Bøker av Dr Willem Floor

Essays on the plague and cholera in Iran. As well as quarantine, influenza, medical infrastructure, geophagy, and early steps toward veterinary medicine in Iran.

This book discusses the political and economic history of the port of Bushehr, which by the end of the eighteenth century had become the gateway to southern Persia (Iran). It offers a detailed analysis of Bushehr''s demography, industry, health care, education, and standard of living; as well as its trade, and how politics impacted its well-being. Throughout this period Bushehr had to ward off the growing competition from other Persian Gulf ports such as Bandar Abbas. It did so successfully, enjoying growing trade and wealth, despite internal and external political problems. Because of its important commercial position Bushehr was also twice attacked and occupied by the British (1856, 1915-18). What brought the port city down finally, however, was not the British attacks and occupations, nor the occupation and looting of the city by Tangestani tribesmen (purported protectors of the constitution) in 1909; it was the expansion of the ports, roads, and railroads of the oil-rich province of Khuzestan. This caused economic decline for Bushehr, which resulted in a loss of trade and much of its population between 1920 and 1940. The World War II years did not bring much improvement to its situation either. The economic malaise contributed to a tribal uprising in Fars in 1946, in which Bushehr played an important role. However, the uprising failed, and as such was but a last spasm of a bygone era.

Given the importance of bread in the Iranian diet, it is surprising that its role in Iranian society has so far been ignored as a subject of study. Since ancient times, bread has been the staple diet of the peoples living in the Iranian plateau. In The History of Bread in Iran, Willem Floor, one of the foremost scholars of Iranian history, describes the beginnings of agriculture and bread-making, and the various grains and other products that were, and are, used to make bread. He then delves into the making of dough in rural and urban areas, followed by an overview of baking techniques, and the many kinds of bread that were-and continue to be-made in Iran. And, because Man does not live by bread alone, we are offered an overview of the spiritual and social aspects of bread in Iranian society. Finally, the author assesses the dietary importance of bread to the people of Iran and ends by addressing the question of how the State dealt with "the bread issue," which often determined the rise and fall of governments.

The island of Khark was an important link in Persian Gulf navigation, supplying passing ships with water, victuals, and pilots for ships sailing to and from Basra. This was why the Arabs called Khark “the Mother of Skippers” (Umm al-Rubbaniyan). Through the ages, Khark has also been a place of pilgrimage: in Sasanian times, due to the presence of an early Christian church and monastery, and in Islamic times, because of the presence of the tomb of Mohammad al-Hanafiyya. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch made the island their center of trade in the Persian Gulf, and by the nineteenth century the island was dubbed “the most important strategic point in the Persian Gulf,” reason why the British occupied it twice. Although by 1900 the island had lost its strategic importance, it acquired it again after the 1950s, when the National Iranian Oil Company decided to make Khark its main terminal for the export of crude oil. Later, chemical factories were added to the island’s economic make-up. As a result, Khark’s name is now better known around the world than it was ever previously, but the history has remained untold. This book tells the whole story, from the early archeological evidence and the Islamic and Safavid periods, to the Dutch projects in the eighteenth century and the British in the nineteenth century. And in the end, how the traditional way of life ended and industrialization began.  

Games Persians Play is a study of the history, development, and change in the games played in Iran. Iranians, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, played a large variety of games during their 2500-year history. Some games were played just to while away the time, to entertain, to keep children occupied, to liven up a social event, or to celebrate the change of seasons. Others were multi-functional such as horse games and hunting, which were both an amusement and a military training exercise. Like elsewhere in the world traditional games are disappearing and being replaced by a less varied group of modern games, in particular spectator sports. This book introduces the reader to the rich menu of games played in Iran and the changes that have taken place therein. Willem Floor is a scholar of Persian history with more than 20 books in print.

Muscat, the capital city of present day Oman, has had a long, and colorful history as a typical Indian Ocean port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. International trade brought about a rich mix of various ethnic and religious groups including, besides Arabs, Africans, Baluchis, Mekranis, Sindis, Gujaratis, Persians and many others. At the turn of the twentieth century fourteen languages could be heard spoken in the city. As a result the people of Muscat tended to be more outward-looking, and tolerant of various cultures, than those of the hinterland. Nonetheless, the city remained a secondary port for most of its history.By 1750, due to anarchy in Iran and problems in Basra, Muscat became the most important Persian Gulf port, and very wealthy. This position was further enhanced by a strong Omani fleet built by the early Al Bu Sa`id rulers. By 1820, however, the Persian Gulf ports reasserted themselves and the Pax Britannica put an end to the use of Omani sea power, and Muscat started to decline. Sultan Sa`id II focused his energies on the development of Zanzibar on the African coast, but by 1868 revenues from Zanzibar and Bandar Abbas had all been lost. Furthermore, conflict between Muscat and the interior and the arrival of steam ships, which supplanted the smaller, local vessels, further sapped the city''s strength, and its prosperity. By 1900, Muscat had become a sleepy steamer port with a considerably reduced population.In Muscat: City, Society, & Trade, Willem Floor marshals a wealth of historical documents and challenges some of the heretofore accepted wisdom about the city. Those interested in the socio-economic and medical history of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf will find here a rich banquet of information.

Merchants and bankers managed much of nineteenth-century Iran''s economy and finances. The ulama-clerical leaders-who considered themselves responsible for the spiritual welfare of their flock also played an important economic role, in particular, through management of religious endowments. Numerically, however, the most important group was that of the traders and craftsmen, who were organized into guilds and who formed thirty to fifty percent of the urban population. Finally, there were the unskilled, mostly seasonal, laborers. Guilds, Merchants and Ulama analyzes the major functions and characteristics of these groups, and discusses how they each coped with the pressures of the world market to which Iran was increasingly exposed and which resulted in the disappearance of jobs reducing Iran''s economic and political independence. After 1870, Iran''s economic situation was aggravated by an influx of peasants into the main cities significantly increasing the size of permanent unskilled labor in these cities. Guilds only provided some measure of social and economic benefits and protection to its members but could not prevent major downsizing, which is detailed in a contemporary report included here in translation. Meanwhile, both the merchants and the ulama demanded government action to better protect the country''s economy and its independence. To make a bigger fist, the ulama, merchants and reformists mobilized the guilds to support their political ends. As such, the guilds provided the force that powered the political events, which resulted in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1906. The ulama''s interference in economic life only made matters worse. They had no grasp of economics, beyond stating that people should not be greedy. And the guilds, despite their visible role during the 1905-06 events, found themselves used, and discarded when they were no longer needed. This created the parameters for major structural change to finally take place after 1925. In Guilds, Merchants, and Ulama Willem Floor provides a detailed analysis of primary source references essential for a better understanding of the socio-economic conditions that led to Iran''s push toward modernization in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

This study illuminates the 2,500-year social history of sexual relations in Iran. Marriage, temporary marriage, prostitution, and homosexuality are all discussed, as well as the often unintended result of these relations-sexually transmitted diseases. A Social History of Sexual Relations in Iran uses travelers' accounts, Iranian and international archival sources, as well as government data, to bring together, in detail, and within the context of Iranian culture and religion, the nature, variety, and problems of sexual relations in Iran over the ages. Finally, Willem Floor summarizes the issues that Iranian society faces today¿which are not dissimilar to that of many other industrial nations¿the challenge to the male claim to dominance over women; change in the age of marriage; premarital sex; rising divorce rates; rising promiscuity; prostitution; sexually transmitted diseases; homosexuality; and street children. Willem Floor studied development economics and non-western sociology, as well as Persian, Arabic and Islamology from 1963-67 at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Leiden in 1971 and went on to work for the World Bank as an energy specialist. Throughout this time, he published extensively on the socio-economic history of Iran. Since his retirement from the World Bank in 2002 he has published numerous scholarly history books and translations, including: Public Health in Qajar Iran, Agriculture in Qajar Iran, The History of Theater in Iran, The Persian Gulf: A Politcal and Economic History of Five Port Cities, The Persian Gulf: The Rise of the Gulf Arabs, and Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin's Travels Through Northern Persia 1770-1774. --

This book offer a broad and comprehensive survey of the state of public health, medical practice and its practitioners in 1800-1925. Based on first-hand accounts of European travellers and doctors who practised and observed medical treatment, the study provides an overview of the major diseases the population suffered and how these were treated. It also includes the available evidence logged by Iranian patients abroad and at home, as well as contemporary Persian texts that comment on public health and its practice in Iran. Floor shuns the analysis of classic Islamic medical textbooks, explaining that their medical advice was hardly ever administered and that the authors often had ideological (religious) agendas in writing these treatises. Instead, Floor investigates the commonly accepted theories of diseases, disorders, and their cures, including Islamic Galenic medicine and pre-Islamic theurgic folk medicine based on traditional herb lore and trial-and-error. The book concludes with the impact of Western medicine on the traditional medical institutions and public health in Qajar Iran. This exhaustive inquiry will enthral scholars of Iran and medicine alike.