"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد I. ١٩١٨" [‎٩] (٥٦٨/١٨)

CHAPTEK 1
BOUNDARIES AND PHYSICAL FEATURES
Boundaries, position, and extent—Main features of surface—Relation to inter
national lines of communication—Geographical divisions and their surface—
River system—Coast.
Boundaries, Position, and Extent
The 'boundaries of the ami dealt with in this book are as
follows:
On the south : the Persian Gulf and the desert of north-eastern
Arabia.
On the west: the Syrian Desert and, towards the north-west,
where Mesopotamia adjoins northern Syria, the western side of the
Euphrates trough between Gerger and Meskeneh.
On the north : the highest crests of the eastern Taurus ranges (the
southern rim of the Armenian plateau), eastwards from where the
Euphrates breaks through these mountains to the south-western
corner of Lake Van near Bitlis.
On the north-east, from Bitlis to the Kelishin Pass on the Persian
frontier south-west of Ushnu: a line following the watershed between
the Tigris on the south-west and Lakes Van and Urmia on the north
and east respectively.
On the east, from the Kelishin Pass to the Persian Gulf: the high
ranges which form the western rim of the plateau of Iran (Persia).
This region lies between lat. 38° 30' N. and lat. 29° 30' N. Its
northern part falls between long. 37° 50' E. and long. 45° 30' E. ; its
southern end is between long. 48° 30' E. and long. 51° 30' E. Its
length, from the Arghana Pass in the eastern Taurus to Fao at the
mouth of the Shatt el-Arab, is 770 miles. From west to east its
greatest breadth is about 380 miles (from Birijik on the Euphrates
to the Kelishin Pass on the Persian frontier); its breadth in the
neighbourhood of Baghdad is about 150 miles. Its total area is about
200,000 square miles.
The greater part ot this country lies within the boundaries of the
Turkish Empire, including the eastern part of the vilayet (province;