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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [210] (219/568)
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.
210
COMMEECE AND INDUSTEY
purposes was growing remarkably before the war. The value of the
machinery imported to Baghdad in 1902 was £3,298, in 1910
£21,191, in 19il £150,800, in 1912 £105,450, and in 1913 £169,183.
This increase was partly due to the construction of the Hindiyeh
Barrage and of the Baghdad—Samarra section of the Baghdad Eail-
way ; but to a very large extent it was caused by the growing demand
for centrifugal oil-motor pumps used in irrigation. Further, ice-
machines, small flour-mills, &c., were being introduced into Baghdad.
The Turkish military
factory
An East India Company trading post.
at Baghdad had been supplied from
Austria-Hungary.
Of the import to Baghdad in 1912 the United Kingdom's share
was about 94 per cent, ; in 1913 it was about 62 per cent., Belgium
having about 35 per cent. The Belgian import in 1913 probably
consisted largely in plant for railway construction. The United
Kingdom had practically the whole trade in oil-motor pumps.
The introduction of agricultural machinery into Irak is now being
extended, and the import seems likely to develop rapidly in the
future.
The machinery imported into Arabistan appears to have been
almost wholly plant for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
Hardly any machinery, except a very small quantity for agricul
tural purposes, had found its way into upper Mesopotamia before
the war.
Metals. —Normally copper and iron were the principal metals
imported to Irak. In 1913 large quantities of steel were brought in
for railway construction.
The value of copper imported to Irak seems to have averaged
about £50,000 a year, but was subject to great fluctuations. The
United Kingdom had most of the trade (50-75 per cent.); Belgium
and India shared the balance.
Iron (bars, hoops, pipes, girders, &c.) was imported to Irak nor
mally to the value of £20,000-50,000. Belgium had most of the trade,
supplying especially girders and pipes. The use of iron girders at
Baghdad for building purposes was increasing. Bar and rod iron
appears to have come from Sweden, Belgium, and the United
Kingdom.
The iron and steel landed at Basra in 1913 was valued at
£1,207,882 ; this abnormal import was due to railway construction
at Baghdad.
In the Diarbekr market metals (copper, iron, tin, &c.) were im
ported in 1913 to the value of £39,200, of which £31,700 worth was
entered as coming from the United Kingdom, the rest from Germany
and Belgium. It had been reported in 1907 that German and
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