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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [247] (256/568)
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 XIV
COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
Main lines of communication—Railways—Roads and road transport—Water
ways and river transport—Telegraphs and telephones.
M ain L ines op C ommunication
A. F rom the P ersian G ulp to B aghdad or N orthern A rabistan
I. From the Persian
B asra is the gate of Irak on this side, and the routes from the Gulf
to Baghdad may be divided into the approach from the Gulf to
Basra and the lines of communication between Basra and Baghdad.
(a) Approach to Basra from the Gulf.
The Shatt el-Arab (Fao—Basra, about 67 miles by river; Bom
bay—Basra, about 1,620 miles; Aden—Basra, about 1,970 miles;
Plymouth—Basra via Suez and Aden, about 6,340 miles).
The Shatt el-Arab waterway is at present the only important line
of communication between the Gulf and Basra. It is navigable by
ocean-going steamers, but the bar at its mouth is not passable for
vessels drawing more than about 20 ft. Measures are being taken to
deepen the channel by dredging (see further below, p. 280).
Before the war there was no port accommodation for sea-going
steamers, which anchored in mid-stream, and received their cargoes
by means of hagJialahs (country boats).
At Magil (5 miles above Ashar Creek and the Turkish custom
house) there is 1-| mile of river-bank suitable for the construction
of deep-water wharves. Here wharves capable of accommodating
ocean-going steamers have already been built.
[Some years before the war Koweit was considered as a possible
terminus for the proposed continuation of the Baghdad Railway to the
Gulf. Koweit town is about 110 miles from Basra, from which it is
separated by desert. It lies on the SE. side of Koweit Bay, which
is about 20 miles long and about 10 miles broad. Vessels anchor 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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- 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