======================================================================== This is the text of the 1948 edition of the IPC handbook converted with optaical character recognition software. It includes all the text except the geneology of the Hashemite House on page 18. This text has not been proof read or corrected in any way and is being provided as is. 14. november 2007 ======================================================================== FRONTISPIECE. KING FAISAL I OF IRAQ. IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED AND ITS ASS0CIATEDCOMPANIES • HANDBOOK OF THE TERRITORIES WHICH FORM THE THEATRE OF OPERATIONS OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED AND ITS ASSOCIATED COMPANIES FIRST EDITION COMPILED IN THE COMPANIES' HEAD OFFICE AT 214 OXFORD STREET LONDON' W. I 1948 2 SECTION 1 I I.P.C. HANDBOOK During that War, no progress could be made. After it, however, French claims to participate in 'Iraq oil were formulated as soon as it appeared certain that Mosul would not fall (as had been contemplated since 1916) to her mandated share of the Middle East, and at San Remo in 1920 a one-quarter share (that of the Deutsche Bank) was allotted to France. The 'Iraq/Turkish frontier question-left open by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923-was fixed finally by the League of Nations in 1926, the Mosul Vilayet being allotted to 'Iraq: Turkey was in return to receive, for 25 years, 10% of such royalties as might accrue to 'Iraq from oil within the Baghdad and Mosul Vilayets-a provision still in course of implementation. The TP.C. in March, 1925, was able, after negotiations which began in 1923, to convert its pre-war Vizirial promise into a definite concession obtained from the 'Iraq Government. The Concession covered the whole of the Mosul and Baghdad Wilayats, except the Transferred Territories. Its period was (or 75 years. The essence of the Concession was the Company's right to select, within thirty-two months, for testing and exploitaton, 24 eight-square-mile plots with the obligation intensively to drill these. An early pipe-line to the sea was envisaged. The Government itself was, within four years, to select another 24 similar plots and to offer them on lease by auction to an comers. The Company was to make all its geological information available, and to act as Government Agent in all such teases. Other_ Lessees were to undertake obligations similar to the Company's, and to enjoy a percentage use of the Company's pipe-line. Full facilities were to be given or pennitted by the Government to the Company and to other lessees for their operations. There was no tax-commutation provision. The standard rate of Royalty was fixed at 4(- (gold) per ton, with possible adjustment after twenty years. Work in the field could be, and was, now started by an intensive campaign of geological research and test-drilling. Meanwhile,high-level negotiations with American interests had continued, on the basis of the Open Door Policy, and, as a result, a quarter interest in the T.P.C. was allotted, from the D'Arcy share, to a powerful American group formed for the purpose, the Near East Development Corporation. Thus, the final shareholding in the Company became, as it still is, 231 I~ each to the Near East Development Corporation, the Compagnie FranIYaise des Petroies, the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and the D'Arcy Exploration Company, while the remaining 5 % is held by Participations and Investments Limited, representing Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian. The N.E.D.C. share-holding, originally distributed among six American companies, is now shared equally between the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and Socony-Vacuum. The Turkish Petroleum Company changed its name to that of Iraq Petroleum Company in October, 1928, and negotiated important modifications of its 1925 Convention in 1931. The revised LP.C. Concession of March, 1931, limited the area to 32,000 square miles east of the Tigris, abolished the" plot system", provided for lump sum tax Commutation, and imposed a dead-rent SECTION 1 3 I.P.C. HANDBOOK of £400,000 (gold)-payable annually until lhe beginning of export by pipe-line, and one-half to be recoverable from future yea,;rs' Royalties in excess of £400,000. The pipe-line became a definite obligation, to be completed by the end of 1935. Royalty rate was unchanged. As the Company attained its final form and constitution, which had from the first been designed to limit its activities to the Turkish Empire, the opportunity was taken in 1928 to formulate an Agreement between its various constituent elements-those of major oil concerns of four great Nations-as to their relations and mutual obligations within the area defined: this area being that of the Asiatic Turkey of 1914 bounded, upon the map attached to the Agreement, by the now famous Red Line. Operating always together within this area, the constituent groups have, from 1928 to the present date (1948), widely extended their joint activities, which are reflected in the formation of a large number of companies pursuing their work of exploration and production of oil in many territories of the Middle East. In 'Iraq itself two other enterprises have been undertaken. The first dealt with the " B.O.D. Area "-that is, the provinces of Mosul and Baghdad, west of the Tigris and north of latitude 33. TheB.O.D. Limited was a British Company-formed in 1928 and soon afterwards to include Halian and Gennan shareholding-to which a Concession was granted by the 'Iraq Government in April, 1932. The Concession covers 46,000 square miles west of the Tigris, and provides for a 4/- (gold) rate of Royalty, and immediate dead-rent of £100,000 (gold) rising in four years to £200,000, which sums are to represent minimum Royalty as soon as this becomes payable. A minimum export of 1,000,000 tons per annum is visualised, by pipe-line or other means. A heavy drilling obligation was accepted. Government has a right at well-head to 20% of all oil won-in kind or in equivalent cash, but not for export purposes. Another private company, Mosul Oilfie1ds Limited, was formed in November 1932-still with substantial1talian and German participation-to finance E.O.D.; and in 1936 the LP.C. Groups formed Mosul Holdings Limited, for the purpose of acquiring (he shares and the direction of Mosul Oil Fields. This was carried out, and the LP.C. Group progressively from 1936 to 1940 assumed control of E.O.D. interests and operations. B.O.D. assigned it.s Iraq concession in 1941 to the Mosul Petroleum Company, which was Mosul Holdings Limited re-named; and the' position was finally simplifi.ed by the liquidation and disappearance of both B.O.D. and Mosul Oil Fields in 1943. The third Concession within 'Iraq is that of the Basrah Petroleum Company, obtained in July, 1938. The Company, identical in composition and share-holding with LP.C., was then granted a seventy-five year Concession for the Basrah Wilaiyat. Dead-rent and (later) Royalty charges closely resemble those agreed for the B.O.D., but provision was made for a lower minimum Royalty than £200,000 in case of non-marketable or inferior oil, and a higher (up to £400,000) in case of discovery of deposits up to Kirkuk standards. A heavy drilling B' 4 I P.C. HANDUOOK SECTION 2 obligation was accepted, and an export obligation within scven-and-ahalf years. Fr<;e well-head oil was allotted to Government as under. the RO.D. Concession. In May, 1939, an Agreement was made between the 'Iraq Government and the three operating companies named above (l.P.c., B.O.D., B.P.c.) amending certain of the provisions affecting B.O.D. drilling, and the T.P.C. pipe-line. In March, 1943, a further four-party Agreement deferred, forthe" period of suspension" due to the War, certain of the Company's obligations which abnormal War conditions made it impossible to carry out within the periods provided. The" period of suspension" ended on 15th August, 1947, when all obligations recommenced. Brief particulars of the Concessions or Conventions held outside 'Iraq by Companies of the LP.C. Group are given in Appendix" A" to this handbook. Firstly, the I.P.c. itself obtained in 1931 Transit Conventions from the Governments of the four Levant States of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Transjordan, which were necessary to permit the export of 'Traq oil by pipe-line to the Mediterranean. Secondly, it obtained, at various dates between 1935 and J947, production COllventions in the names of various companies, all identically constituted and controlled, and eaeh designed for the development of petroleum resources in territories within a named region in the Red Line area. The most important of such Conventions are those held for the Qatar Peninsula (1935), for the greater part of the Syrian Republic (1940), and for the Kingdom of TTansjordan (1947). Important _Exploration Licences, and a number of less important " blanket" Conventions, complete the picture. It need not be emphasised that al! the Conventions or Agreements under which the Companies hold rights vary in importan~ respects, as regards the payments,and obligations which they involve, their period, area, etc. In al! cases, initial payments were made on ratification of the Agreements, and dead-renl payments became due annually for the period prior lo the produclion of oil and consequent payment of Royalties. There are, in certain cases, obligations to produce stated quantities as soon as production can be assured-even to the point of cancellation fQr non-production. § 2. CONCESSIONS, RESEARCHES, PRODUCTION The previous section described the formation of the yarious Companies which. make up the I.P.c. Group .. How do these Companies, once formed by resolution of the constituent shareholders and provided with -capital, actually operate? The question can be SECTION 2 I p.e HANDBOOK 5 answered only by over-simplification since in fan, they do not in all cases (or even normally) operate each in isolation from the others, even though their formal constitution and their finances are distinct. Much of the Companies' personnel, other than that permanently resident in this or that territory, is concerned with the work of more thanone of the Companies, since, even if their activities do not overlap, it is obvious that their servicing, supply and qigher management must necessarily do so. They will here, however, be- considered in isolation. The first step in any petroleum enterprise is to obtain rights from the Sovereign power of the territory concerned; that power being anything from an independent Shaikh on the Trucial Coast to the constitutional Kingdom of 'Iraq or Republic of Syria. In every case the Companies have freely negotiated the Conventions or Licences which they sought in each territory with the proper Authority, and such rights have been enacted by the legislative body therein, if and when such existed: or alternatively, Exploration Licences, as distinct from " Blanket Concessions" which cover production as well as exploration, have been obtained under the local Mining Laws in competition with other members of the public-for example in Palestine, the Lebanon or Cyprus. The rights once obtained and ratified and initial payments. made where such are due (and it is rare indeed that they are not), the Company can proceed to the-next stage. The next stage consists in exploration, typically conducted in two phases. The first is that of surface geology carr.jed out by mobile parties: the second, in cases where first indications are at least not negative, can be that of geophysical rescarch carried out by the larger parties, with highly specialised equipment for which this process calls. The purpose of the latter is to locate structures where oil accumulation is possible. Given the hope-whether bright or faint-of such accumulation, and with or without such surface indications as seepages, test drilling is the next stage. It involves, in any but the most favoured or suburban areas, an elaborate preparation of roads to give access, the assurance of a water supply, buildiogs for residence, storage, workshops, dispensary and other purposes, and finally the erection of a drilling rig on a site selected by the Geological Department. Drilling now commences and continues until oil is located or hope thereof is abandoned. The number of wells drilled per structure or per region depends, of course, upon geological eonsiderations, each well adding to the sum of knowledge. Finally, the attempt is abandoned-or an oilfield is located. In the latter case, the scale and speed of its development is, of course, a Board or Managerial decision, conditioned by economic and technical considerations and, it may be, by the terms of the Convention with the concerned Government. Production must always involve at least the following: an overall plan for the wise and economic development of the particular structure or structures, the siteing of wells for observation of sub-surface conditions as well as for production. 