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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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Mesopotamia] RELIGIOUS 37
so remote as Afghanistan and India. The Nakib of
Baghdad, the hereditary custodian of the shrine and
official head of the Arab community in the city, has a
widespread influence among his co-religionists.
The Christian sects in Mesopotamia may be divided
into three groups: (1) the independent Asiatic
Churches; (2) the Uniates, in communion with the
Koman Catholic Church; (3) the Protestant communi
ties. The most important of these religious bodies
have at various times obtained the recognition of the
Turkish Government, and have been constituted as
authorised communities, or " millets." The Turkish
Government appointed the spiritual head of theChurch
as civil administrator of the millet, and although his
functions were considerably reduced as the law of the
Turkish Courts became less entirely based upon the
Koran, yet the patriarch remained primarily respon
sible to the Government for the political control of the
millet.
The independent Asiatic Churches include the Gre
gorian Church of Armenia, the Nestorian or East
Syrian, and the West Syrian or Jacobite. The
Churches which acknowledge the spiritual supremacy
of the Pope are the Armenian Uniate, the Chaldean or
East Syrian Uniate, and the West Syrian or Jacobite
Uniate. Mention should here be made of the connexion
between the West Syrian or Jacobite Uniate Church
and the ancient Christian community of Southern
India, which is a factor of considerable importance in
Malabar and Travancore. This community acknow
ledges the Patriarch of Antioch as its supreme autho
rity; its Bishops are appointed from Syria, and the
connexion may be noted as constituting an existing link
between Syria and the British Empire. Each com
munity has its separate hierarchy, although the Pope
exercises some limited power in the appointment of the
bishops and patriarchs. Communities of various
Roman Catholic religious orders have been established
by the Italians and the Erench in northern Meso-
potamia and in Baghdad and Basra. The Protestants
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' [24r] (47/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000030> [accessed 31 July 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