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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. IV. 1917' [13v] (31/530)
The record is made up of 1 volume (263 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. 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
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22
INTRODUCTION
southern edge of the Tur Ahdin plateau. This plateau is bounded on
the E. and N. by the Tigris, and on the W. by the hill-country which
rises towards the Qarajeh Dagh. The summit of the Tur Abdin is
a mass of low rocky ridges, mostly basaltic, covered with patches of
low oaks and undergrowth, with a fertile soil beneath the stones.
Most of the ravines are dry for the greater part of the year, and
water, which is very scarce in summer, is derived chiefly from wells
and cisterns. The eastern part of the plateau is more intricate and
difficult than that near Diarbekr, where the country becomes less
stony-and more undulating, with some fertile valleys containing
streams. The Tur Abdin has a fair number of villages, largely
inhabited by Jacobite Christians.
Along the western side of the Tur Abdin, between it and the
spurs of the Mazi Dagh and Qarajeh Dagh, there is a fairly easy
line, along valleys running S. and N., and over low cols. This line
connects the great Mesopotamian plain with the plain of Diarbekr.
Diarbekr stands at the northern end of this line and Mardln at the
southern.
(c) The Qarajeh Dagh and neighbourhood. —North-west of Mardln are
the Mazi Dagh and the larger and more important Qarajeh Dagh,
with their rocky spurs and outliers, forming a hill-country which is
very broken and difficult, crossed by tracks which are few and bad
and not well supplied 'vith water. There is practically no settled
population in the interior of this country. The long spurs and out
liers of the hill-country run down into the plain between Mardln and
Veiran Shehr, and between Veiran Shehr and Urfeh in rocky ridges
where water is scarce. Some low ridges also come down to the west
of Urfeh, but beyond them to Birijik, and from Birijik NW. to
Severek, an undulating open plain intervenes between the Qarajeh
Dagh country and the Euphrates. North of the Qarajeh Dagh its
spurs run out to connect with a belt of stony ridges and plateaux
between the Euphrates and the plain of Diarbekr. Over these
northern spurs of the Qarajeh Dagh there is easy communication
between Diarbekr and Severek.
(d) The Plain of JDlarhckr and neigh —To the
north, north-west, north-east and east of Diarbekr extends an open,
rolling, and in parts fairly well cultivated plain. On the west
this plain is bounded by the low stony hill-country bordering the
Euphrates, already mentioned. On the north-west it stretches up to
the mountains of the Eastern Taurus in the neighbourhood of the
Arghaneh defile—the main approach to Diarbekr and Mesopotamia
from western Armenia and
Anatolia
Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey.
. On the north the plain is
bounded by a belt of low rocky ridges, beyond which rise the central
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume IV, Northern Mesopotamia and Central Kurdistan (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, April, 1917), covering Mesopotamia north of the line joining Rowanduz, Mosul, Meskeneh [Maskanah], and Aleppo, up to Van, Bitlis, Diarbekr, and Mar‘ash. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume.
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', and 'Abbreviations'. There is a page of contents which includes the following sections:
- Introduction;
- Itineraries;
- River Routes (The Tigris, The Euphrates);
- Land Routes (Central Kurdistan, Routes between Mosul and Diarbekr, Routes between the Plain of Diarbekr and the Moutains to North and West, Routes between the line Diarbekr-Mardīn and the Euphrates, Interior of Norther Jezīreh, West of the Jaghjagha Su, The Euphrates Valley and Country West thereof, Across the Taurus between the Euphrates and Mar‘ash, and Aleppo-Mar‘ash);
- Railways (Aleppo-Ras el-‘Ain-Tel Ermen);
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Index;
- Plates;
- 'Sketch Map of Routes'.
The volume contains 15 plates, which illustrate the content of the various chapters, and 1 map entitled 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes'.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (263 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged by numbered routes. There are pages of contents, an index, and a list of plates. There is one map house in a pocket.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; 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'. side of each folio (except for the front cover, where the folio number is located on the verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. ).
Pagination: The volume also has an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/6
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. IV. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:262v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence