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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1471] (544/688)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (341 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. .

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QASIM
14?1
(iata(i ,ik:-
1 ot April, Mb
b and peackw-
ite groves, tta
rked bvcaiiekci
only villagers of Central Arabia who ever take service with the Turks in border provin
ces ; these are facts which seem to indicate some enterprise and energy. It is said
that one of the principal purveyors of camels at Damascus, a supplier at the same time
of escorts to Muhammadan pilgrims, is at the present time Bin-Rawwaf, a native of
Qasim, Their history and institutions bespeak a sturdy love of freedom among the
people of Qasim, and, though mainly addicted to husbandry and trade, their citizen
infantry have always borne a good name for steadiness in the wars of Najd. The main
peculiarity of dress in Qasim is among the women, who wear sleeves so loose as some
times unexpectedly to expose their persons to view from the shoulder to the knee.
Morals are said to be laid in Qasim than elsewhere in Central Arabia. Pal., I, 257, The
men generally w ear their hair short.
A number of the Qusman, but probably less than half, are Wahhabis ; and, among
these, Wahhabi doctrine as late as 1878 carried more weight than law or civil authority.
Yet even then Wahhabi-ism was not really popular, for intercourse with abroad had
rendered the people comparatively tolerant, and the word " Wahhabi " had even be<nm
to be used among them as a term of abuse applicable to an ill-natured fellow.
The Bedouins of Qasim are chiefly Mutair, but the Harb and Qahtan also visit the
district, and a few Shammar encamp in summer within its northern border.
On the data available the fixed population of Qasim may be roughly estimated at
45,000 souls; if 2,000 be added on account of Bedouins the total population will be
47,000. The area of the district being approximately 5,000 square miles, the density
of population works out at less than 10 individuals to the square mile.
Occupations and trade. —Agriculture and the carrying trade are the principal means of
subsistence; the latter, it is calculated, employs on -third of the population of Qasim and
the operations of the Qasimi camel masters extend to Makkah, Madinah, Hail, Baghdad,
Basrah, Kuwait and Riyadh. Dates, w'hich in Qasim are sold by weight, are commonly
exported to Jabal Shammar, and ghi to Makkah ; and in some years, when the rate is
favourable, the dates and corn of Qasim find their way to Madinah. There is also an
important trade in horses bought from the Bedouins, chiefly with India through Basrah,
and horse and camel dealing are accounted highly respectable occupations. 'Anaizah'
supplied by the Qahtan, and Buraidah, supplied by the Mutair, are the two principal
horse markets; at Buraidah the number of animals is generally larger, while at 'Anaizah
they are of better class. 'Anaizah is the principal trade centre of the country, and further
details of the trade and industries of Qasim will be found in the article on that town.
Both 'Anaizah and Buraidah are wealthier places than Hail. Usury is common in
Qasim, and agriculturists, and even Bedouins, in the neighbourhood of the towns are
frequently burdened with debt; the cash rate of interest is 15 per cent a year, and the
rate in kind 50 per cent, at harvest prices. The weights and measures'of Qasim are
identical with those of Southern Najd.
Political position and administration. — Qasim has generally enjoyed a vertual auto
nomy, but at times the whole or parts of it have been dependent or semi-dependent
now on Southern Najd and now on Jabal Shammar. It has frequently played the part of
a make-weight, causing the scale to dip on this side or on that in the long contest
between the Wahhabi Amir of the south and the Shammar Amir of the north. Qasim
is moreover the battlefield of Central Arabia; but its people, unlike those of Belgium,
have ever taken an active and frequently a decisive share in the combats waged upon
their own soil. Qasim contains the principal cross-roads of Central Arabia, routes* from
Riyadh, Kuwait, Hail, Madinah and Makkah meeting at Buraidah or 'Anaizah.
The internal political constitution of Qasim is loose ; but, sich as it is, it seems little
subject to change under the influence of external events, and it has outlasted many
vicissitudes of foreign war and alliance. The affairs of Qasim are dominated
by the great municipalities of'Anaizah and Buraidah, each ruled by an Amir or chief
who is in name tyrant but in practice effectually restrained by public opinion.
Between the twin capitals there is perpetual rivalry and sometimes war; but they
are not incapable, in great emergencies, of sinking their differences and taking united
action for the common weal. Each stands at the head of a cluster of dependent town
ships and villages, related to it in various and varying degrees of closeness and subordi
nation ; as a rule places south of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -ar-Rummah are thus attached to 'Anaizah and
places north of it to Buraidah. Inl878 some of the places subject to Buraidah paid
I**?.

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Content

Volume II of III of the Gazetteer of Arabia. The Gazetteer is alphabetically-arranged and this volume contains entries K through to R.

The Gazetteer is an alphabetically-arranged compendium of the tribes, clans and geographical features (including towns, villages, lakes, mountains and wells) of Arabia that is contained within three seperate bound volumes. The entries range from short descriptions of one or two sentences to longer entries of several pages for places such as Iraq and Yemen.

A brief introduction states that the gazetteer was originally intended to deal with the whole of Arabia, "south of a line drawn from the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, through Ma'an, to Abu Kamal on the Euphrates, and to include Baghdad and Basrah Wilayats" and notes that before the gazetteer could be completed its publication was postponed and that therefore the three volumes that now form this file simply contain "as much of the MSS. [manuscript] as was ready at the time". It further notes that the contents have not been checked.

Extent and format
1 volume (341 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: This volume's foliation system 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1471] (544/688), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/2/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023727634.0x00008f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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