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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [195] (204/568)
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 XII
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
General character of commerce—Distribution of foreign trade and German
competition—Trade methodb—Principal imports—Principal exports—
Industries.
General Character of Commerce
It is impossible to give an accurate account of the trade of
Mesopotamia as it was in the years immediately preceding the war,
since there are no reliable figures to serve as data. The Turkish
Customs kept no trustworthy statistics, and the information collected
for the consular trade reports was based on unofficial estimates which
were generally more or less rough guesses. For the trade carried by
the Hamburg-Amerika line the British reports were wholly dependent
on German sources. The figures therefore given below, which are
taken from, or based on, the trade reports, must no ( t be regarded as
exact.
Among the principal imports were textiles, refined sugar, machinery
(in Irak), coffee, tea, timber (in Irak). Manchester goods were by far
the most valuable class of import. There was also some importation
of miscellaneous manufactured articles (hardware, glassware, cutlery,
candles, paper, &c.), and of metals (chiefly copper and iron). It
seemed probable that Russian and American oil would be driven
froin the market of lower Mesopotamia by the produce of the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company's wells in Arabistan. A very large part of the
imports was destined for the Persian market, mainly by the Baghdad
Kirmanshah route.
There are no manufactures of importance in the country, and the
export trade to Europe, America, and India was mainly in agricultural,
pastoral, and natural vegetable produce (e. g. dates, barley, rice, wheat,
and other cereals ; wool, skins and hides ; gM ; liquorice, galls). The
export of oil from Arabistan was being developed on the eve of the
war. A proportion of the exports was in transit from the Persian
plateau (e. g. opium, gum tragacanth, and carpets).
The principal market for foreign trade was Baghdad. Basra was
important chiefly as the port of Baghdad, but was also the centre of
n 2
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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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