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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. II. 1917' [380] (391/542)
The record is made up of 1 volume (269 folios). It was created in 1917. 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.
380
GAZETTEER OF TOWNS
brick chimney which is a prominent landmark. There were at the out
break of war three or four ice-factories and flour-mills worked by oil
engines. The most important manufactures are the making of silken
thread and stuffs ; cotton and woollen goods and tent canvas are also
made. Arab cloaks, 'abas, are made in great numbers, and fancy
goods both in silk and cotton are extensively produced. There are
a number of tanneries, of which about 40 are in the suburb of
Mo'adhdham (see below, p. 383): the leather, though only rough-
tanned, is much exported to Europe; native shoes and boots are
manufactured from it. The Baghdad coppersmiths are famous and
numerous, and there is a manufacture of clay earthenware.
For purposes of transport the following animals could probably be
obtained at a few days' notice: 300 mules, 500 ponies, 1,000 donkeys,
and 1,000 camels (1903). The pack-mules are similar to the Persian
breed, the ponies are sturdy and country-bred, and the donkeys are
hardy and strong. In 1903 there were 80 4-wheeled, 4-horse pilgrim
wagons, each carrying about 14 men (depot at Kazimain); also 20
2-horsed carriages and 14 horse-tramcars. A few motor-cars have
been used in the service between Baghdad and Baqubeh. Besides
the river-steamers, of which the Turkish Oo. owned eight and the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Co. three, plying as far as
Baghdad, there were about 100 safm large sailing-boats, and 500
quffehs, which are largely used as ferry-boats.
Baghdad absorbs most of the import trade of Irak, and Basra
may be regarded as little more than its seaport (see under Basra).
It is a centre of commercial transport, especially to Persia: it is
estimated by experts that three-quarters of the imported goods are
transmitted to Persia. Persia in return sends carpets, skins, wool,
gums, and opium; and wheat is obtained there in years of scarcity for
local consumption. With regard to internal trade the importance of
Baghdad is not so great, but it is the principal centre for the distribu
tion, throughout the whole country, of cotton piece-goods, which
constitute half the total sea-borne imports of Irak. To Mosul are
sent sugar, coffee and spices, and metals, and in return come the best
wool in this part of Asia, with mohair and oak, walnut, and poplar
timber, of which the twc former are much exported. The timber
which comes to Baghdad via Mosul comes mostly from farther north.
Baqubeh supplies fruit and firewood in return for manufactured
articles.
At the outbreak of war four British firms had agencies in
Baghdad, and there were one or two German firms: the Imperial
Ottoman Bank has a branch, and also the Eastern Bank.
Inhabitants are of many races and religions. The Jews form
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume II, Irak, The Lower Kārūn, and Luristan (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, May, 1917), covering the regions of the Shatt el-‘Arab [Shaṭṭ al-‘Arab], Kārūn, Luristan, and the Tigris and Euphrates up to Baghdad and Fellūjeh [Fallūjah]. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume.
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', 'Abbreviations'. There is a 'Contents' which include the following sections:
- Introduction;
- River Routes (Shatt el-‘Arab, The Kārūn, The Tigris, The Euphrates, The Shatt el-Hai);
- Land Routes (The Region of the Shatt el-‘Arab, The Tigris Valley, The Region of the Lower Kārūn River of Luristan, The Euphrates Valley, Connexions between the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, The Arabian Desert);
- Railways;
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note and List of Maps;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Appendices (A: Notes on Weather on the Tigris, B: The Control of the Tigris Water, C: The Control of the Euphrates Water, D: Oil-Fields of the Mesopotamia and Persian Frontier, E: Note on Mules);
- Index;
- Plates;
- Maps.
The volume includes eight plates that illustrate the volume. There are also three maps:
- 'Baghdad';
- 'City Map of Baghdad';
- 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes'.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (269 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged accourding to numbered routes. There is a table of contents at the front of the volume and an alphabetical index at the back. There is also a list of plates and two maps are house in a pocket and one is a foldout.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; 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 the folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/3
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. II. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:374, 374a:374b, 375:530, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence