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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [27] (37/58)
The record is made up of 29 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.
27
by the assa -ssinartion of brothers and. the cherishing of sons r
invariably with unsatisfactory results. In spite of provocation
the Wali seems to have favoured the more humane system.
It is a tradition in Pusht-i-Kuh, if nowhere else, that the
sons of the Ruler should set up an opposition to their father.
The present Wali himself, with his brother, caused his father
Husain Quli Khan anxious hours, and in turn he has suffered
in the same way at the hands of his own sons.
Kaka Siyah.
To observe the decencies due to royal prerogative, we
have given the Wali's relatives precedence, but there is no
question that his most important lieutenants come from a
totally different class.
In Pusht-i-Kuh there is an influential section of negro
origin, and it is among these that the greatest of the "V\ all s
subjects are now to be found.
Of the source or date of the origin of this negro element
I have been unable to obtain any information ; but there
seems little reason to doubt that they were introduced, pro
bably within the last few generations, into the country as
the slaves of the Walis, and that by their natural disinterested
ness and higher standard of personal loyalty they gradually
gained the confidence of their masters and rose to positions
of trust. The same process is observable on a lesser scale in
Southern Arabistan. Round Muhammerah there is a consi
derable element of negro blood which appears in varying degrees,
from the pure African imported in the present generation, iO
the Arab who displays only slight signs of negro ance^tr^ ;
and in the establishment of the Shaikh his most trustt d ser\ ant&
are " Kaka Siyah," pure or almost pure negros. They attend
his person and guard his slumbers. In Arabistan, however,
they have not been raised to independent positions of tiu^t,
unless perhaps in a single instance, which may be accidental.
Is the promotion of the Kaka Siyah a tribute to moral
worth ? It can scarcely be the natural result of any inherent
intellectual superiority, and a very small admixture of Lur
blood, I am afraid, effectively contaminates the most vigorous
moral excellence.
In Pusht-i-Kuh admixture is constantly going on, for the
Kaka Siyahs have been accorded their full rights as Musulmans,
and have intermarried with good families.
B
f
About this item
- Content
The volume is an overview of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, authored by the Office of the Chief Political Officer, Indian Expeditionary Force “D”, and printed by the Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta [Kolkata], India in 1917. The volume is divided into a number of chapters:
1. An introduction to the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, chiefly concerning Britain’s history of naval intervention and military occupation in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and its efforts in eradicating the slave trade, arms traffic and piracy;
2. A chapter entitled ‘The Arab attitude in Iraq before the War’, including: political conditions in Turkish Iraq prior to the War; the arrival of the Indian Expeditionary Force “D” at the start of the War; Ottoman ‘jihad’ against the British; Arab attitudes to the British in Iraq, central Arabia and Persian Arabistan;
3. British relations with Arabistan, including an overview of the Anglo-Persian War (1856-57), and a brief outline of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s activities in the region;
4. The Bakhtiari tribes, their leaders and their standing with the Persian Government, and the importance of maintaining British relations with them, with reference to trade routes, the maintenance of order in the oil fields, and the maintenance of friendly relations with the Shaikh of Muhammareh [Khorramshahr] and the Russians at Ispahan [Isfahān, or Eṣfahān];
5. Pusht-i-Kuh – ‘the right flank of Indian Expeditionary Force “D”’: a description of the area, and its strategic and economic importance, including: topography; climate; the position and powers of its Wali [governor] (taken from Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ), the Wali’s relatives; and Kaka Siyah, who reside in the region and who are of African origin;
6. Arabia – the left flank of Indian Expeditionary Force “D”. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is a general description of the Arabian peninsula, including: topography and geographic features; political powers in Arabia: the Wahhabi, with a history of their development and territorial gains; Egypt; Ibn Rashid [Ibn Rashīd]; the British Government; and Turkish interests in Arabia. The second part is a detailed historical outline of British relations with Ibn Sa‘ūd;
7. Entitled The Trend of Turkish policy before the War and since (official) , and subdivided into parts on internal and external politics. The first part includes an assessment of the characteristics of ‘Ottoman people’ and their Government, the second concentrates on German influence and activity in Ottoman territories.
There are pencil annotations on the front flyleaf of the volume (folio 2), which make note of sections within the volume, with the corresponding page numbers.
- Extent and format
- 29 folios
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged into seven chapters (I-VII), with subject subheadings used to organise each. A contents page (f 4), referencing the volume’s pagination sequence, lists the chapter headings. A preface (f 5) precedes the chapters.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top-right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 29.
Pagination: A printed pagination system runs through the volume (ff 7-27), the numbers of which are located top and centre of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. and verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. .
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [27] (37/58), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C150, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023662459.0x000026> [accessed 13 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/C150
- Title
- ‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 1:8, 1:46, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence