'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎81] (90/568)

HISTORY
81
Mosul was governed by a local aristocracy. In Basra a local noble,
Afrasiab, succeeded in founding a virtually independent state,
which collapsed in 1779 ; at this time the population of Basra
had shrunk to a few thousands. From 1817 to 1832 Baud Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ,
a Georgian, held office at Baghdad, and under his energetic and intelli
gent administration the city and province began to recover, in spite
of a terrible epidemic of plague during 1830-1, which is said to have
carried oft 50,000 persons in Baghdad alone. Heavy floods in the
Tigris simultaneously swept the country. Famine followed these
disasters, and in 1837 there are said to have been only 40,000
inhabitants in Baghdad.
On the conclusion of the Crimean War, the Porte found itself in
possession of a large army and plenty of money, and determined to
assert itself in Mesopotamia. Omar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , then governor of Aleppo,
marched down the valley of the Euphrates at the head of a considerable
number of troops, and took possession of Ja'abarand Beir ez-Zor. Beir
had previously been held by 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. Arabs, who had enjoyed a semi-
independence under Anazeh protection. It now became the head
of a Turkish province, under the vali of Aleppo. This policy of
enforcing Turkish authority was carried on by Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who
was governor of Baghdad between 1869 and 1872, and made great
efforts to develop Mesopotamia. His administration was at least
vigorous, and, if he sometimes failed rather disastrously, he was
certainly honest in intention. He was an enthusiastic reformer
on Western lines, but failed in many cases to foresee the cost or
consequences of his innovations. He built forts to protect the
Euphrates navigation and the route to Aleppo, and he initiated
a service of Ottoman steamers on the Tigris. He attempted,
without success, to drain Lake Aqarquf NW. of Baghdad. To
protect Baghdad from the flood-water of the Euphrates he closed
the Saqlawiyeh canal, but as he provided no compensating escape
he thus originated the diversion of the main volume of the river
down the Hindiyeh canal and the disastrous drying of the Hilla
arm (see p. 26). He is said to have tried to get the treasures
accumulated at Nejef devoted to public improvements. His reforms
in land-tenure are described on pp. 193-4. He adopted the policy of
encouraging nomad Arabs to settle down as cultivators, and he
endeavoured, with indifferent success, to get Turkish suzerainty
recognized by Arab chiefs whose autonomy had hitherto been practi
cally unquestioned, such as the Sheikhs of Koweit and Bahrein.
Buring the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid (1876-1909) the
f Turkish administration on the whole effected some progress, in spite
ft of its mistakes and crimes. The Kurds were brought under some
flw mes. i p