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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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76
ECONOMIC (■ONDIT1ONS
[No. 92
cro})s. The wheat and barley tribes migrate to the rice
tracts after the spring harvest, and do no ploughing for
their spring crops until the work of gathering and
threshing the rice crop has been finished. Thus nothing
is done towards the preparation of the soil for the
young crops until about the end of December.
Irrigation is the basis of cultivation, and the crops
grown are conditioned by the possibilities of obtaining
water. The main systems of irrigation practised in
Mesopotamia to-day are the following;
(1) Irrigation by means of cherrads or water lifts
with pulleys and buckets. This system is mainly
used for date gardens, and only to a small extent
for the irrigation of arable lands. It is found in
Lower Mesopotamia {i.e., south of Baghdad),
and also higher up the rivers, especially along
the Euphrates above Hit. The system is ex
pensive in labour and leaves little profit to the
cultivator; it is being to a small extent sup
planted by the use of centrifugal pumps driven
by oil engines.
(2) Irrigation by means of channels along which the
fresh water is forced by the rise of the tide on
the Shatt el-Arab.
(3) Irrigation by canals. The silt brought down
during the annual floods has raised the rivers
and their branches above the surrounding coun
try, so that there is a gradual descent from the
borders of all rivers and canals to the swamps.
The higher ground is only irrigated at the time
of full flood, and is always dry during the cold
weather ; the intermediate slopes can usually
command water for irrigation during most of
the spring and summer ; the low land is always
wet. There is, therefore, from every channel a
graduation of slopes, of which the higher are
suitable for growing wheat and barley, the inter
mediate for such crops as millet and maize, after
the floods have somewhat subsided, and the
lower for rice. The rice land is again sub-
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' [43v] (86/152), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C190, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/universal-viewer/81055/vdc_100023514036.0x000057> [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