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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [109] (118/748)
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.
GOVERNMENT
109
Emir could, call out considerable levies of Hejazi and other Bedouins,
and by so doing in order to fight the Turks' battles, Emirs, and par
ticularly the actual prince, Husein, have not only made interest
with the Porte, but inspired it with a wholesome respect, and,
further, kept in touch with a fighting force which could be used
some day for their own ends. This position of the Emir of Mecca
as a great Bedouin chief was bound to increase with the decline of
Ottoman strength ; and it is by using it that Sherif Husein, the
present prince, has almost restored the Emirate to the power and
independence it enjoyed before the Wahabite invasion.
The Emirate has never been, in theory, hereditary or restricted,
except by prescription, to any one Sherifial clan or family. As
a matter of fact, the Emirs for a century past, including the present
prince, who was sent from Constantinople to take the office in 1908,
have owed their succession to direct nomination by the foreign
occupying power. But the Porte has kept to the 'Abadilah house
since 1827, twice only interpolating a member of the rival Dhawi
Zeid for short terms (1851-6 and 1880-2) on the impera
principle. It has always been a disadvantage of the Emirs that
members not only of other Ashraf clans, but also of their own houses,
hold themselves as well or better entitled to the Emirate ; and if
the Turkish power were to be withdrawn, the internecine wars
which marked each avoidance of the throne up to the close of the
eighteenth century would no doubt revive. The actual Emir could
only secure the succession to a son by maintaining and leaving to
him a superior paid force of soldiery, and one son would be as likely
to claim the succession as another It is well to bear in mind that
in Mecca itself is always centred a strong opposition to the ruling
house, and an Emir can hardly fail to have foes of his own household.
The title ' Grand Sherif' is a European invention. The Arabs
call the prince of Mecca Emir, and address him as ' Seyyidna ' (our
Lord). From the Turks he had the titles £ Highness ' and '
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
',
his sons being commonly styled ' Beys '.
2. Recent History and Politics
The ruling Emir, Sherif Husein ibn 'Ali, grandson of the first
'Abadilah Emir (died in 1858), is now well over sixty years of age.
He was nominated to the Emirate by the Anglophil Grand Vizier,
Kiamil
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
, in 1908, after a long residence at Constantinople.
Sherif Husein's uncle, 'Abdillah, had died on the way to take up the
position to which he had been nominated at Mecca, and Husein's
cousin, 'Ali, who was Emir previously, had been banished with his
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
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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [109] (118/748), 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_100037114035.0x000077> [accessed 3 January 2025]
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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