'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎17v] (39/862)

8 introduction
airways are of little direct benefit to Iraq, but the development of the
great oilfields of Kirkuk, from which a substantial royalty is paid to
Iraq, has made it financially possible to build the costly modern
material of civilization—roads, railways, irrigation works, schools,
and hospitals—far in excess of what the country’s other resources
could permit.
A third factor which gives to Iraq international importance among
Moslem countries is the existence at Karbala, Najaf, and elsewhere
(p. 328) of the principal shrines of the Shia Moslems, to which
pilgrims come, particularly from Persia and India, as to a second
Mecca.
Although Iraq has been dominated for a great part of its history
by Persian and Anatolian empires, the main element in its population
has been recruited continuously from Arabia. The inhabitants of
southern Iraq are Moslem Arabs of the two great sects, Sunni and
Shia. In northern Iraq the population is more mixed and reflects
more distinctly the clashes of empires that have occurred on its soil.
In the plains there are Moslem Arabs, Turkomans, and Kurds,
while the population of the foothills and mountains is almost entirely
Kurdish. The Kurds are Indo-Europeans speaking an Aryan tongue,
the Arabs are what is commonly called Semitic by speech and race.
There are substantial and long-established Christian and Jewish
minorities in the country, but the principal discords are not between
Moslems and non-Moslems but between Shias and Sunnis, and
between Kurds and Arabs. The country is dominated by Sunni
Arabs, and the name of Iraq is a tribute to the strength of the
nationalist fervour which has foisted upon the northern part of the
country a name and a government largely alien to it.
The vast majority of the inhabitants are peasants, 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. , and
shepherd nomads, shawiya, and the livelihood of most of the rest
comes directly or indirectly from agriculture and stock-breeding.
The picturesque camel-breeding beduin are relatively few and
unimportant. Production is in excess of the country’s present
requirements, although methods are primitive and only a very small
percentage of the land is cultivated. A larger population could
easily be supported by its own labour. Except for the oilfields, which
do not employ large numbers, Iraq has no serious modern industry,
but the pots and pans and trappings of everyday life are still made to
a large extent at home or by craftsmen in small workshops.