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File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎236r] (480/799)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (391 folios). It was created in 1908-1910. 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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Above Spot to Nahaya. Distance by River 47 mt7es.—Little cultivable area and
less cultivation, as the country is said to be frequently raided by the Delaim Arabs.
1 a ay a to Ana. ^ Distance by River 27 mites. —Above Nahaya there are ten water
wheels, those on the right bank in good order, those on the left bank in ruins. Below
)iaya iorty-nve water wheels, of which twenty-six are in ruins. There are many
water wheels m the town of Ana which were not counted. Date cultivation begins iust
above Ana. & J
Ana to Hit. ^ Distance by River 98 miles. —The whole of this stretch is dangerous
to navigation owing to the existence of submerged ruins, dams, and ruins of water wheels.
Excluding t le numei ous water wheels in the towns of Ana and Hit the following wheels
were counted (approximately) :—
In work, 183.
Burned, 48.
Below Hit. —The delta begins.
Ihe river winds much, and the above note shows that there is cultivation alono-
nearly the whole length of it.
On my way from Hit to Meskene by road I took^the road across a number of the
bends, and I remarked large areas of cultivable land lying fallow.
It is clear to me that between Meskene and Hit fertile land, a cultivating popula
tion, and water are available. To make the country rich all that is needed is security
and a market.
Between Ana and Meskene I saw enormous numbers of sheep, and there must have
been many more that I did not see.
(Signed) J. BAMSAY, Lieutenant-Colon el, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , and His Britannic Majesty's
Consul-General, Bagdad.
Appendix No. 3.
Babylonia,
I HAVE been very carefully examining the country between Samarra and Babylon
(Hilla) past Bagdad and Ctesiphon, and have had a special opportunity owing to the
fact that I am spending 30,000/. on the repairs of the Hindiya Barrage, and the first
thing that strikes one is the fact that all possibility of the real development of this
country depends as much on a railway direct from Bagdad to the nearest port on the
Mediterranean as on irrigation. The best route is Bagdad, Hit, Ana, Deir, Aleppo,
Alexandretta; and the next best is Bagdad, Hit, Ana, Deir, Palmyra, Damascus,
Beirout. These are the two real trade routes of this country. Both are under 600
miles. Nearly everything we produce goes to Europe, and very much of it to the
Eastern Mediterranean countries, and what we chiefly want are European goods and
cheap coal. This is a country strangely devoid of fuel, and we pay for coal in Bagdad
3/. lo^. per ton by the time it has gone through the Suez Canal to Bussorah and come
up the 520 miles of the Tigris. Now, if we had a railway from the Mediterranean we
should have coal here as cheap at any rate as at Assouan, which is considerably more
than 600 miles from Alexandria. The railway, moreover, which ran from Beirout or
Alexandretta here would have cheap coal bought on the Mediterranean and not dear
stuff bought in Bussorah and Bagdad. The Euphrates valley is very rich, and can
be irrigated, and is irrigated, very cheaply by water power the whole way, and
the current is strong enough to turn wheels and lift water. It is too strong for
navigation.
We here are a great grain-producing country with unlimited capabilities for
extension, and the whole goes to the Eastern Mediterranean or Europe. What,
however, has struck me more than anything, and I am forming my projects accordingly,
is the fact that this country is even more a sheep and cattle and horse-breeding country
than a granary. We can irrigate with the supply of the river 6,000,000 acres, but we
can irrigate, in addition, as pastures 10,000,000 acres on which millions of sheep and
cattle could feed. All these would go west. In a year of drought like this sheep are
worth a song, because they cannot be got out of the country (and droughts are common
here). If we had a railway to the Mediterranean direct the transport for sheep ancE

About this item

Content

The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, newspaper cuttings, maps and notes, relating to negotiations over the proposed Berlin to Baghdad Railway in the period 1903-1907.

The discussion in the volume relates to the economic, commercial, political and military considerations impinging on British strategy for the international negotiations over the development of a railway to Baghdad in particular.

Further discussion surrounds the motivations and strategies of British competitors in the area; included in the volume are four maps.

The principal correspondents in the volume include the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Lord Lansdowne, Sir Edward Grey), His Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople (Sir Nicholas O'Connor), the Under Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Charles Hardinge, Sir Thomas Henry Sanderson), and for India (Earl Percy, Sir Arthur Godley), the Viceroy of India (Lord Curzon of Keddleston), the Secretary to the Political and Secret Department of the 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. (Sir Richmond Richie) and the London Manager of the Imperial Bank of Persia (George Newell).

Extent and format
1 volume (391 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 2764 (Bagdad Railway) consists of five volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/56-60. The volumes are divided into five parts with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 392; 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. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 329-358; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front cover.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎236r] (480/799), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/57, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026492733.0x000051> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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