous Ragusan diplomat in Russian service, Florio Beneveni. Taken together, the six sources not only provide interesting information on a rather ‘obscure’ phase of Persian history, but also show that the interest for Persia at the European courts may have been decreased as compared to the Safavid period but was still considerable.