6 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION J suitable arrangements for degassing, gathering and field storage. and finally, whether with or without further processing (such as the stabilisation now current at Kirkuk), the despatch of the oil by pipe~line to its next destination, which is the sea coast, for refining or for erude shipment. As at the Production centre, all services must be maintained ~production, processing, engineering, stores, transport, labour, medical, geological, chemical, security organisation and the restso upon any major pipe-line must be made further arrangements, concentrated at Stations, for pumping the oil, safeguarding communications, ensuring security and maintaining the welfare of personnel. Once arrived at its coastal Terminal, the oil must be further handled with the assistance of all necessary services including storage, refining (if any) and shipment, and the many Service departments which these involve. And, at all times and places, the necessity exists to maintain cordial relations with the Governmental authorities and the publics of all the territories traversed, and to handle the many and often difficult relations which arise from the administration of a large and necessarily various body of employees, all with their particular customs, local attachments, characteristics, preferences and degrees of organisation. § 3. THE COMPANIES' OPERATIONS Cal Operations in 'Iraq It remains to notice briefly how far the successive processes described above have actually been carried out, up to the time of writing, by the Companies in their respective areas. The months following the grant of the T.P.C. Concession (March, 1925) were occupied by intensive geological exploration in the present I.P.C. area and that which later became that of RO.D.: and this phase was shortly followed by the organisation and assembly of material preparatory to drilling. The latter started at Palkhanah in April, 1927 and proceeded at full speed on that and a number of other structuresKhasham al Ahmar and Injanah in the Jabal Hamrin, Qaiyarah and Khanuqah in future RO.D. territory, Tarjil, Khormor and Jambur in the Kirkuk-Tauq area, Chemchemal halfway from Kirkuk to Sulaimaniyah, Ballasan south-west of Altun-Kupri, Quwair on the Greater Zab. Oil was struck for the first time, with dramatic suddenness, in October, 1927, at Baba Gurgur just outside Kirkuk town, on a structure which revealed itself as one of the most remarkable in the world. Thereafter, up to nine rigs were working for the next three years, with the result that operations in unpromising areas could be suspended or abandoned and most of the Company's attention devoted SECTION 3 I P.C. HANDBOOK 7 t9 the development of the Kirkuk structure in preparation for full exploitation. The necessary organisation and installations-roads, water supply, powerpiant, offices and dwellings, stores and workshopswere put in hand and provisionally completed while the drilling of wells proceeded, both for future production and for observation. The revision of the Concession (March, 1931) was closely followed by the first preparations on the ground for the Mediterranean pipe-line, which will be separately described hereafter. While this was under construction, with corresponding activity in and adjoining Fields, production work in the latter continued, three Degassing Stations were erected, improvements were made in housing and land acquisition started on a sound basis. The pipe-line, with its throughput slightly exceeding 4,000,000 tons per year, came into operation late in 1934, and this event, marked by ceremonial at Kirkuk and in the capitals of each of the territories coneerned, was followed by the erection of a stabilisation plant in Fields of which the first units were in operation late in 1936 and the last by June, 1939. Simultaneously, a hospital, new offices, . and other buildings had been completed. Production continued normally for the first eighteen months of the War and, by the spring of 1941, sixteen producing wells had been completed on the Kirkuk structure and thirty-nine observation and other wells. The events of 1941 led to an interruption of drilling: and to the plugging, as a denial measure, of ten producing wells and thirty-eight observation and other wells. At the same time some 6,()()(} tons of drilling machinery were removed from Kirkuk to BasralL Nevertheless, sufficient was kept in operation to ensure full pipe-line Ihroughput and this was maintained except for a few weeks of local political disturbance during 1941, and for a three-year interruption on the Northern line which returned to normal throughput by the end of the War. Otherwise, the War period in Fields was one of full normal operation in difficult circumstances. At the same time it was possible to give considerable assistance to British Military Forces. This consisted of the supply of large quantities of pipe and other material, the provision of living quarters, the completion of 90 miles of petrol line from Kirkuk to Mosul and the supply of some 15,000,000 gallons of refined products produced in Fields. The resumption of drilling in 1945 included operations on the northern part of the structure, and fifteen producing and nine observation wells were completed by the end of 1947. Railway connection has been established as far as K.1. station. A new Power House is under construction_ Considerable adaptations and extensions have been made in industrial installations, which have been re-sited. Water supply from the Zab has been increased by 21 miles of 16 inch line. New Stabilisation Units and new Degassing Stations are under construction; over thirty dwelling houses have been completed, and an ambitious housing and town-planning scheme has been well begun. Fields are, in fact, at the time of writing, .. all set" for the greatly increased production which lies ahead. Production for J947 was , • 8 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION J 4,407,040 tons; up to the end of that year 47,275,000 tons had been produced from the Kirkuk structure. In the RO.D. area west of Tigris, drilling as well as geological work was carried out by lP.C. before 1931 and resulted in the discovery of very considerable deposits of oil, but of doubtful commercial yaIue, at Qaiyarah and elsewhere. These operations were continued by the B.O.D., whim that Company took over the area, and operations continued when, in 1937, the LP.C. Group again assumed control. Many structures on the Tigris right bank and a smaller number in the Hit-at Qaim stretch of the Euphrates have been drilled. The former included the heavy-oil area of Qaiyarah-Jawan-Najrnah, the roore promising 'Ain Zalah, and a dozen more structures which produced disappointing or negative results. Activity ceased during the War, but has been resumed since with the re-conditioning of camps, buildings and communications, and the re-commencement of drilling at 'Ain Zalah, where marketable and pumpable oil exists in quantities not yet fully determined. In Southern 'Iraq, the Basrah Petroleum Company commenced exploration actively in 1938 but was compelled by Waf conditions to suspend it from 1940-1945. Since then, geology and mapping have continued and a number of geophysical parties have operated in the more promising areas. Selection of first drilling sites has been madeone at Nahr 'Vmar- on the Shatt al 'Arab above Basrah, another near Zubair. Drilling at the' latter began in February, and at the former in March, 1948. Meanwhile, much work has been carried out ill the organisation of base installations of all necessary kinds on the outskirts of Basrab, and thought was being given to future sites and means for the disposal of oil if and when in production. (b) The Mediterranean Pipe-line The necessity of conveying 'Iraq oil to the sea by pipe-line was envisaged from the first aDd became a specific obligation and project in terms of the revised I.P.c. Concession of 1931. The first step was to obtain Transit Conventions from the Governments of the four Levant territories which must be traversed-tbose of Syria and the Lebanon, Transjordan and Palestine. Agreements with each of these were reache4 in January/March, 1931, while the initial work of planning and design was being earrii;:d out. The planning stage occupied 1930 and 1931. In the latter year, demareation of the line was carried out on the ground, land acquisition begun, water supplies for the future pumping stations were sited and partly drilled, and offices were opened at the capitals and other strategic points in the territories. The main work of construction began early in 1932 and continued at high pressure in all areas and departments until completion at the end of 1934. The main tasks of construction, for which a full and specialised organisation was called into being-much of which continued as the SECTION 3 l.P.C. HANDBOOK 9 subsequent Operation organisation-were those of the main trunk lines, mostly of12 inch diameter, and the necessary stringing,ditching, welding, wrapping, laying and back-filling, including the major river-crossings of the Tigris, Euphrates, Jordan and Orontes: four main railhead depots: the twelve Main Line pumping stations each· with its complement of engines, pumps and connected installations, dwellings, stores, tankage and the rest: and the two Terminals adjoining Haifa and Tripoli respectively each with its tank farm and sea loading-lines. The two lines run together from K.l. station in Fields, to K.3. station near Haditha on the Euphrates. Here they bifurcate, the Northern Line with a total length of580milesleaving'Iraq territory between T .1. and T.2stations,and the Southern Line with a totallengthof620milespassing from 'Iraq into Transjordan between H.3. and HA. The designed throughput for each Line slightly exceeds 2,000,000 tons a year. In addition to the main trunk ,Line and main Stations, the enterprise involved elaborate water supply arrangements both for construction and for the permanent supply of all stations and depots; it involved also, for construction and maintenance, important road-making, notably in the lava country of Transjordan and in the Tharthar area of the Jazirah in 'iraq. It included the provision of all the means of communication, including a telegraph and telephone land line parallel to the pipe-line throughout its length, and wireless posts at all Stations. A very large transport fleet was necessary for the construction and later maintenance of the line and of its ancillary services, and the Company initiated, during this period, the Air Transport fleet which it has since maintained and increased. Hangars, workshops and landing grounds formed, and form, part of this organisation. Throughout the work the task of land acquisition was pursued and a Labour force, reaching some 25,000 at the peak of construction, was administered and provided with comprehensive medical and commissariat arrangements. Some further detail of the 12 inch line as designed and completed (November, 1934) is extraeted from the Company's official" Story of the Iraq-Mediterranean pipe-line" published upon completion of the line, as follows :- " Materials from Overseas exceeded 200,000 tons, and building materials obtained locally at least equalled that figure. More than 37 million ton-miles of these materials were carried by the railways of the countries traversed, and, in the desert beyond railheads, a total haulage of over 23 million ton-miles was achieved by the Company's own main motor-transport fleets, this figure excluding some 13 million miles run by passenger and light service vehicles. These figures are eloquent of the scale of the enterprise which involved, besides the construction of main 12-inch trunk lines 1,150 miles in· length, a host of conneeted operations-some temporary for construction purposes, some as integral parts of the final system. Twelve powerful major pumping-stations-each a veritable township-were erected, three on the fringes of civilisation and nine in pure desert, with a Relief Station in the Jordan 10 I P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 3 depression. A dozen smaller pumping installations were called • for to supply drinkable water to these and to construction Depots. Behind these in turn lay the drilling in the desert, by a special organisation, of more than a hundred wells for the location and exploitation of water, which was carried by over two hundred miles of water pipe-lines. Main oil-tankage provided at Stations and Terminals exceeded half a million tons. Tenninal works included eight submarine lines to mooring berths a mile from the shore. A comprehensive communications system-telegraph, telephone, and wireless-was installed to deal with contruction and operation needs, with all air service for rapid passenger traffic. The work- of construction called for four main Railheads or transhipment Depots, each containing essential stores, workshops and offices on a scale proportionate to the task, and each employing a labour force numbering hundreds." From the commencement of pipe-line operation until the end of the war little alteration was made in the system which, except for a three-year war-time interruption on the Northern Line, has maintained its designed throughput with the greatest regularity. Since 1934, some additional tankage has been provided, especially at Tenninals; the Oil Dock at Haifa harbour was completed before the war and brought into use; a small quantity of new building was carried out at various points to meet needs which manifested themselves; and the completion of the Stabilisation Plant in Fields had filled the line normally with stabilised instead of sour crude. Before the end of the war, however, decisions were reached by the Directors for a great increase of pipe-line capacity-a project already mooted in 1938/39. It was decided to build a parallel 16-inch system side by side with the existing 12-inch. The work was put in hand before the end of 1945 and is, at the time of writing (June, 1948), well advanced. In view of the world-wide shortage of certain materials, especially steel, and currency restrictions and uncertain delivery dates, particular difficulties have inevitably been encountered. Nevertheless, progress up to the early weeks of 1948 was satisfactory and it was hoped to begin partial operation in the second half of 1948; this hope appeared likely to be nullified by conditions in Palestine, where lhe outbreak of Arab/Jew hostilities in May, 1948, compelled abandonment of the work until better times. Laying of the line itself is complete (June, 1948) except for the Palestine sector and a short length in TJ., and important works have been completed, or are in hand, for the provision of new pumping installations, tankage and industrial areas. Work on the Northern Line is in hand and completion by 1950 may be hoped for. Later editions of this handbook will, it is hoped, describe the completed enterprise; they may also refer to yet further and greater extensions of the Company's pipe-line system which lie ahead. The two parts of the 16-inch will, when operating, increase the off-take from Fields from 4!-million to 13-miIlion tons a year. SEGnON 3 T.P.C. HANDBOOK II The bulk of oil pumped from Kirkuk to the sea has been shipped thence, by the shareholding Groups, in crude form. Since 1939, however, most of the capacity of the Southern Line has been diverted to the C.R.L. Refinery at Haifa and there treated; and since 1944 considerable quantities of crude have been ferried from Tripoli terminal to Haifa for the same purpose. At Tripoli itself, the Company in December, 1946, acquired from the French authorities a small Refinery which the latter had constructed during the war. With an annual throughput of some 225,000 tons (likely to be materially increased in the near future) this refinery has served the local needs of the Lebanon and Syria, or at least some two-thirds of these. Its usefulness may . well be superseded by the construction of major refineries on the Lebanese or Syrian coast in the future-projects which are indicated by concessions already granted. (el The Companies' Operations: The Levant States The preceding section has described the LP .C. pipe-line system which traverses each of the four territories now to be mentionedSyria, Lebanon, Palestine and Transjordan. In every case, rights of transit were obtained from the Governments in 1931, each Convention having a period of 70 years and containmg rights for the construction of refineries and connected operations. Mention has been made also of the C.R.L. Refinery at Haifa, which disposes of a large part of the LP.C. oil throughput, and of the smaller Tripoli Refinery. The length of main pipe-line in the Syrian Republie is 263 miles and it includes three main-line stations and the Homs Depot. In the Lebanon there are 20 miles of main line and the Tripoli TenninaL In Transjordan there are 207 miles of main line with two main-line stations and the smaller Jordan Valley Relief Station, and the railhead depot of Mafraq. In Palestine the pipe-line measures 39 miles and runs into Haifa TerminaL The Companies have, however, in each of the four countries, activity additional to that connected with the pipe-line, carried on by associated companies formed for the purpose. In Syria, the LP.C. began, in 1934, to show its willingness to explore for oil by applying, under existing mining legislation and on equal terms with other applicants, for Exploration Permits in various parts of the country. Nine such four-year permits were granted during the period 1934 to 1936. They consisted of 38 squares in all, each 0, 100 sq. km., at six. different locations and aU in desert areas. In addition, one Permit (3 squares) was obtained by purchase in 1936 from its holder, a local asphalt company. Five further Permits (37 squares) were applied for in 1936, but were not in fact issued. On aU these Permit areas intensive geological work was carried out and necessary reports submitted to the Mines Service of the High Commissioner. Pennits acquired in the name of I.P.C. were transferred 12 I P.C. HAND"BOOK SECTION J to Petroleum Concessions, Ltd., in 1937. Those falling due for renewal in 1938, in accordance with the law, were duly renewed. Late in 1936, the deeision was reached to obtain if possible, on behalf of Petroleum Concessions (Syria and Lebanon), Ltd., a Blanket Concession for Syrian oil possibilities. Negotiations began in January, 1937, in Damascus, and continued for some months, but without positive results. A concession for all Syria north of the latitude of Damascus, excepting the Hatay (Alexandretta Sanjaq) and some small areas already granted to others, was finally signed in February, 1938, and ratified by the then competent legislative authority-the Council of Directors-in March, 1940. The Company was renamed the Syria Petroleum Company. Its local headquarters are at Damascus. Drilling on each of the Permit areas in Syria had been completed to required depths before the supersession of the Permit system by the" Blanket Concession." Under the latter, drilling continued actively, to meet an obligation of 3,000 metres per year. Test wells were drilled at Jabal Bishri, Darro and Jibissa, but.in each case without positive results. Operations were still in progress when, in 1941, it became necessary to suspend operations and a " Period of Suspension " was granted by the Government. Field work was recommenced immediately after the war with preparatory road-making, water finding, provision of plant and materials, erection of buildings, development of railhead depots, etc. Drilling commenced at Baflun in May, 1947, in the presence of a party of high Government officials, and a second well was spudded in at Dola'a (Dhal 'Ah) ill December, while other sites were under active preparation. Aleppo is being used as the forward base for these operations. The Syria Petroleum Company, at the time of writing, retains a controlling interest in the Latakia Asphalt Company which it acquired in 1937; the latter company, however, has its own direction and management in Paris and the eontrol is therefore indirect. Licences issued to the Company for exploration in the Hatay (Alexandretta/Antioch) Saojaq were operated in 1934-1938 and, in addition to exploration, drilling was carried out on that of Tchenguen in 1937. Both, however, were lost to the Company when the area was transferred to Turkey in 1938. In the Lebanon, as .in Syria, the Companies have operated otherwise than in connection with the I.P.C. Pipe-line, Tenninal and Refinery already referred to. The Law governing the search for, and exploitation of, oil in Lebauese territory is identical with that previously-in force in Syria, under which the Company obtained its Exploration Permits in 1934/37. In the Lebanon, a Permit (five squares) was obtained in 1938, and geological field work carried out. The fulfilment of the drilling, or, alternatively geophysical, obligation was ioterrupted by war conditions, and in February, 1942, a Governmental Decree was issued providing for a suspension until after the War .. Work was, in fact, resumed in 1945 and a drilling. site located by geophysical SECfION 3 I P.C. HANDlI.OOK 13 methods. Road making, building and work preparatory to drilling was then undertaken and a well spudded-in in May, 1947, on the labal Tarbol structure, in the presence of Lebanese Ministers and officials. By the end of 1947 it had reached a depth of some 4,500 feet, and by 1st June, 1948, 6,400 feet. In Palestine, the Company, apart from Pipe-line and Terminal activities, interested itself from 1933 onwards in obtaining Exploration Permits for limited areas under the current Oil Mining Law. After the geological obligations of these had been carried out, further groups of licences were obtained by Petroleum Development (Palestine), Ltd., in February and July, 1939, and the obligations arising from these were agreed with the proper authorities. Work in connection with them was inevitably suspended during the period 1941-1945. Since the war, first geophysical work and, later, operations preparatory to drilling were actively pressed forward. A headquarters and base were established at Gaza (Ghazzah) and drilling sites selected, one at Hulaiqat Ridge, a few miles inland, the other at Kurnub, south of Beersheba (Bir Saba'). An approach road to the latter site proved a major operation and buildings in connection with it were begun. The Hulaiqat well was spudded-in in September, 1947, and drilling rcached a depth of some 3,500 feet. Increasing insecurity, however, compelled the Company to suspend operations early in February, 1948, and withdraw its movable stores and personnel. In Transjordan, the T.P.c. obtained an Exploration Permit as early as 1933, and applied for others under revised Mining Legislation introduced shortly before the War. After the War, however, and after the end of the Mandatory Regime, the Company obtained in May, 1947, from the Hashimite Government of Transjordan, a Convention covering the whole territory on lines strictly similar to those agreed in Syria in 1938. The Convention stands in the name of the Transjordan Petroleum Company, which has pursued geological work during 1947/48 and will continue with geophysical research. Negotiations with the Palestine Authorities for transit of rights across Palestine for eventual Transjordan oil resulted, in May, 1948, in the signature of a Supplementary Convention bestowing this right. On the Island of Cyprus the interest of the Company dates from late in 1936, when, with official permission, it was visited by an LP.C. geologist. Areas of possible interest were demarked and late in 1937 the Cyprus Administration took steps to amend the existing Mines Regulations-which dated from 1882-and to propose a form of permit. In April, 1938, a two-year Oil Exploration Permit was obtained covering an area of 2,006 square miles. Since then, two full seasons' geology has been carried out by Petroleum Development (Cyprus), Limited, and one season's geophysical work. A second season of the latter is an immediate prospect and test drilling will follow, if and when it appears justified. Petroleum Development (Cyprus), Limited, maintains an office at Nicosia. l , 14 l.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 3 (d) The Companies' Operations.- Persian Gulf and Arabia The Concessions and Exploration Rights held by the Companies in these areas have been briefly referred to in Section I above, and are listed in Appendix "A". They have led to the undertaking of a considerable volume of Field work in the various territories, ending in one case with the abandonment of the Concession concerned, in others with indeterminate results, and in another with the discovery of an Oil Field. To deal first with Arabia proper, the Concession obtained from King Ibn Sa'ud for the Hijaz and Asir in 1936 led to the fonnation of a Company to implement it-Petroleum Development (Western Arabia), Limited-to the opening of an office at Jedda (Jaddah), and to the mission of geological parties to the territory for its thorough explo-ration. Results were unpromising, test drilling carried out in the Parsan Islands in 1937/38 gave no encouragement, and the Concession was abandoned in 1941. Farther south, limited Exploration Rights were obtained from the Imam of the Yaman in 1937, but geologists, &ent to the coastal area of that territory, reported unfavourably. Possible further Yarnau exploration was under consideration in the winter of 1947/48, but was, at least temporarily, postponed. In the Aden Protectorate, a "Planket" Exploration Permit was obtained in 1938 and has since been renewed periodically. Surface geological parties have explored large areas of the less unhopeful parts of the territory, both before and since the War. An exploration party travelled widely in the Protectorate in the winter of 1947/48, in unexplored country with camel transport. In the Sultanate of Oman, the two Concessions obtained from the Sultan in 1937 led to the despatch of a geologieal party on behaJf of P.D. (Oman and Dhofar), Limited, to the eastern coastal regions of Oman in 1938, while such prospecting as was possible was carried out on the western -outskirts of the main mountain area. Insecurity and obscure political conditions have prevented, however, full exploration of the hinterland. Since the War, a geological party has visited the Dhofar area and further progress is probable in the penetration of the areas of Oman adjacent to the Trucial Coast, and those ringing the Ruba' al Khali . . The Trucial Coast is covered by a series of Concessions obtained between 1937 and 1945 by P.D. (Trucial Coast), Ltd., each for the limited area ruled by the individual Shaikhs with whom H.M.G. is in treaty relations. This territory, which is described later in this handbook, can here be considered as a single unit, from the northern~most tip of Oman to the base of the Qalar Peninsula. The Company from 1938 to the present date-with a six-year War interruption-has made considerable efforts to explore the territory for possible struetures, and has, in 1946/48, invoked the aid of geophysics. Decisions as to SECTJON 4 .P.C. HANDBOOK 15 drilling still lie ahead, and exploration continues. It involves the penetration of remote hinterland areas hitherto unv.isited by Europeans. The Qatar Perunsula----exploration and production rights for which were obtained by A.lO.C. in 1935 on behalf of the Companies, and transferred to Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited in 1936-has produced more of immediate interest than the territories already mentioned. After mapping and stratigraphy leading to location of a structure, drilling commenced in 1939, and oil was discovered before the end of that year. Three wells were completed before the inevitable cessation of work due to the War in 1940, by which time progress had been made towards ultimate produetion. During the War, all the wells were destroyed under military orders, and much material removed. Work was re-started in 1946, and is designed to lead to production and export as early as possible The building of necessary roads, jetties, dwellings, offices, workshops, stores and tbe like has advanced simultaneously with drilling. A new producing well was completed in January, 1948, another in May, and others are in band. Terminal installations are to be erected on the east coast of the Peninsula, and a pipe-line constructed connecting these with the Dukban structure, which itself is not yet fully explored. The base for operations at Qatar (which has its own Fields Manager), and for the Trucial Coast and Oman, is the office of Petroleum Concessions, Limited, at Bahrain. The Company's Manager here acts as local representative for tbe Companies in all these territories, vis-a-vis the Political Resident and his staff, and provides purchasing, forwarding and other entrepat services to the operations in the field. This office was opened in 1936. In all the territories mentioned in this Section excellent relations have been mainlained with the rulers and public to whom, it is hoped, very material economic benefits will accrue, if and as operations develop. § 4. OTHER COMPANIES WITHIN THE RED LINE At the date of the first beginning of the Companies' operations, and even at that of the Red Line Agreement itself (1928),no oil activity, other than that of the LP.C., had yet commenced within the area, except in three widely-spaced instances. Firstly, in the Transferred Territories of the 'Iraq/Iranian border, which formed part of the Anglo-Iranian sphere, oil had been produced, on a small scale, before the 1914 War and was the subject of Agreements with the 'Iraq Government in 1925 and 1926.' Since then, petroleum has been developed in the Naftkhanah field by an ad hoc A.LO.C. subsidiary, the 16 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 4 Khaniqin Oil Company; and tbe same oil which, after refining at their Alwand Refinery neaf Khaniqin, is distributed throughout 'Iraq by K.O.C's twin brother, the Rafidain Oil Company, supplies the domestic needs of northern and central 'Iraq to an extent of some 200,000 tons per year. Secondly, the Shell Company had obtained a Concession from the Idrisi Amir of