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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [87] (96/568)
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.
CHAPTER VII
INHABITANTS
Numbers and distribution of population—Movement of population—Ethno
graphy (Arabs—Luis—Kurds—Other groups)—Principal languages—Education.
Numbers and Distribution op Population
There are no exact statistics of the population of this area; in
fact the estimates that were made before the war were only more or
less rough guesses, and sometimes they conflict with each other in
a remarkable way.
As a rule the recorded estimates seem to be too high, and some of
the exaggerations appear to be very gross.
The following estimates may perhaps be worth giving, but may be
very wide of the truth :
Irak (Basra and Baghdad vilayets) . About a million souls. 1
Arabistan, Behbehan, and the Persian^
Highlands (including the Kuhgalu and A few hundred thousand
Bakhtiyari countries, Pusht-i-Kuh, and Isouls, probably not more
the western half of the province of
Kirmanshah)
Upper Mesopotamia, with southern
Turkish Kurdistan, central Kurdistan
south of the Tigris—Lake Van water
shed, and the country north of Diarbekr
up to the line of the eastern Taurus
Total . . . .
than half a million.
About a million souls, or
perhaps somewhat less.
Perhaps between two and
two and a half millions.
^ Between 1900 and 1908 the population of Irak was estimated at various
figures between a million and a half and three millions. Accoiding to the
Gazetteer of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
(1908) it probably amounted to '1.500,000 souls or
rather more including a very small proportion of Bedawis. The total number
of the settled and semi-nomadic population was given by the same authority as
1,480,000. This estimate had been ' compiled, district by district, from informa
tion collected for the .. . Gazetteer
But a census taken at Basra in July 1916 showed that the estimate given in
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
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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [87] (96/568), 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_100023472673.0x000061> [accessed 9 June 2026]
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- 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