!['Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎78] (87/748)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0087.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎78] (87/748)")
'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [78] (87/748)
The record is made up of 1 volume (371 folios). It was created in 1916. It was written in English and Arabic. 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.
78
THE BEDOUIN TRIBES
The NORTHERN SHAMMAR of the Jezirah are variously esti
mated. Probably a total of 2,000 tents is not far from the true
figure ; but they have been put as high as 10,000 tents. Their
pasture-grounds are between the Tigris and the Euphrates, though
occasionally they cross the Tigris in the region of the Lesser Zab.
They come down to Baghdad and even south of Baghdad as far as
Zobar. To the west they extend to Deir ez-Z6r, which is a head
quarters of the tribe ; thence north up the Khabur and to near
Nisibin they wander over the fertile desert which is watered by the
Jaghjagh and its affluents. They are at feud with their Anazah
neighbours, both Eed'an and 'Amarat, and usually on bad terms
with the Kurdish tribes to the north and north-east. Traditional
rebels against Ottoman authority, they slip between the fingers of
the Mutesarrif of Deir and the Vali of Mosul, paying taxes to neither.
They exact dues from the caravans on the Tigris road and not in
frequently hold up the traffic along this important link between Asia
Minor and Baghdad, forcing travellers, and sometimes even the
Government post, to take the longer route by Irbil and Kerkuk. The
keleks on the river are subject to their exactions also. In 1911, the
cup of their iniquities having overflowed, Nazim
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
, then Vali
of the 'Iraq, sent an expedition against them under his chief of staff,
Hasan Riza Bey (murdered during the siege of Scutari in the fol
lowing year). He conducted matters very skilfully. The Shammar
came in without resistance, camel- and sheep-dues, many years in
arrear, were collected at a great camp formed at Hatrah, and the
rights of the tribe over the Mosul road were defined. But the fall of
Nazim immediately afterwards, and the resignation of Hasan Riza,
took the heart out of this agreement.
The Shammar of the Jezirah are all under the sheikhly family of
the Jerban, who sprang into political importance about 1830 with
Sheikh Sufuq ibn Jerba, a bitter enemy of the Turks. His eldest son,
Ferhan, was a lover of peace and kept on good terms with the
Government; but the contest was continued by Ferhan's brothers,
of whom the youngest, Faris, took refuge in J. Shammar with Ibn
Rashid. He returned to the Jezirah in the seventies, and from that
time shared the position of Paramount Sheikh with Ferhan. He
took the camping-grounds on the Khabur, while Ferhan held those
round Mosul, with his head-quarters at Hatrah, and on the brackish
springs of the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Tharthar. In 1911 'Asi, the eldest of Ferhan's
sixteen sons, was appointed by Hasan Riza Bey Paramount Sheikh
and made responsible to the Government for all Mesopotamian
Shammar. He is a man advanced in years, peaceable and upright.
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Arabia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: May, 1916) and contains geographical and political information of a general character concerning the Arabian Peninsula. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, from sources, including native information obtained for the purpose of compiling the volume, since the outbreak of the First World War. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the districts or provinces of the Arabian Peninsula and include information on the physical character, as well as social and political surveys.
The volume includes a note on official use, title page, and a 'Note' on the compilation of the volume. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following sections:
- Chapter 1: Physical Survey;
- Chapter 2: Social Survey;
- Chapter 3: The Bedouin Tribes: A. Northern Tribes, B. Tribes of the Central West, C. Tribes of the Central South, D. Tribes of the Central East, Supplement: Non-Bedouin Nomads;
- Chapter 4: Hejaz;
- Chapter 5: Asir;
- Chapter 6: Yemen;
- Chapter 7: Aden and Hadhramaut: A. Aden and the Interior, B. Hadhramaut;
- Chapter 8: Oman: A. The sultanate of Oman, B. Independent Oman;
- Chapter 9: The Gulf Coast: A. The Sultanate of Koweit [Kuwait], B. Hasa, C. Bahrain, D. El-Qatar, E. Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ;
- Chapter 10: Nejd;
- Chapter 11: Jebel Shammar;
- Chapter 12: The Northern Nefūd and Dahanah Belts;
- Chapter 13: Settled Tribes of the North-West;
- Chapter 14: Settled Tribes of the West;
- Chapter 15: Settled Tribes of the South;
- Chapter 16: Settled Tribes of the Centre;
- Appendix: Note of Topographical and Common Terms;
- Index;
- Plates.
The front of the volume includes a 'List of Maps' and a 'Note on the Spelling of Proper Names'. Maps contained in this volume are:
- Map 1: Arabia: Districts and Towns;
- Map 2: Orographical Features of Arabia;
- Map 3: Land Surface Features of Arabia;
- Map 4: Tribal Map of Arabia.
The volume also contains fifteen plates of photographs and sketches by Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Douglas Carruthers, Captain Gerard Leachman, Dr Julius Euting, George Wyman Bury, and Samuel Barrett Miles.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (371 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in chapters. There is a contents page, list of maps, alphabetical index, and list of plates.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the last of various maps which are inserted at the back of the volume, on number 371.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [78] (87/748), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x000058> [accessed 3 January 2025]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x000058
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x000058">'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎78] (87/748)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x000058"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/IOR_L_PS_20_E84_1_0087.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x000298/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1
- Title
- 'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:381, 384:726, ii-r:ii-v, 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