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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [99] (108/568)
The record is made up of 1 volume (282 folios). It was created in 1918. It was written in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
kti
INHABITANTS 99
nnt'L iab ? urer ? a ™ intelligent and give good resnlts when
ol: , f CM ^ k ""'I'y," 11 managed. Labour on a large scale has
to be obtained through the sheikhs and mukhtars.
arP 0 fT a 0 f 1 ' C t nt0f the Arabs of Irak and Arabistan
Chapter vVlI ) 0 Meso P otamia are Sunnis. (See
Tribal System
Outside the larger towns and a few rural areas the tribal system
Prevails among the Arab population, and tribal custom and the
authority of tribal sheikhs have been much more potent forces in
IdmSitlon Mesopotamian A ra b S than Ottoman law and
Mesopotamia has been repeatedly invaded by nomads from the
P Gm nsula, and from these immigrants are descended the
Arabs who now inhabit the country. At the present time the nomad
Aiabs of Mesopotamia and the Syrian Desert 'are regarded by the
peninsula Bedawis as forming one great social block with them
selves , and though the Mesopotamian tribes which have taken to
a more or less settled agricultural life have thereby lost caste in
the eyes of the Bedawis, they too have retained the memory of
their peninsular origins and to some extent the sentiment of their
peninsular traditions.
The successive waves of Arab invasion have in many instances
broken up the old tribes or tribal groups, into widely separated
fractions. One part of a tribe, or confederation of tribes, may have
remained m Arabia while another is to be found east of the
Euphrates. _ Difterent sections of a tribe may now be far apart from
each other in Mesopotamia, or some sections may be dwelling on
the Tigris while others are on the eastern borders of Syria. Where
such separation has happened, the sentiment of common kinshio
imjK)rtance ^ Sti11 ^ Cei " tain circumstance s of practical
The largest unit in the tribal world is the group or confederation
ot tribes. Some of these groups are of very considerable size (e. p -.
those of the Muntefiq m southern Irak and of the Anazeh in the
u TT - k ^ g J r . ea . t n er groups ma y contain sub-groups, and
the tribes again are divided into sub-tribes and clans. Corre
sponding to these divisions are sheikhs of various degrees. The
composition of the tribal group, its divisions and subdivisions,
the number of its paramount sheikhs and the extent of their
authority, are continually liable to fluctuation. The power of the
a 2
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Naval Staff, Intelligence Department: November 1918). This is an updated and expanded edition of A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: August 1916) (IOR/L/MIL17/15/41/1). This is an introductory volume containing matter of a general nature giving an account of conditions in Mesopotamia, for the most part as they were before the First World War.
The volume includes a note on official use, a title page and 'Note'. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following chapters and sections:
- Chapter 1: Boundaries and Physical Features;
- Chapter 2: Climate;
- Chapter 3: Minerals;
- Chapter 4: Fauna and Flora;
- Chapter 5: Hygiene;
- Chapter 6: History;
- Chapter 7: Inhabitants;
- Chapter 8: Religions;
- Chapter 9: Administration;
- Chapter 10: Irrigation of Irak [Iraq];
- Chapter 11: Agriculture and Land Tenure;
- Chapter 12: Commerce and Industry;
- Chapter 13: Currency, Weights, and Measures;
- Chapter 14: Communications and Transport;
- Vocabularies;
- Index.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (282 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in numbered chapters. There is a contents page and an alphabetically arranged index.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of the folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/2
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:556, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence