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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]
POLITTCAL
39
tx)ins, Public Debt, the Tobacco and Salt Monopolies,
Public Instruction, and Sanitary Service. The local
chiefs of these Imperial Departments received their
orders direct from Constantinople, an arrangement
which had certain advantages, but, owing to the diffi
culties of communication, resulted in administrative
paralysis.
In each vilayet the Vali was the political representa
tive of the Ottoman Government, and as such con
ducted all dealings with foreign Consular Officers and
with the chiefs of the semi-independent tribes. He
also controlled the Provincial Departments, of which
the most important was that concerned with the col
lection of taxes and the keeping of the general accounts.
The Turks employed the system of farming the taxes,
with the result that bribery and corruption were rife.
It has been stated on good authority that in the vilayet
of Basra alone, which contained a relatively large
settled population, seven-tenths of the people success
fully escaped all taxation.
The late Sultan, Abdul Hamid, converted into his
private property some 30 per cent, of the best cultivated
lands in the vilayets of Basra and Baghdad, and con
siderable areas in the northern provinces. 1 In 1909
the Young Turkish party transferred these properties
from the Civil List to the Ministry of Finance, the
management was taken over by the State, and the
revenues were expended in the interests of the Com
mittee of Union and Progress.
(3) Educational
The Department of Public Instruction under the
Ottoman Government maintained in every sanjak and
kaza a primary school, in which Turkish and Arabic-
were taught. There were, in addition, a secondary
school for boys and a primary school for girls at
Baghdad and at Basra. These were all Government
1 See below, p. 86.
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' [25r] (49/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000032> [accessed 24 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