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The record is made up of 1 volume (76 folios). It was created in Feb 1919. It was written in English. 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
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Mesopotamia]
POPULATION
13
(6) Population
Distribution
The population of Mesopotamia has been roughly
estimated at 2,238,000; of this number it is calculated
that 1,511,000 inhabit Irak, and the remaining
727,000 are distributed in upper Mesopotamia.
In Irak probably over 90 per cent, of the popula
tion is grouped along the rivers and canals. The
rural population is on the whole densest in the follow
ing areas : (i) along the Shatt el-Arab; (ii) along and
near the Euphrates, especially between Museyib and
Diwaniya on the Hilla branch or Kufa on the Hindie
branch, and again in the Nasrie—Suk esh-Sheynkh
area; (iii) on and near the Shatt el-Hai; (iv) to the
north and north-east of Baghdad, along the Tigris,
and in the country watered by the Khalis—Tawila
canal between the Tigris and the Diala and in the
Bakuba district; (v) in the country around Amara on
the lower Tigris. The neighbourhood of the Euphrates
is, owing to natural conditions, far more densely
inhabited than that of the Tigris.
The number of pure nomads whose movements are
confined to Irak is very small, but the desert south and
west of the Euphrates is visited by tribes from the
Nejd and elsewhere at certain seasons of the year, and
in Irak itself a proportion of the inhabitants still keep
to a ^semi-nomadic" life.
In the plains of upper Mesopotamia the sparse
population is distributed chiefly in the following
areas: (i) parts of the middle Euphrates valley, which
in the past forty or fifty years has been gradually re
covering a settled population, after being nearly
emptied by anarchy; (ii) between the rivers on the
north-western and northern sides of the plain; (iii")
between the rivers, in the Jebel Sin jar and the country
at the foot of that rane^e to south and east; (iv) east
of the Tigris, in the Mosul—Erbil plains and south
wards to the Lesser Zab; also at various points under
About this item
- Content
This volume is a confidential handbook on Mesopotamia prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office, dated February 1919. There is a table of contents which includes the following chapters:
- I: 'Geography Physical and Political', including 'Position and Frontiers', 'Surface, Coast and River Systems', 'Climate', 'Sanitary Conditions', 'Race and Language' and 'Population';
- II: 'Political History', including 'Chronological Summary', 'Introduction', 'Early period of Turkish Occupation, 1638-1834', 'Later period of Turkish Occupation, 1834-1914', and 'Commercial Developments';
- III: 'Social and Political Conditions', including 'Religious', 'Political', 'Public Education' and 'General Observations';
- IV: 'Economic Conditions', including 'Means of Communication', 'Industry', 'Commerce', 'Finance' and 'General Remarks'.
There is also an appendix which includes tables of 'Exports to Principal Countries from Baghdad', 'Imports from Principal Countries to Baghdad', 'Principal Exports from Basra' and 'Principal Imports to Basra'. This is followed by a section entitled 'Authorities' which is a bibliography of references used for the preparation of the volume. This section is divided into 'Historical' (including 'Confidential Sources'), 'Economic' ('Official' and 'General') and 'Maps'. There is a pocket at the back of the volume to house maps, but there are no maps present.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (76 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Pagination: The volume contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; 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'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Mesopotamia' [12r] (23/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000018> [accessed 29 August 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/C190
- Title
- 'Mesopotamia'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:75v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence