Kashef as-Saltaneh
{{Short description|Iranian diplomat and politician 1865–1929}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Kashef as-Saltaneh
| name = Mohammad Mirza Qajar Qovanlu
| image = Kashef_al-Saltaneh.png
| native_name = محمد میرزا قاجار قوانلو
| native_name_lang = Persian
| birth_date = 21 March 1865
| birth_place = Torbat-e Heydarieh, Sublime State of Iran
| death_date = 20 April 1929
| death_place = Fars province, Imperial State of Iran
| burial_place = Lahijan, Iran
| alma_mater = Sorbonne University
| known_for = Introducing tea cultivation to Iran
| children = Three daughters and one son
}}
Mohammad Mirza Qajar Qovanlu (Persian: محمد میرزا قاجار قوانلو), better known by his honorary title Kashef as-Saltaneh (Persian: کاشف السلطنه) was an Iranian politician, diplomat and constitutionalist who is best known for introducing tea cultivation to Iran. He also served as the first mayor of Tehran.کاشف‌السلطنه، حاجی محمد میرزا، رساله دستورالعمل زراعت چاپ، چاپ دوم، رشت، مطبعه عروه الوثقی، ۱۳۲۶ شحاجی میرزا کاشف السلطنه، ثریا کاظمی (نوه کاشف السطنه)، نشریه سایه ۱۳۷۲شکتاب گیلان، اصلاح عربانی، جلد دوم، چاپ ۱۳۶۱ ۴ـ فرهنگ فارسی، ج ۶ چاپ چهارم، انتشارات امیر کبیر، تهران ۱۳۶۰{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|title=KĀŠEF-AL-SALṬANA|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/kasef_al_saltana|access-date=12 November 2021|website=iranicaonline.org|language=en-US}}
Life
Born on 21 March 1865, he was the oldest child of Asadallah Mirza Nayeb al-Eyaleh. His mother Jahan Ara Khanom was a granddaughter of Abbas Mirza.{{Cite web |title=Qajar-Qovanlu-Amirsoleymani Genealogy |url=http://www.qajarpages.org/qovanlu.html |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=qajarpages.org}} He attended Dar ul Fonun and learned French and other common subjects of his time. At the age of 16, he was hired by the ministry of foreign affairs and worked as secretary of Mirza Nasrullah Khan for two years. In 1881, he was sent to Paris where he studied law and jurisprudence in Sorbonne university. After getting his baccalaureate, he studied administrative law for another year. In 1889, when Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was on his third travel to Europe, he was chosen as translator to the Shah's new French physician, Jean-Baptiste Feuvrier, and returned to Iran.{{Cite web|last=tebyan.net|first=موسسه فرهنگی واطلاع رسانی تبیان {{!}}|date=21 April 2018|title=كاشف السلطنه اولين واردكننده چاي در ایران|url=https://article.tebyan.net/419987|access-date=12 November 2021|website=fa}}
= Political activity in Iran =
Mohammad Mirza was appointed as the governor (Nayeb al-Eyaleh) of Torbat-e Heydarieh by the governor of Khorasan, Mavid ad-dowleh. As the governor of Torbat-e Heydarieh, he advocated for a parliamentary government, which made the Shah to order his arrest. He first escaped to Nishapur, and from there moved to the Russian Empire and then the Ottoman Empire. The Shah continued searching for him and asked the Ottoman government to surrender him, which made Mohammad Mirza to escape to France, where he stayed until Naser al-Din Shah was assassinated.
= In India =
File:Kashef Saltaneh Painting original.jpg
After the Shah's assassination, he was appointed as the consul general of the Iranian consulate in British India. There, he travelled to Shimla and studied tea cultivation in tea producing areas. Studying about tea was banned for citizens of non western countries however, and he had to conceal his real identity and instead claim to be a French merchant.
Tea
Mohammad Mirza entered Mumbai in late 1898, and almost immediately started studying tea. At the time, around 83% of the tea consumption in Iran was imported from India worth approximately a million Tomans annually. Due to this, the Iranian government wanted to be self sufficient in tea production.{{Cite web|last=Aab|first=Sam|date=21 July 2021|title=The Disguise Master who Stole Britain's Tea Secrets|url=https://historyofyesterday.com/the-disguise-master-who-stole-britains-tea-secrets-bf245e9f9746|access-date=13 November 2021|website=Medium|language=en}}
Before returning to Iran, Mohammad Mirza managed to gather some tea seeds and 4,000 saplings of tea, coffee, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and smuggle them into Iran.{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|title=ČĀY|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/cay-tea|access-date=13 November 2021|website=iranicaonline.org|language=en-US}}
After his return, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar granted him a monopoly over production of tea. He chose two locations, Tonekabon in Mazandaran and Lahijan in Gilan, for cultivation and gradually increased his cultivated lands. By 1903, there were 300,000 tea plants in Lahijan alone.
Due to his works he was given the title "Kashef as-Saltaneh", meaning "Royal Discoverer".
Mayor of Tehran
In December 1904, he was sent to France as chargé d'affaires to the Iranian embassy in France. He stayed there for more than three years and after returning he was commissioned by the recently established Iranian Parliament to found a modern municipality for Tehran. More than a year later however, he resigned.
Death
After returning from a trip, he had a car accident on the road from Bushehr to Shiraz and died. He was buried in Lahijan and later a building was made on his tomb.{{Cite web|date=30 April 2018|title=مقبره کاشف‌السلطنه از دیدنی‌های شهر لاهیجان|url=https://www.isna.ir/news/97021005902/مقبره-کاشف-السلطنه-از-دیدنی-های-شهر-لاهیجان|access-date=12 November 2021|website=ایسنا|language=fa}}