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'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎18v] (41/862)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (430 folios). It was created in 1944. 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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IO INTRODUCTION
aircraft tend to keep to lines where water is found, since in emergency
they must come down by water. Bitumen is available for the surfac
ing of roads, but stone for metalling or ballasting is rare over great
stretches in the south, where the delta alluvium is churned by wheels
into a thick mud by winter rains. The maps of Iraq are therefore
covered with tracks ‘fit for motors only in dry weather .
In 1914 there was only one short length of railway in the country,
and Basra was an undeveloped river-port, where landing had to be
made by launches and barges from vessels anchored in the fairway.
By 1919 Basra was a modern port with miles of wharves, and rail
ways had been built to supply the British armies. These were relaid
and reorganized in the years that followed, and bridges were built to
improve road communications. With the completion of the railway
from Tel Kotchek to Baghdad in 1940, it might be said that the
country’s communications were sufficient for its peace-time needs.
Nevertheless since 194* the strain of war has necessitated a great
expansion of ports and communications, some of which will certainly
be superfluous when peace comes.
In Chapter XIII an account is given of the navigation on the Tigris
and of the railway system. Full details of war-time expansion are not
available for publication. Only a general pattern of the land routes
is given. For details of roads and tracks, which are always changing
in a country where metalling is rare, reference must be made to up-
to-date route-books. Brief mention is made of the main air-route
through the country, but everything is at present subordinated to the
pressing needs of war.
Oil
The international importance of Iraq because of the recent
discovery of oil has been briefly mentioned. Iraq shares with Persia
and Arabia an important fraction of the world’s supply of oil, which,
owing to the vast expenditure of oil resources since 1939* is certain
to become increasingly valuable, especially as Iraq is on one of the
world’s great airways. Already the oil is pumped from the rich fields
of Kirkuk 650 miles across the intervening deserts to Haifa and
Tripoli on the Mediterranean. The proximity of the Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company’s great refinery at Abadan, where oil is sent by pipes
from the Persian fields, the discovery of oil at Kuwait and Bahrein,
and the prospecting of other concessions in the gulf area must add
greatly to the strategic and international importance of Iraq.
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About this item

Content

The volume is titled Iraq and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (London: Naval Intelligence Division, 1944).

The report contains preliminary remarks by the Director of Naval Intelligence, 1942 (John Henry Godfrey) and the Director of Naval Intelligence, 1944 (E G N Rushbrook).

There then follows thirteen chapters:

  • I. Introduction.
  • II. Geology and description of the land.
  • III. Coasts of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
  • IV. Climate, vegetation and fauna.
  • V. History.
  • VI. People.
  • VII. Distribution of the people.
  • VIII. Administration and public life.
  • IX. Public health and disease.
  • X. Irrigation, agriculture, and minor industry.
  • XI. Currency, finance, commerce and oil.
  • XII. Ports and inland towns.
  • XIII. Communications.
  • Appendices: stratigraphy; meteorological tables; ten historical sites, chronological table; weights and measures; authorship, authorities and maps.

There follows a section listing 105 text figures and maps and a section listing over 200 illustrations.

Extent and format
1 volume (430 folios)
Arrangement

The volume is divided into a number of chapters, sub-sections whose arrangement is detailed in the contents section (folios 7-13) which includes a section on text-figures and maps, and list of illustrations. The volume consists of front matter pages (xviii), and then a further 682 pages in the original pagination system.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 430; 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 file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎18v] (41/862), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/64, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037366478.0x00002a> [accessed 22 March 2025]

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