Nasser-al-Din Shah Qajar (sometimes called Nassereddin) (1831 1896) was the Shah of Persia from September 13 1848 until his death on May 1 1896.

He was in Tabriz when he heard of his father's death in 1848, and he ascended to the Peacock Throne with the help of Amir Kabir. He tried to bring the part of eastern Persia (especially Herat) which had came under the British influence back to Persia but faced the British attack on Bushehr and had to retreat. Herat is today a part of Afghanistan. Nasser-al-Din Shah was forced to sign the Declaration of Paris granting Afghanistan supremacy over the former Persian territories.

Though Nasser-al-Din had early reformist tendencies, he was dictatorial in his style of government. He persecuted Babis and Bahais, and this increased when several Babis attempted to assassinate him in 1852. He was the first Persian monarch to visit Europe (in 1870) and was reportedly amazed with the technology he saw there.

In 1870 he met British Gerald Talbot and signed a contract with him giving him the ownership of Iranian Tobacoo Industry, but he later was forced to cancel the contract after Mirza Reza Shirazi issued a Fatwa that made farming, trading and consuming tobacoo as Haram. It had even affected the personal life of Shah as his wives were not allowing him to use Tobacoo.

This was not the end of his attempts to trade with Europe because he later gave the ownership of Iranian Costumes Incomes to Julius Reuters (Founder of Reuters News Agency)

Nasser-al-Din introduced a number of western innovations to Iran, including a modern postal system, train transport, a banking system and newspaper publishing.

He was the first Iranian to be photographed. He was also the first Iranian monarch ever to write his diaries.

Nasser-al-Din was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani , a follower of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, when soldiers who were training for his Golden Jubilee were marching in front of him. Shortly before his death he is reported to have said "I will rule you differently if I survive!"

He was buried in the Shah-Abdol-Azim Cemetery, in Rayy near Tehran, where he was assassinated.

External links

• Nasser-al-Din Shah's Portrait