Abstract This article examines the peasant livelihood and income levels of farmers in Gilan from the end of the Naserid period to the constitutional period. The basis for this study is the evaluation of the prevailing idea put forward in the works generally written about the social history of Qajar Iran. It is assumed that the Iranian peasantry lived in sheer poverty and at subsistence level due to extreme oppression. This article first assesses the income level of Gilak peasants based on the ratio of landowners to peasants in Gilan. Then, considering the basic income, it has demonstrated that Gilak farmers enjoyed a higher quality of livelihood compared to other Iranian farmers. Based on the available evidence and statistics, it can be claimed that at least during the period in question, economic pressure did not cause a predicament in the daily necessities of Gilak farmers. Therefore, we must look elsewhere for the reasons for their discontent during this period. Introduction The people of Gilan have had a unique lifestyle for a long time due to the natural gifts and fertility of the country's north. This geographical advantage has influenced their living standards since ancient times, setting them apart from other parts of Iran. This article investigates the livelihood and income level of Gilan farmers from the end of the Nasrid era to the constitutional era. It aims to answer whether the all-round poverty and livelihood crisis of Iranian peasants in this period also applies to the villagers of Gilan. This research sheds light on a lesser-explored aspect of Iranian history and provides a deeper understanding of the socio-economic conditions of the time. Two compelling interpretations emerge in response to the above question, providing a fascinating basis for understanding the activism of Gilan peasants during the constitutional period and subsequent movements. The first interpretation suggests that they joined the constitutional movement out of sheer necessity, driven by the harsh realities of poverty and the social and economic conditions that threatened their very survival. The second interpretation, which is also the hypothesis of this research, presents a different perspective. It suggests that the livelihood level of Gilani peasants surpassed the survival threshold at the time of the Constitution and showed signs of a burgeoning consumer culture in their lifestyle. This leads us to consider other factors that might have fueled their activism during the constitutional movement. The lack of examination of different aspects of daily life in the constitutional period is more comprehensive than the sources related to the north of Iran. The non-documentary and second-hand sources of the Constitution only narrate the lives and opinions of prominent and role-playing people or the general and essential events of those days. Of course, this issue is partly due to the nature of the documents left from that era. However, in some research, the social and economic conditions of Gilan have been analyzed at the threshold of the Constitution. For example, in his article "Guilan in the Constitutional Revolution (1911-1905 AD)", Pejman Dilmi described the constitutional period of Gilan briefly, mainly citing the reports of Rabino, Nikitin, and the Orange Book. He attaches great importance to the role of associations and social democrats of the Caucasus in this period, and at the same time, he pays attention to the peasant movements and considers their primary motivation to rise and stand against the relations of the lords and serfs. In the article "Caspian Peasant Revolts during the Constitutional Revolution," Jeanette Afari first examines some sources such as newspapers and parliament reports and then deals with the state of the rural economy at the end of the 19th century. He points out the mutual connection between Gilan and Azerbaijan peasant movements and pays special attention to the growth of associations, especially the state and trade associations of Rasht and Tabriz, between the years 1323 and 1327 AH. Also, Charles Esei in Iran's economy from 1800 to 1914 and Ahmad Saif in Iran's economy in the 19th century have given good reports about the daily life of Gilanians in that period, which, of course, are all opposite to the findings of this article and are all about the misery and misery of Gilanians in They tell about that period. Nasrullah Pouramalshi has also tried to provide a sociological analysis of the peasant movement of Gilan in his "Sociological Approach to the Rural Movements of Gilan." However, among these, there are works that, while accepting the chaotic economic conditions in the mentioned period, have focused not on the existence of famine but on cultural factors such as the transfer of Bolshevik ideas from Europe and especially Russia, and have searched for the constitutional roots of Gilan in the sociology of culture. Among these, we can mention works such as "The Role of Gilani Migrant