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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [299] (308/748)
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.
POPULATION
2S9
P opulation
The settled population is estimated at about 100,000; the
nomadic at about 57,000 ; the chief distinctions among the former
are not tribal but religious, the people falling into two main groups
of Sunni and Shiah. If speaking Arabic as the mother tongue,
the sedentary Shiah are known as Bahdrinah ; they form almost
the whole population of the Qatif oasis, and nearly half that of the
oasis of Hasa, occupying in addition the island of Tarut. Many
Arabs of the nomadic tribes have become sedentary ; some 4,500
of the Beni Khalid live on the islands of Musallamiyah, Jinnah,
and Tarut, at Qasr es-Subeih, at Kalabiyah and Jishshah in Hasa
oasis, and at Umm es-Sahak in the oasis of Qatif. In the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
el-Miyah there are about 1,000 miscellaneous Arabs, and smaller
numbers in other places. Negro slaves are numerous in the culti
vated area.
Among the Bedouins, tribal distinctions are paramount, bome
35,000 of the 'Ajman tribe make their head-quarters in Hasa ;
the Ahl Murrah, though chiefly ranging the Jafurah desert and
Jabrin, are represented by 7,000 members ; the Beni Khahd by
10,000, and the Beni Hajar by 5,000 souls. Nomads of the Hawazm,
Rasha'idah, Dawasir, Sahul, Muteir, Sebei', Ateibah, and Qahtan
make temporary sojourns within the boundaries of Hasa, though
more properly belonging to Koweit and Nejd. The Beni Khalid
range chiefly in the N. of the region, the Ahl Murrah in the S.,
the intervening space towards the interior is regarded as the territory
of the 'Ajman, that towards the coast, of the Hajar.
Previous to the expulsion of the Turks from Hasa, in 1913,^ these
tribes, with the Manasir, continually raided the routes from 'Oqair
to Hofuf and Hofuf to Riyadh ; the state of the former route was
indeed one of chronic insecurity. In 1912 Raunkiaer found great
difficulty in traversing the Riyadh— Hofuf route, and, in spite of ibn
Sa'ud's protection, he encountered considerable hostility and was
threatened more than once. But the victory of Ibn Sa ud has put
an end for the present to such attacks, as his power is now respected
by the Bedouins. The 'Ajman formerly did not confine themselves
to land raids, but even engaged in piracy. In 1912 members
of the tribe on board a ship sailing from Bahrein to Qatif over
mastered the crew and ran the vessel ashore, making off with the
cargo. At that time they were said to intend establishing a post on
the coast, whence to strike at the traffic between the above places.
But Ibn Sa'ud put an end to their raiding. In the summer of 1915
he practically expelled them from Hasa into Koweit territory,
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' [299] (308/748), 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_100037114036.0x00006d> [accessed 18 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