Asir in 1921 for the Farsan Islands in the southern Red Sea, but, after drilling, abandoned it: they conducted also some geological exploration elsewhere in South-western Arabia, while, in the East and South-east of the Peninsula, Anglo-Iranian geologists had appeared and vanished again. Thirdly, a licence was granted in 1925 by the Shaikh of Bahrain to the Eastern and General Syndicate, but work did not begin for some years. The first five years of the thirties was the period when non-Company activity within the area assumed an important scale. Concessions became operative in Sa'udi Arabia, Bahrain Island, and the Principality of Kuwait. These will be briefly considered in turn. In 1933, the Standard Oil Company of California obtained an extensive Concession from King Ibn Sa'ud for Eastern Sa'udi Arabia,the Al Hasa province in its widest extension-to which areas were added, by a further COllvention in 1939, towards the centre of the Peninsula. California associated itself with the Texas Company and the combined concern became known first as the Californ.ia Arabian Standard Oil Company and later, since 1944, as the Arabian American Oil Company, or Aramco. Still more recently, important shares in Aramco have been-or are likely to be-acquired by the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and by Socony-Vacuum. In this Concession, believed to cover some 450,000 squ_are miles; at least five oil fields of major importance have been discovered; those of Damman, Abu Hadriyah, Abqaiq, Qatif and Buqqah. A loading port has been built at Ras Tanura, fed by pipe-lines from Damman and Abqaiq, and a submarine pipe-line conveys large quantities of crude from Damman for refining on Bahrain Island. A Refinery has been constructed on the Ras Tanura Peninsula which was processing 115,000 barrels per day in 1947. Work has commenced also (\947) on a 1,100 mile 30-31 inch pipe-line from the Abqaiq field to the Mediterranean, with a designed capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. This pipe-line enterprise is being handled by TransArabian Pipe-line Company (" Tapline "), a Company owned by the same Group. Aramco production has increased lrom lO,OOO barrels a day in 1939 to 240,000 in 1947 and this figure is expected to rise rapidly hereafter. At Bahrain, the Eastern and General Syndicate'S Licence was assigned in 1930 to the Bahrain Petroleum Company, a Company owned jointly by the S.O.c. of California and the Texas Company, but in this case registered in Canada. A later extension to the original Licence included all islands of the Bahrain group within the Concession. In the one field, diseovered on the main island in 1934, production SECTION 4 J.P.C. HAND1300K " began in 1936 and, reaching 1,000,000 tons in 1937, has remained substantially at that figure until the present day. "Bapco" operates a Refinery of 135,000 barrels per day near its producing field, handling over 100,000 barrels per day of Sa'udi Arabian crude from Damman, in addition to its own. Finally, a Concession was granted by the Shaikh of Kuwait in 1934 to the Kuwait Oil Company, a concern jointly owned by A.I.O.C. and by the Gulf Exploration Company and registered in Great Britian. The Concession covers the whole Sbaikhdom of some 6,000 square miles. The Burghan field, discovered in 1938, is considered by some expeT(s to be almost or quite the largest single oilfield in the World. Production operations, which ceased during the War, were actively revived in 19.46 and crude shipments commenced in June of that year. Some 16,000 barrels a day wcre exported in 1946 and 43,000 in 1947 ; the years following will see this figure very greatly increased. The future of Kuwait production is likely to be connected with a pipe-line project, . now known to be under consideration by A.I.O.C. and the New Jersey and Soeony Companies, for an Iran/Kuwait/Mediterranean pipe-line, but this, at the time of writing, still belongs to the ruture. It does not seem likely that future major production enterprises by Companies outside the I.P.c. Group will come into existence within the Red Line area in the foreseeable future, but to this general statement there may be two exceptions. The first is the possibility of production in Turkey, whether by the Turkish Government or by others, and the second that of production in the Kuwait/Sa'udi Neutral Zone, the oil rights for which were, at the time of writing, on the point of being assigned by the Shaikh of Kuwait, though" Aramco ,. already . owns those of King Ibn Sa'ud. The future of other companies' refinery enterprises within the area cannot exactly be foreseen, but is certainly important. The Haifa Refinery of Co!]s(llidated Refineries Limited (C.R.L.), which has been operating since 1939, was, when shut down in May, 1948, in process of expansion far beyond its 1945/46 throughput of 4,000,000 tons. And concessions have been granted to American and French Companies for the erection of Refineries on the coast of the Lebanon in connection partly with LP.C. crude to be dclivered there, and partly with Arabian crude likely in the future to be piped to the Mediterranean. THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST AND ISLAM § 5. nlE REGION The area within which the Companies operate has already been defined as that of the 1914 Turkish Empire. It embraces, therefore, the greater part of the Middle East which formed a single Military Command during the 1939-45 War, with the omission only ofIran and the Middle East territories in Africa; and it embraces certain areasthe Persian Gulf Shaikhdoms, Bahrain, Oman, Aden-which were never effectively Turkish. The Principality of Kuwait is not included within the Red Line. The relation of the Companies' area to that of the Arab World is that (except for Kuwait) it includes all the Arab territories in Western Asia, while including also the non-Arab lands of Turkey and Cyprus. The region as a whole forms the meeting place of three continents; it is bordered by the waters of three seas, the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf. It possesses a rough but significant measure of geographical unity, and a degree of resemblance can be found between the natural and climatic conditions which exist in most of its various territories; this, however, does not preclude a wide diversity such as that, for instance, of Cyprus from the T rucial Coast, or of the Empty Quarter of Arabia from the uplands of Kurdistan . The region, apart from its fortune of situation in a central area of man's development, has enjoyed conditions generally favourable to human life. Though fiercely hot-but with a dry and not unhealthy heat-in its contipental areas, it suffers from no other major climatie defects, and has never been afflicted with the ;; White Man's Grave" reputation of some tropical territories. The constituent areas are 20 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION ~ closely knit with clear inter-communication everywhere: indeed, for many reasons besides those of geography, the eastern Arab World fOTIns a unit within whieh the closeness of inter-relation and sense of unity are remarkable. Admittedly, it is divided to-day into many separate political units; these number indeed no less than sixteen, cOllnting the Trucial Coast Shaikhdoros as a single unit, and their political development and standing, as well as their economics and society, are very diverse ranging, as they do, from a Colonial or Protectorate status to the complete independence of Sovereign States. Nevertheless, there is everywhere an active Arab consciousness and pride, a sense of belonging to a single fraternal group. The language of aU the territories, save Turkey and Cyprus, is Arabic, with minority languages on a -greater or lesser scale in some. The religion of all, except Cyprus and half the Lebanon, is, with the same reservation, unifonnly that of Islam. The Middle East has at all times attracted the particular attention of mankind. It has been the scene, since the remotest antiquity, of successive civilisations which have played great parts in human progress. It has seen the Empires of Egypt and of Akkad, of Assyria, Babylonia and Persia; it has witnessed the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Empires of his successors, the conquests and defeats of the Roman eagles, and the long reign of Byzantium. Within it occurred the birth and spread of the world's great religions, the rapid conquests of Islam, followed by the successive Empires of the Khalifs, and the struggles of the Cross and Crescent. It has seen the rise and fall of the Turkish Empire, and the growth of many independent or semi-independent Islamic States. The interest of the region in the fields of history, natural features, culture and society, needs indeed little emphasis, as later pages of this Handbook will indicate. It has had also througbout the ages, and retains to-day, other claims to importance. It is an indispensable bridge in world and strategic communications. It affords territories and facilities vital to the conduct of a modern and global war. Jt contains valuable harbours and air:ports. It includes manpower of high value and populations closely specialised to their various regions and means of livelihood. It contains raw materials, offers local markets, and affords the lines of communication to others beyond. More particularly, it has been found during the last generation to contain mineral oil supplies in 'Iraq and on the Eastern-Arabian littoral, which already carry it to a high, and may one day carry it to the highest, place among the oil-producing regions of the world. Apart, therefore, from considerations based on human interests and values, the Red Line area must be considered as a region in which peace, stability and progress are necessary to the good of the civilised world. It is correspondingly important that the main features of its history and its present-day life should be understood. As a background for such understanding-which only long personal contact can complete-the pages of this Handbook dealing SECTION 6 21 I P.C. HANDBOOK with the Arab Middle East as a whole (Sections 6 to 8) will briefly discuss islamic society and the early origins and expansion, the religious sects and institutions, of that world .. It will then pass to consider non-religious factors in the modern Middle East-nationalism, internationalism, and tribalism-and will glance in passing at the Arabic language and ealendar. § 6, ISLAMIC FAITH AND SOCIETY (a) The Faith The Muhammadan religion prevails throughout the Middle East, with local minorities of non-Islamic (Christian or Jewish) population. The faith of the Prophet is among the principal religions of the world; Muslims form about one-fifth of the human race and number between 250 and 300 millions. More than half of this number are in Asia. In Europe, Islam, despite wide early conquests under the Khalifs and under the aggressive Ottoman Empire, has failed to hold its place; it has lost Spain and survives but marginally in the Balkans and Southern Russia. In Africa it prevails in the Western and Northern, and is well represented in the Eastern, areas of the Continent, where Christianity and Paganism are its rivals. In Western and Central Asia it has no serious competitors. It is, indeed, remarkable that the Islamic peoples dwell almost (but not quite) exclusively in the Heat Belt of the earth's surface, between Latitudes 30 N. and 30 S.-a fact not without significance in their history and character. In its origins the system of Muhammad involyed (in so far as such aims were fonnulated) a single state theocratically controlled, with no law but the divine, and a religious sanction for every act of human life. But since the seventh century A.D. IsiaDl has travelled far; to-day many varieties of law and custom, of social forDl and of political grouping, are to be found among the many Islamic state-s into which the Muslim world is divided. Nevertheless, and in addition to a common body of doctrine and a profound sense of tradition. and continuity, much remains of a common and characteristic way of life, of which the outward observances are familiar. Every Muslim is still obliged (though some in practice fail) to carry out his five fundamental Duties. These are: the solemn affirmation of his Faith; worship (that is, ceremonial prayer) :live times a day; the fast during the month of Ramadhan ; the journey at least once in a lifetime on pilgrimage to Mecca; and alms-giving to the poor. Upon an Islamic community as such is incumbent the duty to obey the call to a Holy War (jihad) aDd" to command right and forbid wrong". 22 f.