Workers in the Constitutional Revolution" by Yaser Karimi Gilayeh, “Research, and Analysis of the Fields and Role of the Peasant Movement in Gilan's Constitutionalism Based on the Theory of Resource Mobilization” by Alireza Zadbar et al. At the same time, sources such as Villagers and Constitutionalism of Iran by Sohrab Yazdani and Agriculture of Iran in the Qajar Period by Willem Fleur, in line with the current research, have accepted the principle of livelihood superiority of Gilani peasants compared to villagers in other parts of Iran, but this is limited to the first half. 19th century, and they saw their living conditions decline in the years leading up to the Constitution. Materials And Methods The present article is methodologically descriptive and documents and library sources are used in it, but theoretically, the author has benefited as much as possible from the methodological achievements of the Annales School in historiography, a school that takes a unique approach to historical research. Analysts generally have a contemptuous attitude towards political events, military history and official international relations. For this reason, in this school, attention is paid to the biological and material foundations of life and topics such as nutrition, health, clothing, fashion, production, class distinction, class patterns and life patterns, in such a way that according to Peter Burke's analysis, it is practically in the category of Intermediate schools are placed. Especially since politics often does not play a decisive role in the works of analysts. For example, Braudel is very interested in investigating housing, food, clothing, and even architecture, home interior design, fashion, cooking, etc. in different historical periods. The current research, aims to focus on the socio-economic history of the constitutional period, and the narratives of its local elites, especially in the forest, should not be taken for granted, and regardless of the prominent political events that have occurred in a cross-sectional manner, the daily life of the people of Gilan and the gradual process of living in the public arena should be cited. Results And discussionIn general, the evidence shows that the people of Gilan have had a suitable living situation for a long time. It is known that due to abundant access to rice, the people of Gilan used rice instead of bread even for breakfast, and even though wheat was readily available due to its cultivation in the foothills, bread was hated, and eating it was a form of degradation. They knew the social rank. According to Rabinu's interpretation, the proverb "Go eat bread and die" was famous among Gilkan. In their memoirs, European travelers repeatedly mention the excellent nutrition of the people of Gilan. Gilan was the only line where people could use beef. Due to the variety of food, the people of Gilan had learned how to stock up on different foods in the winter.The people of Gilan have achieved a decent livelihood for a long time; Instead of bread, they used rice for breakfast, and they hated bread. European tourists have mentioned the good nutrition of the people of Gilan and it was possible to use beef only in Gilan. There were no fixed laws, but the custom replaced it, and the owners' society prevented them from supporting the peasants. The owner-peasant arrangements were in favor of the peasants and the law looked at the extent that the owners benefited from the peasants' production. In his description of the freedom of the subjects in the lord's land, Rabino writes that the peasants do not pay rent for their huts, and their cows and sheep live in the lands under They don't cultivate, they graze freely. They can cut down the forest trees on the part of their property that is not under cultivation and sell them for a profit. Peasants can plant vegetables around their huts and sell or use them for their own benefit. The tenant also gives gifts to the landlord for each peasant. In another article, he explains the same distribution of the product and the government's share of them, that the peasants work freely in cultivating the land and receive their share of the product as wages. This system, while unique, was fair and ensured that the peasants were not exploited. Only one acre, the number of flowers of Gilani farmers is less than 15%. Each cropping cycle lasts 5 to 6 months, and during the other months of the year, the peasants cultivated the second crop of wheat and rice, went fishing, or migrated. Therefore, the income of a farmer was part-time. To determine this income, it is necessary to compare it with the wages of Dr. Charles Wills and Curzon. This comparison shows that the income of workers at the end of the nineteenth century Iran was on average 1 Qiran, and it increased and was overshadowed by the expenses. It had increased to 2 Qurans. However, in areas like Sistan where labor was cheap, price changes prevailed.Based on this, the analysis of the import statistics of European goods (other than Russia) to Gilan in only 5 years from 1874 to 1879 AD/1252 to 1257 AD is a clear evidence of the elasticity of Gilan markets. This term, 'elasticity of markets', refers to the ability of a market to adjust to changes in demand and supply. In the context of Gilan, it demonstrates the adaptability of the local economy to external influences. For instance, in 1874 AD, out of a total of 467,200 liras Sterling, the total value of imports to Gilan was about 94,000 lira (ie 20 percent) related to the import of European goods. This ratio in 1875 was equal to 104,000 liras out of a total of 429,440 liras (24%), in 1876 it was equal to 15,9925 out of a total of 514,790 liras (31%), in 1877 it was equal to 122,000 out of a total of 329,560 liras (38%), in 1878 it was equal to 132,685 out of a total of 408,816 liras (32%) has been. Therefore, it is very clear that even if we assume that the rest of the goods imported to Gilan in these years (which mainly included goods imported from Russia) all entered Gilan for transit to other states of Iran, still between 30 and 40 percent according to the above statistics. The goods imported to Gilan reached the domestic consumption of the people of this state, because the import from England was from the south of the country, and for imports from countries such as France, Greece, Holland, etc., they used the route of Tabriz, Zanjan-Qazvin. Looking at the customs statistics of Gilan regarding items imported from other Iranian states (which actually includes goods manufactured in other Iranian states in addition to non-Russian European goods, because only Russian goods were directly imported to Gilan), the composition and value of consumer goods in the local market of Gilan was clearly defined in those years. For example, the value of European fabrics imported to Gilan in 1874 to 1879 was 86,000, 9,000, 127,625, 106,000, 113,455 and 146,152 liras, respectively. In addition, the value of spices in the same period was 26,000, 22,000, 18,470, 10,000, 14,615 and 15,384 liras respectively. During the same period, the import of leather was equal to 3,600, 15,384, 33,000, 5,384 and 5,000 liras. Other items such as butter, Noghan eggs, sheep and tobacco were mainly produced in other states and imported to Gilan as raw material for food or silk production. ConclusionThe main point is the separation of income status and level of satisfaction. In the writer's opinion, although these two categories are related, they are not necessarily the same. Here, it is essential to mention the critical point that Churchill, the British consul, quotes about the tax abuses in Gilan and the farmers' reaction to it in normal conditions: "Tax collectors, according to the income situation, a number of more than ten to twenty. They took a higher percentage than what was supposed to be taken from the peasants, and as long as they did not exceed this amount, the peasants felt satisfied.Indeed, the expression of satisfaction in this phrase does not mean that the peasants are happy with this amount of tax, but rather, it means the relative strength of their livelihood base that they could handle such a tax without conflicting with the government officials. At the same time, since Gilan was one of the leading centers of peasant rebellion in that period, the researchers of constitutional history found the most straightforward solution to reduce their causes and motivations to pure subsistence misery. By rejecting this hypothesis, the present article paves the way for proposing other hypotheses, such as the growth of political-social awareness, dissatisfaction caused by gross class differences, the many contacts of the people of Gilan with Europeans, and the influence of their lifestyle, etc. Of course, the evaluation of each of these hypotheses requires separate research, but in proving the hypothesis of the present research, we tried to argue in three ways:By describing lord-serf relations, the status of small owners, and the extent of shareholding and tenancy, we showed that the distribution of the benefits of cultivation was not at the expense of the peasants, as it seemed in the first place. This becomes especially important when the price of export agricultural products increases in the period under discussion; naturally, more benefits are given to the farmer. During the mentioned period, we showed that Gilan farmers' income was lower than that of other farmers. Their income-to-cost ratio was reasonable due to labor force exploitation and hidden income from the owner's land. The stable income level provided a sense of security in their economic situation. The evidence of surplus income should be identifiable in the daily lives of the peasants. Gilan state's import statistics show a substantial growth in consumer goods, changing lifestyles, and creating new demands. The devaluation of Iran's currency did not decrease the income of Gilani farmers due to their self-sufficient needs.