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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [306r] (616/738)
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.
POPULATION
605
tribes (see below), and are probably descendants of tribesmen
who adopted the agricultural life many years, perhaps cen
turies, ago. In a few places in the northern part of the dis
trict (Mukrabeh, Umm Keis, Deir es-Sa‘neh) new-comers have
entered the country from the w T est of Jordan (chiefly from
Nablus), or from the Hauran, but these form only a small
proportion of the whole. 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.
are by nature sturdy
and fairfy tall, lighter in complexion than the Hauran people,
but also less powerful, not being so well nourished. Where
they are well fed throughout the year, they are a fine race ;
thus the townsmen of Salt are distinguished by their good
physique. But at present many
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.
are half-starved in
winter, partly through their own improvidence, partly through
lack of security, and a system of taxation which discourages
industry and accumulation. The same causes which affect
the physique of 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.
also affect their numbers, and the
tendency of the settled Arab to increase at a greater rate than
the nomad is thus largely neutralized. No permanent effort was
made by the Ottoman Government to render village life secure.
It is true that between 1840 and 1850, on a threat of the
fellahin—the only tax-payers—to abandon villages in North
‘Ajlun, troops were sent to exterminate the Sa‘eidi of Wk el-
‘Arab ; other tribes were driven out of the district, and those
which remained were reduced to a subordinate position. But
even here highway robbery continued common, and if these
northern villages were themselves safer, the roads between them
remained dangerous. Farther south, where the non-sedentary
population is more numerous, 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.
were despoiled in
their homes, or even expropriated, so that places which should
have been permanently inhabited were occupied or abandoned
according to the behaviour of neighbouring tribes. More
insidious enemies than the roving Arabs are the moneylenders
of Tiberias and Damascus, to whom the careless peasant falls
an easy prey.
The great majority of the settled Arab population is Moslem.
Christians are settled in Salt, Fuheis, Rumeimin, ‘Ajlun,
El-Husn, and Zahr en-Nasara in El-Wustiyeh; their total
About this item
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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