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTLON 6 Other signs of unity throughout the faith are the common keeping of stated festivals. The chief of these throughout all Islam are: the Breaking of the Fast on the first ~ay of the month following Ramadhan ; the Feast of Sacrifices, on the tenth day of the Month of Pilgrimage; and the Prophet's birthday. To these most Islamic countries add others of local or sectarian..or political interest. All Muslims abstain, or should abstain, under pain of grave contamination, from the flesh of pigs, from that of animals slaughtered otherwise than ceremonially, and from the use of wine. The practice of the Arts, as we understand these, was taboo in earlier days; sculpture and painting were frowned upon by the orthodox as tending to idolatry; while dancing and music were ,considered frivolous and unworthy. Inevitably, however, urban Muslims in all countries (except Arabia) have applied the ball to these art-forms with less and less severity, and it is in force to-day only in the remoter areas. (b) The Expansion of Islam Both in Arabia itself and throughout wide areas of the Middle East and Africa, the foundation and foreign conquests of the Islamic State (as, perhaps contrary to his intentions, it became soon after Muhammad's life-time) represented the end of ancient times and the beginning of a Middle Age. To the completeness and rapidity of this ,expansion a page may well be devoted. In the lifetime of the Prophet, who died in A.D. 632, a compact Islamic theocratic community eame into existence in the central Hijaz and Najd, with many tentative conversions elsewhere ill ArabiaYam an, At Hasa, Oman. These were consolidated. into reliable Muslim provinces, the Lakhmid kingdom of Hirah on the Euphrates was conquered, 'Iraq wa~ raided and Syria entered by the forces of Abu Bakr, the first Khalif. Under 'Umr (634 to 644) the occupation of Syria was completed, Egypt overrun and easily retained, 'Iraq and the Sassanian (Persian) Empire conquered. Under 'Uthman (644 to 656) North Africa was added, Cyprus occupied, and eastern Persia and Turkistan made tributary. Under Mu'awiyah and his early successors in the Khalifate of Damascus, north-west Africa became Muslim, the Indus was reached and crossed, and in 713 Spain was enteled and .conquered. An era of detennined attack on the "Greek" empire began. Thus for three generations nothing except the Anatolian mountains ·could stop the Muslim annies, composed as they were in their earliest period of raw levies and villagers led by officers lacking all experience save that of desert raiding. These forces, nevertheless, profited by a reception sometimes cordial, sometimes but feebly resistant; they were quick to adopt the arms and methods of the vanquished; they treated the settled inhabitants without hostility, taxed them lightly, did not insist on conversions. The impetus of forces which started as SECTiON 6 I p.e HANDBOOK 23 raiding parties and were surprised to fi.nd themselves conquerors, settlers and governors, carried the name and power of Islam beyond Persia and the Oxus to India and Central Asia, beyond Africa into Spain and even France, in the space of a few years. And even the civil wars which broke out during the first generation after the Prophet's death-wars based first on family jealousies, then on sectarian bitterness, then on racial antipathy-could no!, for all their long-drawn ferocity, prevent the establishment of the Muslim faith and manner of life in almost the whole of this vast empire and the Arabic language in most of it. Historians accustomed to the periodic overflowing of Arabia into neighbouring countries-Akkadians, Habash, Amorites, Hebrewsmust nevertheless be amazed at the scale of the Islamic outburst, and still more at the permanence of the political and cultural change it effected. To the diversity of the countries occupied, the well~marked characteristics of their civilisations, and the readiness of the handful of primitive, uneducated invaders to adopt manners and methods far more advanced than their own (in Egypt, Syria, 'Iraq, Persia and India) is due the early division of Islam into spheres of hybrid culture as well as schools of doctrine; and from these the emergence of independent Islamic States was an inevitable step. Hence the successive Khalifates of Madinah, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo; al1d hence the many states of lesser degree founded by military leaders, immigrants from the East or tribesmen of the Fertile Crescent or North Africa. No sufficient unifying power was ever found in Islam on its political side after the early years of the 'Abbasids; the Seljuks had the power but not the vision or technique; the Mongols had all these but not the Faith ; the Turks, who, in fact, united much of Islam, came too late for the absorption of Persia or India. (c) Islamic Sects The Prophet is said to have foretold that his community would split into 73 sects, of which one only would be orthodox. His words have been generously fulfilled. Islam has followed other great religions (and notably the Christian) in devoting much energy over many centuries to the splitting of hairs of doctrine and re-writing or re-interpreting history. Although the general lines of theology and ethics are· generally similar in all Islamic countries, and differ far more from anything non-Islamic than from each other, yet differences of sect cannot be quite ignored and will come to the notice even of strangers and Unbelievers. The latter need make no attempt to master doctrinal niceties, except where these are obviously reflected in outward observance, degree of fanaticism, or attitude to outsiders. No full catalogue of Islamic sects or schools can here be attempted. They fan, in very general terms, into the categories of Orthodoxy 24 I.P.C. IiANDBOOK SECTION 6 (followers of the Sunnah), and that of Heterodoxy (the Shi'ah), with a number of ~ects, and survivals of sects, which fall into neither group. Within the Sunnah are four codes of the Law and schools of observance, each bearing the name of its founder who, during the early centuries of Islam, interpreted the Qurall and Traditions into slightly differing bodies of Law. To-day North Africa follows the system of Malik bin 'Ans whose followers are known as Malikites. Turks (or such of them as still practise the religion, which their State has disestablished), orthodox Indians, and millions in Western Asia follow the interpretation of Abu Hanifah, founder of the Hanifites. The disciples of Hamid bin Hanbal, founder of the Hanbalites, are now relatively few and chiefly to be found in Arabia. In the Dutch East Indies, the Levant, part of 'Iraq, and considerable pockets elsewhere, are the Shafeites, who follow Shafi'i. The differences between these schools are not profound and outward forms are to the stranger's eye almost identical. The second group in Islam (now by faT smaller than that of the Sunnah) is that of the Shi'ah. It is founded upon the controversy which arose in the earliest days as to the succession to the Khalifate-a controversy partly doctrinal, partly personal, partly racial. Those who supported-and pursued in bitter and bloody civil wars-the cause of the Prophet's son-in-law 'Ali-and his sons-may be taken as the founders of the Shi'i doctrine, which still prevails throughout Persia and holds the allegiance of half 'Iraq. The Sbi'i Muslims are, on the w!lOte, less progressive in terms of the modern world, have incorporated more pre-Islamic belief in their Islam, and are more emotional in their religious practice than their contemporaries; and relations between the two great branches of the Faith are at times unfriendly. The Shi'i devotees add to nonnal Islamic feastdays the festivals commemorating the deaths of 'Ali and his son; special solemnity-and in places strong emotion-attaches to the first ten days of the month of Muharram. Sh'ism itself has been split, for theological or historical reasons, into many sects of varying importance. Such are the Zaidis, who prevail in the ·Yarnan ; ·the lthna'ashariyah, upholders of the legitimacy of the Twelve Imams; the Isma'ilis of North Syria and elsew.here (who admit only Seven Imams, and from whom spring the Assassins), the Matawilah of the southern Lebanon, the Nusairis (or Ansariyah) of the Latakiyah hinterland, and others. The Khawarij; originally a political offshoot of Shi'ism, believed in force as_an argument in religion, but are now almost extinct. They are, however, still represented by- the 'Ibadhi sect of South Eastern Arabia, founded by 'Abdullah bin 'lbadh in the eighth century A.D. Half of the present population of Oman are his followers, and maintain that the Imamatc should be filled always by the most suitable candidate, never by mere heredity. Among latter-day Tslamic movements a great _ and abiding historical importance attaches to the Wahbabi movement, founded in Central Arabia by Muhammad bin 'Abdul Wahhab, whose • SECTION 6 I P.C. HANDBOOK 25 first convert was a Najd amir, Muhammad bin Sa'ud, in the mid-years of the eighteenth century. Thc religious movement, one of Puritanism and a return to the primitive doctrines of the Prophet, soon took a militant form; it dominated the Najd oases and threatened the neighbouring territories of 'Iraq, where they sacked Karbala, and of eastern Arabia, where they over-ran the coast lands, of which they still hold the At Hasa province. King 'Abdul 'Aziz bin Sa'ud, ruler of Sa'udi Arabia, is today the head of this virile branch of Islam, which remains closely identified with the Arabian Peninsula itself. Two other offshoots of Islam in rccent days may be mentioned. The first is the Ahmadiyah movement, which appeared in North India late in the nineteenth century. The other, the Baha'i movement which originated in Persia, attempts a synthesis of other religions with Islam and has gained many adherents in America; it cannot however be considered as a true branch of Islam, but rather as a new religion with Islamic elements. (d) The KhaliJate No office in Islam is more frequently mentioned than that of Khalif (Caliph). A few lines on this office may be of some service to the uninitiated. Muhammad claimed to be, while in no way divine, one of-indeed the last of-the series of Prophets which had already included Moses and Jesus Christ. There could be no full heir to such a position: yet a single authority to preserve the Prophet's religion and to protect and govern the Faithful was held to be necessary. It was found in the " Successor" (Khalifah) appointed, in the person of Muhammad's aged father-in-law Abu Baler, immediately upon his death. Abu Bakr was followed by 'Umr, he by 'Uthman, and he by 'Ali, the first cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. The resentment of 'Ali and his followers that he had not been the first choice-and his limited acceptability and ultimate murder after a short disputed reignproduced, as is well known, the great split in islam between the Shi'is and Sunnis. To the Shi'i all Khalifs are illegitimate except 'Ali and his twelve (or, as some say, seven) lineal successors; the last of these disappeared, and will reappear some day as the Mabdi. Meanwhile, they hold, there can be no Khalif. The manner in which a Khalif ought to be selected has exercised Sunni Muslim j mists for centuries. In actual practice it has been solved usually by the use of force; but personal prestige, heredity and opportunity are always elements in the case-and indeed heredity tended, in the Ummayyid, 'Abbasid and later Khalifates, to prevail whenever adequate arms could back it, or mere passive acceptance was probable. . This did not ·prevent the office from attaining not only effective power in successive great empires but also-and notably in 'Abbasid 26 I P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 6 days when the Khalifwas in fact the prisoner of bis Turk or barbarian guards-great spiritual influence. The petty or even the considerable independent rulers who governed pafts of the' Abbasid empire, all (like a medieval Emperor from a Pope) sought investiture from the puppet Khatif, and, even after the death of the last 'Abbasid in Baghdad in 1158, a successor moved to Cairo, where the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt were willing to accept his purely nominal suzerainty. Elsewhere in the same period (1260 to 15(0) many other Muslim potentates themselves adopted the style of Khalif-an evident perversion and stultification of its original use. Whatever the precise function of the office (most fully formulated by learned Doctors) or mode of selection, there could obviously be only one at a time, and he genuinely dominant in the Islamic world. It was from the bands of the powerless" 'Abbasid " of Cairo that Salim I, Emperor of the Ottoman Turks, took over the title of Khalif in 1516,. to enrich and stabilise his own throne. Since 1924, when the Turks expelled the last Khalif and abolished the post in Turkey, many proposals for reviving it have been made, especially in Egypt and in Arabia; but many feel that such a revival, in an age of nation-states, would he too obviously an anachronism, and could scarcely have wid~rtainly never universal-acceptance. (e) Islamic Society Though religious intolerance in Islamic society still exists in some areas, Christian residents will, in most Muslim circles to-day, findthemselves tolerated or welcomed, provided always that their own manners and deportment are above reproach. Nevertheless, the sense of exclusive solidarity, throughout aU Islamic society, still far transcends any equivalent feeling in Christendom; the European visitor will do well to remember that to an orthodox Muslim of the old school an unbeliever, however wealthy or cultured, can never be other than an inferior. Muslim society, which in recent centuries has not, in general, competed with the Western world in material or scientific progress, has had more time, it may be claimed by some, for developing the art of living itself. In the best Islamic circles is to be found an unhurried dignity, a correctness of speech and manner, and a respectful treatment of rich and poor alike, from which the West (not excluding the Western visitor or resident on the spot) may have something to learn; and the view has sometimes been expressed among Muslims that some of the younger generation who have abandoned this traditional code of manners as outworn, have failed to acquire another. of equal value. The institution of slavery is tolerated by Islamic doctrine, and in practice is by no means dead in the less advanced areas of the Middle East, though its evils are reduced to a minimum by indulgent treatment. • SEcnoN 7 l.P.C. HANDBOOK 27 The essential democracy of Islam, indeed, has often permitted a slave or ex-slave to achieve high office as Governor or Ruler's representative. This democracy, very real in early Muslim society, has grown less as Western influences have led to bureaucracy and social grading and have produced privileged classes where formerly only the Sayidsdescendants of the Prophet-could claim to be better thall their fellows. But courtesy to the poor and humble remains univer;sally a duty. The fact that Islam provides for easy divorce and the practice (pennitted, but in fact rarely practised) of polygamy, and that women are in some old-fashioned circles still treated outwardly as inferior, is far from excusing any laxity in a European's treatment of them. In the more progressive grades of society, women are increasingly educated and emancipated and have often dropped or are fast dropping the use of the veil; in many countries and tribal districts it is not used at all. Nevertheless, the veiling and seclusion of women is still general Islamic practice,.and as such to be respected. The same applies to the practice of prayer in public, so foreign to Christian or Western habit; the Muslim has, indeed, no shyness in the observance and discussion of his religion. § 7. THE MODERN ARAB WORLD (a) Physical Origins The behaviour of modern peoples, and their present-day political grouping, have little connection with their racial origins; nor can definition easily dispose of the question, " What is an Englishman, or an American?" The practical