Abdul Mejid (Template:Fl.) was a Kabuli mullah and merchant who explored Central Asia (then frequently known as Tartary) on behalf of the British Empire.
Name
Abdul Mejid's name has been various transcribed as Abdul Mejid,Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Abdul Mejíd,Template:Sfnp Abdul Medjid,Template:Sfnp Abdul-Medjid,Template:Sfnp Abdoul Medjid,Template:Sfnp and Abdool Mujeed.Template:Sfnp
Life
Abdul Mejid was raised in Kabul, Afghanistan.Template:Sfnp His father was an imamTemplate:Sfnp and he himself became learned enough in Islam and Islamic law to be considered a mullah.Template:Sfnp After finding employment in the emirate's mint, he became a merchant and married the daughter of the still more prosperous freedman Nazir Khairulla Khan.Template:EfnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Abdul Mejid travelled throughout Central Asia,Template:Sfnp then frequently known as Tartary. The area has extremely difficult terrain and was known at the time for its violent hostility to outsiders,Template:Sfnp including Britain's disastrous retreat from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War and the subsequent execution of the British agents Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly by the emir of Bukhara Muhammad Nasrullah Bahadur. The Afghan emir Dost Mohammad Khan was also married to another of Nazir Khairulla Khan's daughters, and the two merchants found themselves on favorable terms with the British at Peshawar following the Second Anglo-Sikh War.Template:Sfnp
On 28 September 1860, Abdul Mejid was dispatched from Peshawar as a pundit by the division commissioner Hugh Rees JamesTemplate:Sfnp (1823Template:Ndash1864) and the governor-general of India, Earl Canning.Template:Sfnp Provided with an official letter and gifts including music boxes, watches, and rifles, his mission was to journey to Kokand, establish contact and confirm Britain's friendship with its khan Muhammad Malla Beg, and assess the level of Russian influence and presence in the khanate.Template:Sfnp Because of the hostility at the time between Muhammad Nasrullah Bahadur and both Muhammad Malla Beg and Dost Mohammad Khan, Abdul Mejid was precluded from following the easiest route through Bukhara.Template:Sfnp Instead, he travelled through Kabul (8 October),Template:Sfnp the Hindu Kush and Khanabad (24 October),Template:Sfnp Fayzabad in the vassal emirate of Badakhshan (4 November), the Pamir Steppe (16 November),Template:Sfnp and the Taldyk Pass into Gulcha (5 December),Template:Sfnp reaching Kokand on 17 December.Template:Sfnp Muhammad Malla Beg being absent on a western raid of Oratepa (now Istaravshan), Abdul Mejid was entertained by local nobles until the khan's return on 7 January 1861.Template:Sfnp He had several audiences with the khan while compiling information for the British on local conditions.Template:Sfnp
Abdul Mejid left Kokand on 31 January 1861 but was detained until 10 March at nearby Yar Mazar (now Fergana) waiting for companions on his journey.Template:Sfnp One envoy was tasked to communicate with the British at Peshawar and another to travel to Constantinople (now Istanbul) to resume relations between Kokand and the Ottoman Empire.Template:Sfnp Abdul Mejid then passed through the Tengizbay Pass and along the Vakhsh River towards Kulob, whose lord Surrah Khan imprisoned the entire party at Khovaling on behalf of Bukhara. Reports of the disorder following Muhammad Nasrullah Bahadur's deposition, however, prompted the khan to release the party with gifts, entertainment, and well wishes.Template:Sfnp Crossing the Amu Darya, Abdul Mejid reentered Badakhshan and returned to Khanabad.Template:Sfnp He reached Kabul on 6 June and Peshawar on the 26th, relating his journey to James, who praised his clarity, sobriety, bravery, and utility and recommended a substantial payment be arranged for his troubles.Template:SfnpTemplate:Efn
Legacy
His trip was the first recorded journey through the Pamir from south to north,Template:Sfnp in honor of which the Royal Geographical Society provided him with a gold watch valued at £26 6s. and a ceremony in London congratulating him Template:Lang overseen by Lord Strangford.Template:Sfnp Although Abdul Mejid had not undertaken any observations of latitude or longitude nor undertaken any surveying, his safe passage and detailed account of his route inspired Thomas George Montgomerie to expand the use of native Indian pundits for the Great Trigonometrical Survey and for British exploration in Tibet.Template:Sfnp The pundit Hyder Shah, "The Havildar", later reprised parts of Abdul Mejid's route while undertaking additional scientific observations.Template:Sfnp
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
- [{{{url}}} Allen's Indian Mail and Register of Intelligence...]. William H. Allen(14 June 1854)..
- The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus. Royal Geographical Society(1896)..
- The Earth and Its Inhabitants, Vol. VI: Asia, Vol. I: Asiatic Russia. D. Appleton & Co.(1884).
- Bulletin de la Société de Géographie. Ch. Delagrave & Co.(June 1874)..
- Selections from the Records of the Government of India. Foreign Department Press(1863)., printing a letter dated 19 October 1861.
- Proceedings.... Royal Geographical Society(26 March 1866)..
- [{{{url}}} The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia]. University Press of Kentucky(1990)..
- Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara in the Years 1843Template:Ndash1845 to Ascertain the Fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain Connolly. Harper & Brothers(1845)..
- A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. John Murray(1872)..