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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.
Metiopotamial
AGRICULTURE
75
which in one year were rendered fertile by irri
gation might in the next year be either arid
wastes or under water for months together.
(d) Owing to the uncertainty of laud tenure, there
has been no incentive to improve the soil. Even
the sheikhs rarely held land on more than a five
years' lease, and their tenants often only yearly.
(e) The Government system of farming out its land
taxes offered every opportunity for exaction and
oppression.
(/) The scarcity and uncertainty of labour fre
quently caused the postponement of wheat and
barley sowing till long past the date when it was
most advantageous to sow. Moreover, it pre
vented attention being given to the intensive
cultivation of cotton, tobacco, &c.
{g) The lack of agricultural credit facilities dis
couraged the cultivator.
(a) Methods of Cultivation
In Mesopotamia there are two harvests. Wheat,
barley, and miscellaneous crops, such as beans, are sown
in the autumn or winter, and are harvested in April
and May; rice, peas, and maize are sown during the
spring floods, and are harvested between August and
November.
Cultivation is primitive, and intensive methods are
unknown outside the immediate vicinity of the towns.
This is largely due to the uncertainty of tenure, but
also to the ease with which the Arab, thanks to the
fertility of the soil, can obtain a crop sufficient to
satisfy his needs. The ground is given only one very
light ploughing, and is never properly broken up, and
the upturned soil is not exposed to the sun and air for
any length of time. Moreover, the practice of waiting
for the first rain before sowing often results in the seed
being put into the ground much later than it should
be. Wheat and barley are often sown as late as March.
This is because the population is in many places insuf
ficient to look after both the rice crops and the spring
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' [43r] (85/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000056> [accessed 14 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