criterion lies, evidently, in place of residence, language and sometimes political allegiance, and-above all-in the consciousness of continuity in, and loyalty towards, origins and culture and traditions shared with the rest of a community. Nevertheless, as the question, "What is an Arab?" is sometimes asked, it may be worth examining the connection, if any, in this case between physical origins and present allegiances. It has been readily assumed by the general public-and, uDlil recently, even by scholars-that the Arab and the Jew were both directly traceable to the aboriginal nomads of Arabia, who had evolved locally from prehistoric times and suffered differentiation (not great, since both are" Semites ") through varieties of the later admixture [0 which both, after emerging from their deserts, had been subject. The_ Arab, and the Jewish, racial origin seems, however, ill fact to be rather more complex than this. It is believed that, in the late glacial period when Central Europe was still ice-covered, Arabia was 28 I.P.C. HANDUOOK SECTION 7 ralllY and fertile. This theory is supported by existing (now dry) water-courses, as well as by general probability. In Arabia the first inhabitants were probably a dark-skinned shortish population intermediate, it is suggested, between the African Hamites and the Dravidians ofIndia, and forming a single African-Asian belt with these. Into these were attracted, probably in successive waves, elements of the fairerskinned populations of western Persia (forerunners of the Elamites and Kassites), of Asia Minor (fathers or uncles of the Annenians and Hittites), and of the Mediterranean coast lands. The result of these invasions or infiltrations was the formation of differentiated types in Arabia; differences faintly, perhaps, reflected in Arab tradition of tribe-origins. The varieties of Semitic speech suggest that the original proto-Semitic speech of the dark aborigines was adopted by all the incomers, but in each case with variety due to survivals of their own earlier tongue, to the degree of admixture, and to the lapse of time. Hence the appearance of Sabaean, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and many other Semitic dialeets, while the upward thrust from Arabia (after its climatic deterioration) would account for the appearance of other Semitic varieties in Assyria, north Syria and elsewhere. The varying" Semitic" peoples had much in common, from the high proportion of common blood and still more from common environment; but the differences are wen marked in character and in physical type. The Arab has a dominant strain of Mediterranean blood, giving him a long skull, thin lips, straight nose. The Jew, on the other hand, is traceable to the Anatolian highlands, where the Armenian still has (and the Hittite had) the characteristic" Jewish" nose and a round skull. The Jews of to-day are members of a cultural rather than of a racial group, since to the early Hebrew above described have been added conversions or accretions from every physical race; yet the Armenoid-Arabian type is still highly characteristic. Tbe Arab, by adopting into his religious, linguistic and political fold the peoples conquered in the seventh and eighth ce.nturies A.D., has not less mingled his first racial type (itself a hybrid) with most of the other peoples of western Asia. The" Arab world" of to-day does not consist of territories inhabited by racially" pure" Arabs, but by populations, mainly Muslim in religion, who derive their traditions, speech and cultural consciousness from Arabia, without much regard to their own physical origins. (b) Nationalism Islam, -though it stands for far more in Eastern life and society than for mere religious belief, is nevertheless not the only major force in these territories for which sympathetic understanding is necessary. Otl>er features which confront the European resident can be considered • SECTION 1 I P.C. HANDBOOK 29 in the course of accounts of the territories which will be reviewed hereinafter; but two at least are of such general occurrence that they may well be mentioned at this stage. The first is the force of Nationalism, the second is the phenomenon of Arab tribalism. Nationalism is based on the territorial and political units into which geography and a diversity of racial blends and historical or dynastic causes have partitioned the Arab world. Tpe latest phase of the Nationalist movement (which inevitably has reached very different stages in different countries) has been in general one Of emergence from some form of tutelage to complete independence as a modern State. Such aspiration has, of course, little or no place in the politically primilive populations of Southern Arabia, or the Trucial Coast; nor has it been a matter of controversy-because already realised-in Turkey, Sa'udi Arabia and the Yaman. But elsewhere in the Middle East it has been until recently, or still is, the dominant element in politics, and has greatly affected the treatment of foreigners and their enterprises. Its phases demonstrate on the political side, in fact, the struggle which agitates all Middle Eastern life to-day: the struggle between the desire wholeheartedly to adopt Western methods, including political forms, and the instinct to adhere to locally-rooted and Islamic traditions. Even where the emergence to independence is now complete, there remains sometimes a sensitiveness on the subject, a desire to assert or over-assert full national functions in every detail, and a proneness to suspicion of imagined slights to the nation. Where full independence still lies ahead, the struggle to attain it dominates the local political field, and the admini.strativc and even the economic needs of the territory tend sometimes to be subordinated to it. The personal element in such politics-the struggle for power between rival leadersis the more intelligible since political parties as understood in Europe (organised and disciplined groups each with a settled and stab!e policy) scarcely exist; and, in general, the foreign onlooker can find without difficulty matter for criticism in the methods of this or that local administration and its officials, and ill the pretensions or polemics of politicians. Such criticism, however, will be the more restrai.ned the more is known at first hand of the personalities and true conditions of the local political field, and the more broad and intelligent is the attitude of the observer himself. The harshest critic is most often the newcomer or the ignoramus. Love of country is a natural and laudable feeling, the desire for political independence searcely less so; it must be felt by every intelligent citizen of these countries, and would be feh no less by their critics in the same circumstances. (e) Tribalism We pass from the most modern to the least modern side of Middle Eastern life-to that of the tribal world which for many centuries formed the background or hinterland of the local civilisations, and 30 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECfJON 7 which is still dominant to-day in many desen and semi-desert areas; and these form in their extent by far the greater part of the terrain in which the Companies operate. What is that element in a community which makes it a " tribe" as distinct from any other aggregation of persons, tents or houses? The common feature cannot be mere residence together, since a tribe can be widely scattered; it cannot be blood relationship, since this could nev.er be claimed by aU or nearly all members of the same tribe; it cannot be community of occupation or interests, since the same tribe frequently contains members very differently employed. The essential bond is, in fact, the consciousness of a commou tradition; they are born and they die conscious members of the Bani Shamal Of the Albu Junub. This common tradition is always based upon at least the claim of common origin, and involves a sense of common heritage in the general body of tribal lore. Only rarely can the true- common origin of a tribe be discovered as historical fact. It is fonned sometimes around the nucleus of the descendants of a single man (warrior, divine or arbitrator) ; sometimes a tribe ofto-day is no more than a group of previously tribe1ess peasants, among whom has come, two or three generations ago, a leader and unifier; sometimes the necessary nucleus and name are furnished by the entourage of a famous bandit, the attendants of a wayside shrine, (he dwellers at a lonely oasis. Once the group is formed 00 time is lost in producing a legendaty history. The degree of unity existing within the tribe differs widely. It depends.on geograpruca\ compactness and cohesion, on the attitude of Governmelll, and still more upon the personality of the Shaikh, which is all-important. As regards the tribe's internal organisation, precision is impossible. There is no standard machinery for the delegation of authority; all depends on personalities. From the great confederation with scarcely more than a nominal unity, to the tiny group of a halfdozen tents, the ~xtent to which the tribesman is conscious of, and finds reality in, his social unit, depends once again upon the individual Shaikhs and the conditions of the time. The attributes of a good Shaikh are, above all, an acceptable and a powerful personality, with sufficient intelligence to playa part of extreme difficulty. Dignity and the appearance of wisdom, loyalty to the tribal interest, the gift of speech and a reputation for generosity are the qualities most required. The Shaikh's greatest difficulty is to steer a safe course between too great and too little subservience to Government. The tribe which appeals most to the Western imagination is that of the true bedouin; but, in faet, a minority of tribes are of this category. The wholly nomadic, eamel-breed.ing, tent-dwelling, middesert tribe-the most characteristic, because the original and the most unspoilt example of tribalism-is characterised by· the length of its migrations, its strict dependence upon tbe camel, its limited contacts • SECTION 7 I.P.C. liANDBOOK 31 with the towns, its poverty, ignorance, hardihood and material backwardness. The sheep-breeding, but still nomadic or mainly nomadic, tribe is normally somewhat less poor, migrates for shorter distances between more plentiful water-sources, has greater commerce with the settled folk, and permits greater relaxation' of the tribal code in its daily affairs. lts members are, to the true bedouin, less" noble" thall themselves. Still lower ill this scale of .. nobility" is the cultivator whose tribal ways have been diluted, sometimes ahnost to vanishing point, by the claims and habits of non-tribal neighbours, and by oceupations far removed from those of their ancestors. These are non-migratory, though migratory sheep-breeding sections may be attached. The tribal world, from Aleppo to Muscat, ignores frontiers and largely ignores the twentieth century. Its codes and personalities, its economics and daily life, its attitude to the outside world, all offer to the Western visitor matter for deeply interesting study; and, in the practical field of oil operations, it is from steppe 9r fringe-land tribesmen that unskilled labour for desert working parties, and their guards, are largely drawn. Cd) Towns and Villages This account of Middle Eastern nationalism and tribalism must not be allowed to give the impression-one, it is true, which the Company's staff resident there could never fonn-that the inhabitants of the Arab States consist predominantly of politicians and Bedouin. (It is, indeed, too true that such an idea seems sometimes to prevail in Europe and America, whether through mere ignorance or as the effect of belittling propaganda.) The most typical and most numerous member of Middle Eastern society is the townsman and settled villager. Village society, stable and hard-working, is based on agriculture, arboriculture and cottage industry; its members are hardy, intelligent if ill-educated, and susceptible to rapid evolution; they are, in most areas, also self-respecting, hospitable and religious without fanatieism. The standard of material life is generally low, rich men and modern ways are few; but the" feudal lord " or oppressive landlord, "though u.ot unknown, is far from being a dominant feature of village society. In general, landlord-tenant relations are friendly and the organisation of agriculture, though it may leave something to be desired, follows age-long and unresented lines. The town-dwellers cover a wide range of occupations--everything, indeed, from the dOCLOr and lawyer, banker and industrialist, priest and official, to the shopkeeper, mechanic, transport worker or labourer; and among all these and many more, most of the phases and interests of modem European life are represented. Between the ,- upper class," consisting of a few old families, high officials and the rich men of commerce and property-owning, and the " lower class" of day labourers and the very poor, falls the intelligent and nearly always • 32 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 7 political!y-minded middle class which Arab m-wishers love to minimise. This broad section of society is growing yearly in numbers and activity and it is here that the Arab States find not only their civil officials and military officers, but their leading spokesmen and statesmen. They are the makers and the voices of publie opinion, the organisers of local business and industry, owners and editors of the Press, members of the political parties, fathers or brothers of the students. TIle present and future of all these territories-except, for the moment, Sa'udi Arabia and the Persian Gulf principalities-lies in the hands of its middle class more than in those of any other element; and it is correspondingly important to such industrial interests as those of oil. The outward spread of secondary and higher education-including that of women, now well begun-will further increase its influence. The small towns remain backward in their services, buildillg and planning; but" in the larger cities, and particularly in the capitals, b'Teat progress.has been made in recent years towards a higher standard of building, shops, amenities and the public services. Daily life ill the principal Arab towns, always easy and agreeable, involves less and less the sacrifice of any of the material advantages of the Western World. (e) Arab Unity The strong modern