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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [101v] (207/738)
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.
196
INHABITANTS
Ras el-Baseit, just to the north of Ladiqiyeh. There have
been some recent cases of Turkish immigration e. g. from
Bulgaria to Masyad and from Crete to Salihiyeh, near
Damascus. The Turkomans are roving pastoral tribes of
Turkish race, similar in some respects to the Bedouin. They
are found mostly m the vilayet of Aleppo but also on the
eastern borders farther south (e. g. near Homs and Ba'albek
and in the Belqa). There are only a few thousands of them
altogether. Sometimes they settle down and become part
of the sedentary population (as in Aleppo and Homs).
The Kurds are found chiefly in the vilayet of Aleppo,
where they have been restive and troublesome under Turkish
rule. There are Kurds in the Jebel Ansariyeh, who now
speak Arabic, and some in Hama and Salihiyeh.
Armenians are found, to a limited extent, in Aleppo,
Damascus, Beirut, and Jerusalem, engaged in trade and
commerce. They are most numerous in the vilayet of
Aleppo. A small number of Persians also carry on business
in the larger towns.
Europeans (and Americans) reside chiefly in the coast towns
(e. g. Beirut, Haifa, and Jaffa) and in Jerusalem, but also in
Damascus and Aleppo. They are largely members of religious
orders or agents of missionary or educational societies, the
remainder are engaged in trade and industry.
It may be of interest to note that small numbers of gipsies
(Nawar) have their homes in Syria.
Language
One of the ancient languages of Syria, Aramaic or Syriac, is
still spoken in a few villages, Madula, BaklTa, and Jubb ‘Adin,
near Damascus. The dialect differs very considerably from
the vernacular Syriac of the Nestorian Christians in Persia and
Kurdistan, so that the communities are not mutually intelli
gible. The dialect of these villages is said to be largely mixed
with Arabic, and is never written. Classical Syriac is here and
elsewhere used in the liturgies of some of the churches.
In the Jewish colonies Hebrew has been revived, and is said
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
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- 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