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'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [37v] (81/350)
The record is made up of 1 file (169 folios). It was created in 1917. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
CHAPTER III.
POPULATION.
Inhabitants.
The bulk of the inhabitants consists of Arabs, either nomad
Bedouins or, in the case of the populations of the towns and
villages, sedentary Arabs; of the nomad tribes, the principal
are the Muntafik, under Ajaimi bin Sa’adun
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
, who used
to live at Suq-ash-Shuyukh, and the Bani Lam, on the left bank
of the Tigris towards the Persian hills. There are many sub
divisions of these tribes and also numerous other smaller tribes.
The nomad Bedouins, especially the Muntafik, were in constant
conflict with Turkish rule and supplied no soldiers to the Turkish
army, in consequence of which the local units of Baghdad and
Basrah were invariably below the proper strength.
The Turks proper form the official classes and the ruling
element of the towns. Apart from the Arabs and Turks, there
are certain numbers of Chaldeans and Sabians, with some
‘ Persians and a good proportion of Jews, mainly in Baghdad
itself. The Chaldeans (a Christian race who claim to be de
scended from the old Assyrian stock) are not encountered as a
rule so far south as Baghdad, except when engpged on work
on thp river. They provided the crews of the river steamers.
The headquarters of the Chaldean Church is at Musal, and
there is also a considerable number of this sect at Baghdad.
The French, under whose protection they are, use the Chaldean
Catholics as a medium of French political influence.
The Sabians, another Christian sect numbering about 3,000,
claim to be followers of John the Baptist, and are mostly located
around ’Amarah.
The Nestorian Christians, whose headquarters appear to be
at Babylon, desire the British to take more political interest
in them and their Church. In fact they wish for official protec
tion such as the Chaldeans enjoy from the French. The Russians
were said in 1912 to have been anxious to offer them this facility
and a section of the Nestorians was then parleying with them.
The Shi’ahs of this part have their headquarters at the
celebrated shrine of Karbala. They are very hostile towards
About this item
- Content
The file consists of a printed volume regarding the field notes on Mesopotamia. The volume was prepared on behalf of the General Staff, India and printed by the Superintendent Government Printing, India.
The volume is divided into the following chapters:
- I. History.
- II. Geography.
- III. Population.
- IV. Resources.
- V. Notes on the Turkish Army.
- VI. Maritime.
- VII. Administration.
- VIII Communications; Routes in Mesopotamia.
The volume also contains a number of appendices: A. Important personages; B. Table of Distances (in miles); C. Weights, Measures, Currency, Chronology; D. Some notes for officers proceeding to Mesopotamia; Glossary of Terms.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (169 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in a number of chapters and appendices listed in the contents page (folio 4).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 169; 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 View the complete information for this record
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'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [37v] (81/350), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/50, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037551545.0x000052> [accessed 1 April 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/50
- Title
- 'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, tail, front-i, 2r:143r, 143r:143v, 143v:170v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence