'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎83] (92/568)

HISTORY 88
ijjii mount chief of the Muntefiq, who has opposed vis in the present war,
was on bad terms with Ibn Rash id, the comparatively pro-Turkish
Emir of Jebel Sham mar, and was reported to be planning an attack
on Basra; the waterways between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
were rendered insecure by the prevalent disorder; and a general
rising of the southern Mesopotamian Arabs was feared, but did not
come to a head. Meanwhile lawlessness was increasing in Kurdis-
biiiji where a number of chiefs were entering into relations with
Russia. The whole situation was still uncertain when the Euro-
,, j ? pean war broke out,
Arabistan was formerly the Persian province of Khuzistan. In
jtsd the first half of the nineteenth century the southern part of the
country eastwards from Mohammareh and the Kartm was dominated
jpi ^7 the Ka'ab, an Arab tribe whose head-quarters were at Fellahlyeh,
J while Hawlzeh was under a hereditary vali. Mohammareh, which
tMi belonged to the Muhaisin Arabs, was for some years in dispute between
the Turkish and Persian Governments, until by the Treaty of
Erzerum (1847) it was assigned to Persia. After the Persian War
of 1856-1857, when a British force captured Mohammareh, the
, power of the Ka'ab was broken by the Persian Government. The
* ' sheikhs of the Muhaisin then became dominant in southern Arabistan,
where they were formally recognized by Persia as governors of the
country. They became practically independent (see pp. 150-1). In
I5t " northern Arabistan a Persian governor continued to reside, either at
• | Shushtar or at Dizful, but in fact he had generally very little
f* authority. In the politics of northern Arabistan the chief factors
: were the influence of the Bakhtiyari chiefs and of the Sheikh of
Mohammareh, the Sagwand Lurs and the Arab tribes of the country,
::i -® and the mujtahids (religious leaders) of Dizful and Shushtar. The
^ Behbehan district, which had been a sub-governorship under Fars,
tiwf fell under the control of the Bakhtiyari chiefs (see further p. 152).
j 1 ' In 1907 Sheikh Khaz'al of Mohammareh and the Bakhtiyari khans
»ip® concluded a treaty of alliance, of which the general purport was that
the parties were to act together in controlling Arabistan. There
ere®' remains, however, a good deal of rivalry between them.
P An attempt was made in 1847 to create a fixed boundary between
ilT# Turkey and Persia in place of the vague and shifting borderland
{e i# which had long been a source of trouble. By the Treaty of Erzerum
the I" 5 (1847), certain concessions having been made on each side, the
jjWf* definition of the frontier was assigned to a Turco-Persian Com-
fiioEfl' mission. The Commission failed to arrive at a settlement, and in
ie W1851 Great Britain and Russia intervened. A belt of country, 20-40
miles broad, was taken as indicating the general lie of the frontier,
p 2