This is the first of two volumes of a business history of a major British bank in the Middle East. Volume 1 traces the history of the bank from its foundation in 1889 as The Imperial Bank of Persia, through the years it was the state bank of Iran, and its development of modern banking in that country, to the ending of its links in 1952. The Bank's history has great importance for an understanding of the economic and political history of Iran in the first half of the twentieth century, and of Britain's diplomatic and economic relations with Iran, and provides evidence challenging many accepted viewpoints. The Bank played a vital role in the region, and in the 'Great Game' between Britain and Russia. During the inter-war years its history was enmeshed with the Pahlavi dynasty and the rise of Iranian nationalism. The book will be invaluable to business and other historians as one of the first scholarly histories of a British overseas bank.