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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎91v] (187/738)

The record is made up of 1 volume (365 folios). It was created in 1919. 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. .

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176
INHABITANTS
and the following between twenty and forty thousand: Jaffa,
Gaza, Hebron, Nablus, Haifa, and Safed, in western Palestine,
Tripoli, Ladiqiyeh, and Antioch, on or near the northern
coast. In Lebanon, apart from Beirut which is not included
in the province, Zahleh is the only town of some size (14,000).
Everywhere most of the Syrian people live in hamlets or small
villages. In western Palestine (to Beersheba) perhaps one half
of the people live in places having populations of less than 300.
From an economic point of view three main elements in
the population of Syria may be distinguished : (1) the peasants
(felldhln) who live mostly in villages and depend upon agri
culture (with fruit growing), (2) the population of the large
towns, which is industrial in an oriental fashion, (3) the
Bedouin pastoral tribes on the borders. The population of
the smaller towns, being chiefly dependent on agriculture,
may be added to the first group, which then includes about
two-thirds of the whole population of the country. The
number of the Bedouin is very uncertain. It probably does
not exceed 400,000.
Townsfolk and Villagers
The distinction made in ancient times between Towns and
Villages seems to have been based on the presence or absence
of fortifications ; the larger places usually stood on hills, the
smaller might be hidden away in a valley or in the folds
of the mountains. The modern usage of the words is based
on the size of the community, so that the same place may
be designated by different persons differently.
The sites for villages and towns' are determined by two
main considerations : facilities for defence and for obtaining
water. The former consideration accounts for the ordinary
choice of the top of a hill as the site ; such a position com
mands a view of the surrounding country and renders a village
in the normal warfare of the fellahin Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. wellnigh impregnable;
to add to this advantage the houses are built close together
so as to constitute a sort of fortress. Cases are quoted from
modern experience of villages being transferred from the

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Content

Admiralty handbook regarding Syria (including Palestine) 'to as far north as the River Orontes and a line Antioch-Aleppo-Meskeneh. For details of the part of Syria beyond this line reference must be made to the Handbook of Asia Minor , Vol. iv, Part 2 (C.B. 847 C).'

'Contents. Chapters:

  • I. Boundaries and Physical Survey, p 9 (folio 7)
  • II. Climate, p 24 (folio 14v)
  • III. Minerals, Flora and Fauna, p 93 (folio 50)
  • IV. Military History, p 109 (folio 58)
  • V. Inhabitants, p 175 (folio 91)
  • VI. Turkish Administration, p 236 (folio 121v)
  • VII. Agriculture, p 252 (folio 129v)
  • VIII. Industry and Trade, p 276 (folio 141v)
  • IX. Currency, Weights and Measures, p 318 (folio 162v)
  • X. Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 325 (folio 166)
  • XI. Country East of Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 344 (folio 175v)
  • XII. Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Damascus Plain, p 357 (folio 182)
  • XIII. River Systems of Northern Syria, p 395 (folio 201)
  • XIV. Judea and the Southern Desert, p 427 (folio 217)
  • XV. Samaria (including Carmel), p 472 (folio 239v)
  • XVI. Galilee, p 515 (folio 261)
  • XVII. Haurān and Jaulān, p 556 (folio 281v)
  • XVIII. 'Ajlūn and Northern Belqa, p 580 (folio 293v)
  • XIX. Southern Belqa and Ardh el-Kerak, p 612 (folio 309v)
  • XX. El-Jibāl and Esh-Shera, p 636 (folio 321v)
  • XXI. The Ghōr (Jordan and the Dead Sea); and Wādi 'Arabah, p 645 (folio 326)
  • Appendix: Conventional Spellings, p 668 (folio 337v)
  • Index, p 669 (folio 338)
  • Plates, p 725' [missing]
Extent and format
1 volume (365 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a contents page (folio 6) and an index (folios 338-365).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 367; 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. Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume originally contained fourteen plates showing maps, bound into the back of the volume. These are now missing; details of the plates can be found at folio 5v.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎91v] (187/738), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/15, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033282269.0x0000bc> [accessed 23 December 2024]

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