Central Asia, Persia & Afghanistan, 1834-1922

Central Asia, Persia & Afghanistan, 1834-1922 is a collection of digitized British government documents produced by the British Foreign Office. These files document Britain’s diplomatic activities in Central Asia and illustrate the history of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from a British colonial perspective. Though Central Asia is the primary focus of the collection, interactions with British India and China are also documented. The collection includes the following material classes:

• FO 65: Foreign Office and predecessor: Political and Other Departments: General Correspondence before 1906, Russian Empire, 1781-1905
• FO 106: Foreign Office: Political and Other Departments: General Correspondence before 1906, Central Asia,1899-1905
• FO 371: Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966
• FO 539: Foreign Office: Confidential Print Central Asia,1834-1971

Material types include correspondence, foreign office reports and dispatches, newspaper articles, diaries, and maps. The original files are located in the National Archives of the United Kingdom.