movement of Arab nationalism has in fact taken shape in the formation, as we know, of a number of independent Arab States and other units which seek independence. But such local crystallisation by territories is only one form of Arab nationalislll, and not the only form which has found political support and is deeply rooted in history. Arab civilisation was originally and essentially a single unit and took single political form during its greatest period, the Middle Ages. Its unifying influences are still strong and it was in this same direction that it seemed to be moving during the Waf of 1914-18: that of a single Arab State in Western Asia. Nor, in spite of the emergence of sovereign Arab States eaeh with strong local loyalties-and at times not without rivalries or causes of friction among themselves-has there ever ceased to be a feeling among many influential Arab ·statesmen that the achievement of unity has but been postponed. This feeling explains the many references between 1918 and the present day to the need for closer connections between the States, whether in the fields of culture and economics or those of politics also; and strength was given to this movemenl by events which appeared to threaten Arab interests and whic_h evoked an equal response from all the States; such events were Zionist progress in Palestine and, during the War of 1939-45, Franco-Arab relations in Syria and Lebanon. Great Britain, while abstaining from all action or pressure, announced early in the War that she would view with sympathy suitable movements towards Arab unification . • / • 34 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 7 though theatres and concert-halls of high class are generally lacking. There are, nearly everywhere, newspapers in English or French, and those from Europe arrive by air. Club life is well developed. Opportunities for sport vary, inevitably, from region to region; they include, at the best, shooting, polo, cricket and football, golf, tennis and sea-bathing. If these lines have suggested that European residents should keep to themselves, avoiding local society, they have been altogether misleading. Nearly everywhere there are opportunities for foreign residents to enjoy the benefits of local society of one type or another, if such society will receive them. It must, of course, vary from region to region: from the Bedouin of mid-desert to the cultured professional classes of the main cities, from simple cultivator to land-owner, Army Officer or statesman. If the foreign resident is fortunate and deserves his fortune, experience will show him the pleasure of being accepted by, and mixing freely with, the society of many elements in the Arab States. Such acceptance will be secured best by natural adherence to a high standard of manners and courtesy. These qualities rank. high-perhaps the highest-among Arabs: they are the product of centuries of Islamic culture aud self-respecting living, and their possessors cannot be expected to welcome strangers whose own code falls lower. Above all, the European must avoid any impression, such as ignorance or shyness may sometimes cause, of condescension or of supposing that differences in social customs imply the superiority of his own. The foreigner does well to remember that his Arab friends have at least as much right to criLicise him and his ways and methods as he them, and that if such criticism is friendly on one side, it will be so on both. There is little need to emphasise the desirability for foreign residents to learn Arabic, and learn it well, even though knowledge of English or Frendl is now very common among the Arab middle and upper class. At the same time minor outward details of social life, upon which first impressions are often based, should be studied, even to the detail of drinking coffee, entering rooms, saluting friends and avoiding topics of conversation eschewed by Arab custom. It would be over-simple and unreal to ascribe to the Arabs throughout the region a single range of qualities; as elsewhere, human beings vary profoundly in personality, social equipment and traits of character. Nevertheless one may, for the benefit of the ignorant, mention those qualities which, quite in general, seem to characterise the Arab face just as certain abiding tendencies mark this or that race in Europe. First comes, as has been suggested already, their high standard of personal courtesy shown from the first approach by a code of manners slightly ceremonious but not insincere. Secondly, comes a genuine friendliness based on human interest and expressing itself, almost embarrassingly often, in hospitality. Thirdly, one should mention the quick and responsive humour which is a chief delight of Arab society, and does more than anything to bridge the gaps of unfamiliarity; nowhere in the World are there more or better raconteurs or a readier supply of humorous comment. These spring, SECTION 8 LP.C. HANDBOOK 35 fourthly, from the quick intelligence which only a small minority of Arabs lack: they are the readiest of men to seize a meaning and react to it. Finally, though no race in the World lacks its sad examples in the contrary sense, the Arabs possess a sense of self-respect, of sp,ortsmanship, upon which, in most circles, their friends can count; fe~ indeed are deaf to lhe voice of sharaf or are otherwise than shamed by 'aib-disgrace. There need be little insistenee upon certain "don'ts" for the foreign resident or visitor. He should abstain from local politics, and from politicians in all except their private capacity; these are matters which do not concern him-a mere interested spectatorand into wliich he will plunge only with danger to himself and his employers. Next, he should discard utterly any idea that the supposed .. Islamic inferiority of women" justifies him in any carelessness at folly in their regard. Thirdly, most Arabs-and the best among them -take their religion seriously, and regard it and its ceremonies and buildings as a field into which non-Moslems can enter only with caution and with careful regard to local custom: one cannot stroll into Mosques, or smile at Muharram processions. • § 8. LANGUAGE AND CALENDAR (a) The Arabic Language Arabic is a higWy developed Semitic language whose present (literary) form was established in Western Arabia during the Times of Ignorance, before the appearance of the Prophet. Being characteristieally the language of the Quran and of all Islamic tradition, it has enjoyed-above all in the expansion period of Islam, seventh to tenth centuries-an extraordinary diffusion, and now enables an Arabic-speaker to partake in the best social as well as religious life from mid-Asia to the Atlantic. Islam is as inconceivable without Arabic as was medieval Christianity without Latin. The language itself is simple in its sentence-structure and syntax, complicated but always logical in its accidence and inflexions. It is embarrassingly rich in vocabulary (which no one speaker nor student ean hope to master in its entirety), and contains a far greater variety of alternative forms than are called for by any requirement of thought or expression; many of these are now archaic or disused. Correct word-terminations are liLtle used in ordinary speech, nor vowel-signs in writing. The phonetics are, to a non-Arab, difficult-and, indeed. appear to be unattainable by most Englishmen; this applies somewhat to the gutturals Kh and gh (kha and ghain), but far more to the deep aspirate h (ha) and the strong but almost soundless guttural 'ain. Nevertheless, even a European can reach a standard far higher tban 36 l.P.C. HANDBOOK SEcnON 8 is now usual if (but only if) he is prepared to take considerable trouble over a long period and, of course, to master the written language. The Arabic of modern books, official papers, and newspapers throughout the Middle East from Egypt to the borders of Iran and Muscat is almost uniform, with only slight vocabulary differen()Cs. This uniformity, however, does not extend to the spoken word. In this, inter-territory variety is less in the higher social or official circles, where die written language and wider knowledge provide a higher common denominator; but even here there are considerable phonetic differences (such as hard g for j, omission of q, s ·for th, etc.), as well as those of .vocabulary. Among the poor and illiterate, the dialect differences are at their most marked, and will seriously embarrass a European moving for the first time from one Arab territory to another. He will find, however, that the actual similarity between dialects is greater than the different quality given to some consonants, tbe different forms of clipping, and the alternative words used for many common objects, will at first suggest. The spoken Arabic of 'Iraq is well-pronounced, but many Turkish and Persian words (and some curious local expressions) are in common use: that of the Hijaz is relatively unspoilt; that of Trausjordan and inland Syria resembles 'Iraqi, but is purer and uses fewer foreign importations; that of the Levant coast is clipped and phonetically degenerate, approximating to the dialect of Egypt. Arabia still speaks a pure and semi-archaic Arabic, affected on the Gulf and Oman coasts by Baluchi and Indian influences. In all territories there is a tendency for the educated classes to use expressions from the most locally familiar European tonguenotably that of France in Syria. French is spoken by almost all educated Syrians and Lebanese, and by many Palestinians; English by a few in 'Iraq, by fewer in Transjordan, by many in Palestine, and by all graduates of the American University of Beirut. South of a line Basrah-Suez, no European language has penetrated, except to rare individuals. The transliteration of Arabic words into a European language presents an abiding difficulty. There are scientific and accurate systems, and that used by English orientalists-which differs widely from the French-is now standardised. But it can be appreciated only by persons with knowledge of the original Arabic spelling; it creates an appearance of formidable pedantry; and it runs counter to the accepted popular spelling of many words. Few can face Makkab for Mecca, or Mausil for Mosul. Correct transliteration (English school) translates each single Arabic letter and vowel-sign by an invariable equivalent: e and 0 are never used, but always a and u; r..l.> is th (1I0! s), ~ is h or (at wordendings) t'L is 1)., C is kh, J is dh, but b is z (Of' db), V" is s, but .f is ~, <=.3 is t, but 10 is 1;, .2l is k, but '-' is q; the other letters are obvious. SECTION 9 I.P.C. HANDBOOK 37 (b) The Islamic Calendar Muslim writers invariably use the chronology of their own era, which is still used currently also in the less advanced areas of the Islamic world. The conversion of the Muslim to the Christian year is therefore frequently necessary. Islamic time dates from the Hijrah, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah, which occurred in July, A.D. 622. The Islamic year, being lunar, is shorter than the solar by 10 days, 21 hours, and 14.2/5 seconds. For a convenient approximate method of converting the Muslim to the Christian year, divide it by 33, subtract the quotient from the dividend, and add 622. To convert from Christian to Muslim era, subtract 622, divide the remainder by 33 and add the quotient to the dividend. The results so obtained do not, of course, show the extent of correspondence between the two years; the Islamic New Year's Day may occur at any point late or early in the Christian year; the great Islamic festivals may occur in summer or winter, while falling always on the same day of the same Islamic month. The 1st Muharraill (Islamic New Year's Day), 1327, fell on 23rd January, 1909. 17th March, 1945, corresponded to 3rd Rabi' al Tharn (the fourth month of the year), 1364. Ramadhan, the uneasy month of fasting, falls at present, therefore, in July/August-the worst season possible. The seven·Q.ay week is used in Islam as by ourselves. The weekly day for community prayer is Friday, which is kept as an official holiday by all Muslim Governments, while Sunday is, of course, a normal working day for all State offices. In Islamic countries and the East generally the new day begins at sunset; that is, they describe the 12 hours beginning at 7 p.m. on a Friday as "Saturday night", not as "Friday night "-than which there is no commoner source of misunderstanding by Europeans. The hours, beginning with the" first hour of night", start at sunset; the" first hour of the day" is 12 hours later, irrespective of the time of sunrise. § 9. BOOKS ON ISLAM AND THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST A vast literature on Islam and all aspects of the Middle East awaits such readers of this Handbook as may wish to study these matters further, and the greater their interest the better they will know where t9 look for tbe authorities. Reserving for later mention books dealing with each of the separate territories to be described, 38 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 9 a few general works may be suggested here, covering all or most of the countries, or dealing with subjects which are not territorial. The list will be confined, with rare exceptions, to easily accessible works, in English. Of the history of Islam and of the Arabs, there are excellent accounts in the Encyclopedia of Islam, and less fully in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the Cambridge Medieval History. Full of. interest are: de L. O'Leary, Arabia before Mohammed (London, 1927); D. S. Margoliouth, Muhammad and the Rise of Islam (New York, 1905); T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London, 19l3), and The Caliphate (London, 1924); Sir W. Muir, Life of Muhammad (London, 1858-61), and The Caliphate (ed. T. H. Weir, Edinburgh, 1915). Good recent histories are: C. Huart, Histoire des Arabes (Paris, 1912); P. K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (London, 1939); and, more popular, B. Thomas, The Arabs (London, 1937). For the medieval Muslim Kingdoms, S. Lane-Poole, The Muhammadan Dynasties (Paris, 1925, reprinted). Muslim religion and culture are dealt with in L. Goldziher (tr. by K. C. Seelye), Mohammed and Islam (London, 1917); D. B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, etc. (New York, 1903); T. J. de Boer, History of Philosophy in Islam (London, 1903); Syed Amir Ali, The Spirit of Islam (London, 1896) ; J. Hell (tr. by K. Baksh), The Arab Civilisation (Cambridge, 1926) ; H. A. R. Gibb, Whither Islam? (London, 1932). For matters of doctrine and custom, T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam (London, 1895) is invaluable. A helpful edition of the Quran is that of Maulvi Muhammad Ali (Woking, 1917), in Arabic and English. Arabic literature is the subject of C. Huart, Arabic Literature (London, 1913), and R. A. Nicholson, Literary History of the Arabs (London, 1927). D. G. Hogarth, The Nearer East (Oxford, 1905) is a geographical study of the area. Political or national interests are dealt with by J. R. Mott, The Muslim World of To-day (London, 1925) ; E. W. Polson Newman, The Middle East (London, 1926); G. Antonius, The Arab Awakening (London, 1938); the volumes, beginning with 1925, of the excellent annual Survey by the Institute of International Affairs, largely written by Professor A. J. Toynbee; and A. