!['Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎78] (87/568)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100023043183.0x000001/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_41_2_0087.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎78] (87/568)")
'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [78] (87/568)
The record is made up of 1 volume (282 folios). It was created in 1918. It was written in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac. 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.
78
HISTORY
turies to come, anything like what they are at the present day.
Northern Irak remained well irrigated; some districts in upper
Mesopotamia were still rich and productive; the government of
the Abbasid Caliphs, till it lost its vigour and power, attended care
fully to what had been saved from the wreck of the older world;
and it required six centuries of subsequent Mongol and Turkish
misrule and apathy to bring the country to its present miserable
condition.
Mesopotamia was but a province of the Arabian empire from
the battle of Kadisiyeh, a. d . 636, till a.d . 762. The Caliphs of the
Omayyad dynasty had their capital at Damascus. But it was during
this period that northern Irak became the holy land of the Shiahs.
The converts to Islam in Mesopotamia and Persia brought something
of older religions and philosophies to their new faith, and the
character of their Mohammedanism showed itself in the rapid
growth among them of sects and strange mysticisms. In the dis
sensions that arose in Islam over the Caliphate this neo-Moslem
spirit devoted itself to the claims of 'Ali and his*family. It was too
undisciplined to give 'Ali or his sons the victory over the Omayyads,
but it gathered strength from its defeats. At Kufeh 'Ali was mur
dered, at Kerbela Husein his son was slain, and on their deaths the
religious fervour of the Shiahs has been nourished. (See also on this
subject pp. 125-7.)
The Abbasid caliph Mansur, after the destruction of the Omayyad
dynasty, which ruled from Damascus, perceived that a new capital
was needed for the new dynasty. The decay of the Arab tribal
system, on which the military power of the Omayyads depended,
and the support given to the Abbasids by the neo-Moslems of the
former Sassanian territories, decided him to move the seat of govern
ment to Mesopotamia. The causes which led to the selection of the
sites of Babylon, and subsequently of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, which
are mentioned above, were still in force, and accordingly Mansur, in
a. d . 762, founded Baghdad on the Tigris, 20 miles above Ctesiphon.
For the same reasons that led to the rapid growth and permanence of
its predecessors, Baghdad soon rose to eminence. It was second only
to Constantinople in size during the Middle Ages, and was unrivalled
for splendour throughout western Asia. Wars and sieges, the
temporary removal of the seat of government to Samarra ( a. d . 836-
892), and even the almost entire destruction of the city by the
Mongols in a.d . 1268, have never permanently affected the supre
macy of Baghdad in Mesopotamia.
The country shared in the general prosperity of the golden age
of Islam, which culminated during the reign of the Caliph Harun
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Naval Staff, Intelligence Department: November 1918). This is an updated and expanded edition of A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: August 1916) (IOR/L/MIL17/15/41/1). This is an introductory volume containing matter of a general nature giving an account of conditions in Mesopotamia, for the most part as they were before the First World War.
The volume includes a note on official use, a title page and 'Note'. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following chapters and sections:
- Chapter 1: Boundaries and Physical Features;
- Chapter 2: Climate;
- Chapter 3: Minerals;
- Chapter 4: Fauna and Flora;
- Chapter 5: Hygiene;
- Chapter 6: History;
- Chapter 7: Inhabitants;
- Chapter 8: Religions;
- Chapter 9: Administration;
- Chapter 10: Irrigation of Irak [Iraq];
- Chapter 11: Agriculture and Land Tenure;
- Chapter 12: Commerce and Industry;
- Chapter 13: Currency, Weights, and Measures;
- Chapter 14: Communications and Transport;
- Vocabularies;
- Index.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (282 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in numbered chapters. There is a contents page and an alphabetically arranged index.
- 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'. of the folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [78] (87/568), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023472673.0x000058> [accessed 7 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023472673.0x000058
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_100023472673.0x000058">'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎78] (87/568)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023472673.0x000058"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100023043183.0x000001/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_41_2_0087.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_100023043183.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/2
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:556, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence