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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]
EDUCATIONAL
41
school, and a survey school have been opened.
The local demand for education is said 1 to be very in
sistent, and is being met as rapidly as the supply of
teachers will permit.
(4) General Observations
(a) Irrigation
The question of irrigation is intimately connected
with the past prosperity of Lower Mesopotamia, and
with its present poverty. The ancient civilisations
of Babylonia obtained their wealth from the land, and
expended this wealth in constructing vast irrigation
works, which obtained for the country the title of " the
granary of the world.
The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth and four
teenth centuries and the Turkish conquest in 1638 de
stroyed the irrigation works, and with them the pros
perity of the country and its powers of recuperation.
Attempts have occasionally been made by the Ottoman
authorities, particularly by Midhat
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
when Vali
of Baghdad, to irrigate the country, but through lack
of resources or a strong administration no success was
attained. Tn 1909 Sir William Willcocks, as Adviser
to the Ottoman Ministry of Public Works, submitted a
scheme for the irrigation of 3^ million acres at a total
capital cost of 26 million pounds. The first portion of
the scheme, including the erection of the Hindie bar
rage, was undertaken by the British firm of Sir John
Jackson in 1911, and the barrage was formally in
augurated in December 1913. Tenders for about a
third of the whole scheme were invited by the Ottoman
Government in 1912, and submitted by two British
firms only. The Ottoman Government, for financial
reasons, did not then proceed with the work, but in
1 Statement by Lord Robert Cecil in tlie House of Commons,
July 2B, 1918.
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' [26r] (51/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000034> [accessed 9 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