!['A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎94r] (192/738)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x0001e0/IOR_L_MIL_17_16_15_0194.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎94r] (192/738)")
'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [94r] (192/738)
The record is made up of 1 volume (365 folios). It was created in 1919. 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.
DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY OF POPULATION 181
was till recently, the case with the southern, central, and
eastern lands of Palestine. The
fellahin
Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour.
at times wander
far in search of such employment.
The principles whereby land is held are very variable, and in
parts of the country were undergoing rapid change in the years
which preceded the war. The tendency is to treat land which
is used for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables or flowers as
private property ; such areas are ordinarily surrounded with
walls and count as the possession of a family. Land which is
used for the cultivation of cereals is the property (normally) of
tribes ; there are cases where such land is annually divided
among the branches of a tribe, with further subdivision
among the smaller groups of these branches. Pastoral land
in contrast to these has a tendency to be treated as ownerless,
though the same tribes from year to year usually bring their
flocks and herds to pasture there; custom does not prevent
a tribe from betaking itself to ground on which it is unfamiliar ;
circumstances will decide whether in such a case it will put
itself under the protection of another tribe more accustomed
to visit the same area, utilizing one of several formulae known
to Bedouin law.
The wealth of the nomad tribes consists mainly in camels,
oxen, sheep, and goats, on which they pay tax to the
Turkish authorities ; from the numbers which are quoted
in official lists their wealth appears often to be considerable,
though doubtless it varies very much from year to year,
especially where owing to inter-tribal raiding it is apt to
change hands frequently. Horse-breeding has largely been
abandoned by the nomads, owing to the prohibition by the
Turkish Government of the exportation of Arab horses.
The purpose of the prohibition was not, of course, to dis
courage the breeding of these animals, but to retain them
for use in the country or the empire.
Increase and Decrease
There are no statistics by which the birth or death rates
or the rate of increase of the population may be determined.
About this item
- Content
Admiralty handbook regarding Syria (including Palestine) 'to as far north as the River Orontes and a line Antioch-Aleppo-Meskeneh. For details of the part of Syria beyond this line reference must be made to the Handbook of Asia Minor , Vol. iv, Part 2 (C.B. 847 C).'
'Contents. Chapters:
- I. Boundaries and Physical Survey, p 9 (folio 7)
- II. Climate, p 24 (folio 14v)
- III. Minerals, Flora and Fauna, p 93 (folio 50)
- IV. Military History, p 109 (folio 58)
- V. Inhabitants, p 175 (folio 91)
- VI. Turkish Administration, p 236 (folio 121v)
- VII. Agriculture, p 252 (folio 129v)
- VIII. Industry and Trade, p 276 (folio 141v)
- IX. Currency, Weights and Measures, p 318 (folio 162v)
- X. Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 325 (folio 166)
- XI. Country East of Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 344 (folio 175v)
- XII. Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Damascus Plain, p 357 (folio 182)
- XIII. River Systems of Northern Syria, p 395 (folio 201)
- XIV. Judea and the Southern Desert, p 427 (folio 217)
- XV. Samaria (including Carmel), p 472 (folio 239v)
- XVI. Galilee, p 515 (folio 261)
- XVII. Haurān and Jaulān, p 556 (folio 281v)
- XVIII. 'Ajlūn and Northern Belqa, p 580 (folio 293v)
- XIX. Southern Belqa and Ardh el-Kerak, p 612 (folio 309v)
- XX. El-Jibāl and Esh-Shera, p 636 (folio 321v)
- XXI. The Ghōr (Jordan and the Dead Sea); and Wādi 'Arabah, p 645 (folio 326)
- Appendix: Conventional Spellings, p 668 (folio 337v)
- Index, p 669 (folio 338)
- Plates, p 725' [missing]
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (365 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a contents page (folio 6) and an index (folios 338-365).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 367; 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 volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume originally contained fourteen plates showing maps, bound into the back of the volume. These are now missing; details of the plates can be found at folio 5v.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [94r] (192/738), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/15, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033282269.0x0000c1> [accessed 6 April 2025]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033282269.0x0000c1
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033282269.0x0000c1">'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎94r] (192/738)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033282269.0x0000c1"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x0001e0/IOR_L_MIL_17_16_15_0194.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x0001e0/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/16/15
- Title
- 'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:366v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence