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'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎160r] (324/862)

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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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SUMERIAN AND BABYLONIAN PERIOD 221
local commercial importance even in Assyrian times, when no large
vessels sailed upon it.
The use of precious metals as a basis of sale and exchange was
familiar from early times, though a coinage did not exist. The shekel
of silver was a weight, not a coin, and was commonly used as a
measure of value by which to adjust barter transactions. The
establishment of an imperial coinage in the sixth century b.c. by the
Persian king Darius—in imitation of the Lydian—together with the
security of the roads, gave a great impetus to international trade.
Earlier, a profitable caravan trade existed but was hazardous (p. 212).
There certainly were great trading-houses at Babylon, and there was
also considerable movement of goods by round-boats and rafts down
the rivers and along the gulf. But the basis of wealth in the Akkadian
and Babylonian period was internal, and depended mainly, not on trade
or industry, but upon the high productivity of the land. The kings
and temples received their dues in kind and accumulated huge stores
of produce. The kings used this capital to feed and maintain men
either as soldiers for the imperial wars or as labour to build their huge
fortresses, palaces, and temples. The temple priests put their capital
to a different use, and became the main centres of commerce and
banking or money-lending. The growth of commerce established a
merchant class in the towns, who were also a land-owning class,
because land was the only form of permanent long-term investment.
But for the mass of the people, peasants and artisans alike, life then
as now was close to subsistence level.
Law. Intellectually, the Babylonian civilization consisted of its
legal system, and of its religion, with a religious and mythological
literature. The continuity of the legal system and of the sense of law
is remarkable. The well-known code of Hammurabi is noted for the
simplicity and relative fairness of its commercial and social arrange
ments, though as in all primitive codes penalties were severe. The
code was accessible to the literate and there was a professional judi
cature, originally based on the temples and priesthood but later
appointed by the kings, which maintained the Hammurabi tradition,
enlarged by case-law and precedent, down to the Hellenistic period.
This feeling for the sanctity of law was transmitted to the Assyrians,
despite their brutality in foreign conquests. Tf the king does not
hear the law, his people will perish, and his power will pass away’,
wrote Ashur-Banipal. The limitations of literacy were, however,
great, because Babylonians used the complicated ‘cuneiform’ script.
The wedge-shaped signs, incised on clay tablets or cylinders, were

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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' [‎160r] (324/862), 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_100037366479.0x00007d> [accessed 18 January 2025]

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