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‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [‎7v] (14/82)

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The record is made up of 1 file (41 folios, 5 maps). It was created in 3 Apr 1912. It was written in English and French. 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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10
and that the disputants were finally brought
together in conference at Erzeroura.
In the treaties then subsisting between Persia Major Eawlinson s
and Turkey no specific mention had been made j nn e i844 1 on
of any frontier point south of Mendali (not far Sultan Murad's
^ 1 , Treaty of 1639.
from Khanikin). The treaty of 1639—the
instrument relied upon and appealed to by either
litigant—contained only a general allusion to
" Bussorah and its acknowledged dependencies " Major Rawlinson s
as the southern limit of the Turkish Empire,
Great uncertainty attached, as it still does, to the 011 Mohammerah.
extent of territory dependent on Bussorah at the
period of that treaty.
Less conclusive evidence than precise treaty Sir Stratford ^
stipulation was therefore necessarily advanced, 1^44.
based upon the geographical features of the
country, as showing the natural limits, and upon
the allegiance paid by the resident tribe.
The areoorraphical position of Mohammerah Geographical
and the extent of the rival claims will best be
understood by reference to the accompanying Canning No. 70,
rough sketch map. The united waters of the April 27, 1844.
Euphrates and Tigris, receiving, after their
junction, the name of the Shatt-el-Arab, flow Major Rawlinson's
nearly due south-east from Korna to the Persian J^J^mmry 6,
Gulf. The River Karun, rising in the Persian 1844.
mountains of Luristan, runs nearly due south
west until it approaches within about 3 miles of
the Shatt-el-Arab, and then a portion of its
waters is diverted suddenly to the south-east,
flowing through the Banishere Channel, parallel
with the Shatt-el-Arab, to the sea. The
two rivers (Karun and Shatt-el-Arab) are united
at their point of nearest approximation by a
channel which, according to the best authorities,
is an ancient canal or artificial cut. The town of
Mohammerah is built upon both banks of this
channel (the Haffar), through which the waters
of the Karun and not, as formerly, those of the
Shatt-el-Arab, now flow.
The Karun had till about the year 1765 another
outlet into the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. called the Goban,
which was parallel to, and about 10 miles to the
east of, the Bamishcre outlet. The latter was
the natural outlet of the lliver Karun, whose
waters were forced into the Goban by an artificial
dam; after the destruction of that dam the
Goban Channel again became dry.
In a memorandum prepared by Major (after
wards Sir Henry) Bawlinson—a paper which
was held to elucidate the subject of dispute more

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Content

The memorandum concerns the border between Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and Turkey, and was prepared by Alwyn Parker of the Foreign Office. There are a number of labels at the top of the first page: ‘Persia’, ‘Confidential’ and ‘Section 10’. The memorandum sections are as follows:

  • Part I. A preface (folios 1-5), introducing the points at issue, with two maps, the first being a sketch map of the Mohammerah district, with the proposed Turkish, Persian and mediating commissioner’s lines indicated (folio 2), and a map compiled from plane table surveys by Lieutenant Arnold Talbot Wilson in 1909, with the frontier as defined by the mediating commissioners in 1850 (folio 4);
  • Part II. An historical summary (folios 6-19) of British Government correspondence relating to the border dispute, with the chief focus being on correspondence exchanged during the period 1843-52, around the time of the Treaty of Erzeroum (c.1848). This part contains two copies of a map, a facsimile of a diagram of the disputed area, the original of which was enclosed by Colonel Williams in his despatch of 4 February 1850, indicating Turkish and Persian claims and the mediating commissioner’s proposal (folios 15, 19);
  • Part III. Conclusion (folios 20-28), with a further map (folio 23), an exact copy of that found on folio 4.

The appendices that follow are:

  • A: British assurances given to the Shaikh of Mohammerah, 1899 and 1902-10;
  • B. Protocol of December 1911 (in French) for the proposal settlement of the Turco-Persian frontier question;
  • C. An extract from Sir Austen Henry Layard’s Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia , published in 1887. The extract is from volume 2, pp 431-439;
  • D. Rough notes made by General William Monteith when in Persia, on the frontier of Turkey and Persia, as communicated to the Foreign Office in 1843;
  • E. Observations by Sir Henry Rawlinson on a Persian memorandum relative to the situation of the cities of Mohammerah and Fellahiah [Fallāḥīyah], 1844;
  • F. Text of the Treaty of Erzeroum, 31 May 1847, in English and French translation;
  • G. Copy of a despatch from Sir Stratford Canning, the British Ambassador to Istanbul, to Lord Palmerston, Foreign Secretary, dated 30 May 1850;
  • H. Copy of a despatch from Lord Palmerston to Lord Broomfield, dated 12 July 1850.
Extent and format
1 file (41 folios, 5 maps)
Arrangement

The memorandum is arranged into three parts, labelled I, II and III, which are followed by eight lettered appendices, A-H. Historic correspondence referred to in the memorandum is referenced in the inside page margin.

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 each folio.

Pagination: The booklet contains an original typed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [‎7v] (14/82), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B380, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024051501.0x00000f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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