Tabriz

Tabriz (also spelt Tabreez, Tebris, and Tauris), a great and ancient city of Persia, capital of the province of Azerbaijan, 40 miles E. of Lake Urumiah, and on the Aji, which flows south-west into that lake. The interesting ruin, Kabúd Masjid, or 'blue mosque' (dating from 1450), is in part covered with blue tiles beautifully arabsqued. The citadel is a spacious edifice of burned brick, the walls of which have been cracked in many places by earthquakes. Tabriz is the seat of a varied industry, in which leather, silk, and gold and silversmith's work alone are notable; it is also the emporium of an extensive transit trade. The imports have been estimated at £750,000 a year, and the exports at £350,000—but there is much smuggling carried on. The chief imports are cotton fabrics, sugar, woollen cloth, and wines and spirits. The chief exports are drugs and spices, dried fruits, shawls, carpets, and raw silk. The opening of the Russian railway between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and Russian tariff legislation have injured the overland trade by Tabriz. The Anglo-Indian telegraph line passes through the city. There has been much debate about the identification of the city with an ancient Tauris; it was reputed to have been refounded in 791 by one of the wives of Harūn-al-Rashid. In 858, 1041, 1721, and 1854 it was devastated by earthquakes, and it has been besieged, taken by Turks, Turcomans, and Persians in succession. Pop. 170,000, very many of them Turks, and 3000 Armenians.