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'Mesopotamia' [‎52v] (104/152)

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'Mesopotamia'
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Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/C190

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. .

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94
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [No. 92
Baghdad is the chief religious centre 111 Mesopo
tamia of the Sunni sect of Mohammedans, and is
visited by Sunni Mussulmans from regions as remote
as Afghanistan and India. It is also visited by
pilgrims from Persia on their way to the shrines at
Kerbela and Nejef. It could therefore be used as a
starting-point for the commercial penetration of Persia
and India.
Industrially and commercially, Baghdad is the chief
town of Irak and the centre of the trade of Lower
Mesopotamia. There are 116 flour-mills worked by
horses, besides the steam-driven army mill, formerly
owned by the Turkish Government, a cloth factory An East India Company trading post. , an
ice factorv, wool presses, and tanneries, and the manu
facture 01 silk, cotton, and woollen goods, and canvas,
and of earthenware and copper goods is carried on.
Baghdad is the centre of the export trade from central
Mesopotamia, and receives large quantities of goods
sent down-stream from Mosul, or by caravan from
Kermanshah in Persia. It is also a distributing centre
for the whole of Irak and for Persia via Khanikin.
The value of the Persian transit trade may be gathered
from the following figures, taken from the Consular
Reports:—
Year.
Exports to
Persia.
Imports from
Persia.
£
£
1904 ..
836,949
224,469
190o ..
745,674
165,032
1906 ..
1,014,336
294.857
1907 ..
1,240,445
230,679
1909 ..
1,259,138
321,662
1910 ..
1,433,201
280,188
1911 ..
1,236,691
206,699
1912 ..
962,833
302,0^7
The important trade of the town is in the hands of
Jews, Arab merchants being chiefly concerned with
retail business. In 1914 there were only 8 European

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
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'Mesopotamia' [‎52v] (104/152), 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_100023514036.0x000069> [accessed 28 July 2026]

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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