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World tLondon, 1947). III ARABIA § 10. NATURAL CONDITIONS, CLIMATE, RESOURCES Two Parts of the present Handbook are devoted to Arabian territory. Part III covers the peninsular in general, and especially Sa'udi Arabia, the Yamall and the Aden Protectorate, while Part IV covers Oman and the Arab shores of the Persian Gulf. The name Arabia itself bas been used at various ages with greatly varying significance. It would indeed be possible, on grounds of common religion, language or tradition, to include within the term the steppe-desert between the Mediterranean and the rivers of 'Iraq, and perhaps also the territories which form the well-named" Fertile Crescent." The latter consists of the relatively well-watered and inhabited territories of the Mediterranean shores and immediate hinterland, and of 'Iraq: territories sweeping, in fact, in a semi-circle from the Sinai Peninsula northwards and eastwards to descend by the vaUey of the Two Rivers to the head of the Persian Gulf. These territories of the Crescent, however, have sufficient difference from Arabia in racial origin, in past history, and in present social and international development to justify us in considering them as not " Arabia," though still Arab. The present sections of the Handbook will therefore confine themselves to Arabia south of the Nafud desert, which forms its northern boundary. Arabia is in this form a grcat square-ended peninsula whose axis is inclined east of south, betwcen the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Its average breadth is about 700 miles and extreme length 1,200. Its area is somewhat greater than the Indian Peninsula. It is by its inhabitants usually known as Jazirat ul 'Arab, "Isle of the Arabs." It may be conceived as a broad shelf sloped upwards and sideways 40 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECIION 10 from east to west. The fall towards the north-east is long and gentle, that to the Red Sea is short and steep. The highest land-levels in the west seem to be survivals of an original much higher general level which is preserved in the west by a harder composition, or by its overlay of igneous matter. The highlands along the Red Sea and in the Yaman even exceed 9,000 feet. Central Arabia or Najd has therefore a high mean elevation, the average of 2,500 feet being often surpassed by mountains exceeding 5,000. The lofty volcanic range of Oman forms the only exception to the general flatness of the eastern coast. There arc throughout the Peninsula no navigable or perennial rivers, though certain streams in Oman come near to this. There are, instead, a number of perennial springs, many river-fed torrents which flow into the Red Sea only for a few hours in the year, and innumerable dry wadi-beds varying from precipitous ravines down the Hijaz mountains to the long and featureless wadis which run from Najd towards the Gulf. The outstanding physical feature of Arabia is its wealth of deserts. These, contrary to general belief, are far from uniform, and geographers differentiate-and the Arabic language distinguishes sharply but not always consistently-between gravelly flat-lands, lava-strewn desert, thorny steppe, and sand-seas continuous or billowy. The study of deserts, their occurrence, forms and possibilities is indeed a science in itself. Except on the Batinah coast of Oman, Arabia everywhere presents a desert face to the sea. None of its sea-ports has major natural advantages, such as deep water or protection from weather; none (unless Muscat) has a well-populated hinterland. Even those best known to fame-Mokhah, Hudaidah, Jiddah, Yambu', Aden, Makalla -are flanked by desert belts of various depth. Fertility approaches the sea-side only in the date-belt of Oman, and the shallow bay of Dhufar which the south-west monsoon refreshes. Between the coast and the central oases lie deserts, of which the great Empty Quarter of the south-east is the most formidable, while the Nafud of the north and Dahanah of the north-east, are serious obstacles; the highlands of Oman and of the Yarnan lie, of course, outside the ring. Elsewhere, settled as well as tribal life has been found possible at the spring-fed oases of al Hasa, in the Wadi Hadhramaut, and inland of the Red Sea in Asir and the Hijaz. Within this desert ring lie the inner group of oases in which settled life is found-disconlinuously but permanently-in the oases group of Jabal Shammar immediately south of the Nafud, with the large town of Ha'il : in the Qasim group, with the important commercial and desert towns of 'Auaizah and Buraidah and some fifty other settlements; and east of these in the districts of Washam and 'Aridh, where lie the other Najd oases of which Riyadh, the present Sa'udi capital, is the largest. SECTION 10 I P.C. HANDBOOK 41 To summarise, then, the Peninsula of Arabia (apart from the detached and non-typical high countries of Oman and of the Yaman) consists of desert coasts with the humblest of ports and fishing villages; inland of these, desert belts, with nomadic tribes and rare oasis settlements; then more desert till the central partly habitable zone-the true heart of Arabia-is reached. Politically, the peninsula consists of three elements. The first and greatest is that of the independent Kingdoms of Sa'udi Arabia and the Yam an. The second and smallest is that of the..British colony of Aden. The third is that of the territories of rulers who, while legally independent, are in long-standing treaty relations with H.M.G. and whose status and power fall, in practice, short of full independence, partieularly in respect of their foreign relations. Such are the Persian Gulf shaikhdoms and the Aden Sultanates. The status of the Sultanate of Oman lies between the first and third' of our categories. Between Sa'udi Arabia and its north-eastern neighbour, 'Iraq, lies a ~mall diamond-shaped Neutral Zone, and another between Sa'udi Arabia and Kuwait, immediately south of the latter territory. Less need be said about the climate of Arabia than that of any other territory of equivalent size. Its prevailing characteristics are i.ntense heat, moderated along the coasts by the influence of the sea and varying there in humidity: the low rainfall prevailing throughout the Peninsula, except in the highlands of the Yaman-the . Arabia Felix of the ancients-in the hills behind the Dhufar coast, and in the Oman mountains: and the extreme dryness L'f the atmosphere wherever the influence of these rains and of the sea is absent-that is, over nine-tenths of the Peninsula. The climate in general is, with the exceptions named, remarkably uniform and by no means unfavourable to human life. The enemies are heat, dust and lack of potable water. Advantages are the dry purity of the air, the cool nights and winter, and the absence of endemic disease. Even in its densest settled areas (Yaman, Hadhramaut, Central Najd, Oman) the Peninsula Arabs have never achieved any but the humblest industry: export of manufactured products is unthinkable. The handicrafts of the people-those which sheer necessity has called into existence-are confined to the making of mats, rugs, tents, skin water-bags, camel-saddles and the like; nor even in the towns is there much advance on these. Agriculture, where it is possible to practise it at all, is of the primitive subsistence type, excepting only the famous coffee of the Yarnan and the dates of Oman. For the rest, Arabia is an importer of agricultural produce, and its own development possibilities cannot but be lirillted. Had it been able throughout the ages to feed the increase of its own population, its history and that of Western Asia would have been very different. The famous spice-trade of antiquity; based on Dhufar or the inner side of the Yaman ranges, is no longer important. Fisheries are wide-spread but humble, though south-Arabia is still a land of 42 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION II "fish-eaters." The pearl industry has to-day little interest except, in the Persian Gulf areas, which will be separately described. Export of gums, camels, skins and wool is known in some few areas, and of dates from Oman; but the commercial interest of these is not great. The Arab horse is bred principally outside the peninsula. Of recent oil-development, something has been said elsewhere. Gold was mined in antiquily, and one mine in the Hijaz is now under redevelopment by American enterprise. There are no other minerals of interest. Apart from oil, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, with its services for transporting, lodging and feeding the pilgrims, represents the largest industry in the territory, and employs (apart from that used fOf the oil interests in at Hasa, and the many which fe-fuel at Aden) the bulk of shipping which visits Arabian shores. The Peninsula is deficient in modem means of communication. The only railway (except for a few miles in the Aden colony) is the stretch of the Hijaz Railway from Mudawwarah to Madinah, upon which there has been no movement since 1917. Facilities for air travel arc limited to rare landing grounds in the Sa'udi Arabian Kingdom and to the installations of the RA.F. at Aden, Salalah and elsewhere on the southern coast, and at Sharjah and Bahrain. Commercial air lines use Kuwait, Bahrain and Sharjah as staging posts. The use of motor transport has greatly increased within the last generation, mainly but not entirely in connection with the Mecca pilgrimage. There exist in most territories at least some stretches of motorable track, and the Pilgrimage is frequently thus achieved. The crossing from Basfah or al Hasa to the Red Sea coast on wheels is now as COllmon as it was fonnerly unknown, and cars ply in the vicinity of Aden, Muscat and Kuwait. But in general the broken and sandy surface of the territory must for many years restrict the use of wheeled vehicles even if they corresponded to any present need of Arabian civilisation-which they do not. § 11. ARABIAN SOCIETY The language of the Peninsula is Arabic, in slightly but not greatly varying dialects, over almost the entire area. Insignificant exceptions to this rule are to be found in the scanty south-Arabian coastal tribes who speak non-Arabic (and perhaps extremely ancient) dialects, and the Shihuh of the nothern tip of Oman; while, in the cosmopolitan ports of Aden, Jiddah and Hudaidah, Indian, and other non-Arabic languages can be heard. In Muscat, where the population is Baluchi and Indian, little Arabic is spoken. But for the rest the language of the Prophet is universal, and a prime faetor in the eultural unity of Arabia. SECTION 11 43 I P.C. HANDBOOK Tn religion there is scarcely more diversity. Christianity is confined to the few dozen converts of the Missions of the eastern and southern coasts, and the religion of Judah to the interesting survivals of that faith in the Yaman hinterland. Otherwise, Islam is universal; but it is not uniform within itself. The great majority of the Arabian population adhere to the Sunnah, being divided in their allegiance between the Hanbali and the Shafi'j ,rites thereof. Of the Carmathian movement of medieval times no trace remains; but the 'Ibadhis, who form half the population of Oman, are in doctrine not far from them, and must be reckoned within the Shi'i province ofIslam. The same is true of the Zaidis, who form the probable majority, and supply the ruling class, in the Yaman. Zaidism is an ancient compromise between Sunnah and Shi'ah, but the latter gives it its chief character and colouring. There are also a few Shi'j sub-tribes, of no importance among the great Shafa'i or Hanbali tribe-groups of the Peninsula. Of the Wahhabi movement, which has given a special character to the Hanbalism of Central Arabia, something is said elsewhere in this Handbook. It is commonly considered that the Arabian tribes, and no doubt many settled folk, are lax in the practice and ignorant in the theology of their religion. This may be true, but it remains certain that, in almost every section of Arabian society, reference in some form to the creed and observances of Islam recurs in every conversation and at every hour, and the living reality of Allah and his Prophet is more present to the minds and speeeh of Arabian folk than has ever been the case in the Western world. Of the main groups of Arabian society not much need be said. It is the native home of the pure nomad, to whose way of life there has been reference elsewhere. It would, however, be a gross error to imagine that the bulk of the inhabitants of the Peninsula are nomad tribesmen, since the settled population of the oases and settlements easily outnumber them. The settled folk, whether of Najd, of the Hijaz, or of at Hasa, retain usually their tribal tradition and vaunt a tribal pedigree; this affects but little, however, their economic or social life. And where tribalism is dead, or fragmented to the point of disappearance, the cult of the family takes its place, especially amongst the descendants of the Prophet, of whom there are many thousands. These, indeed, with the local Government representative (a relation, follower, or even a slave, of the Ruler) form the upper class of oasis society and consort naturally with the date-garden owners, the rice Of piece-goods merchants of the place, and with the heads of nomad tribes when these visit the oasis as their market. The poor of the place are the field or garden labourers, the cameltransport men, the artisans and the large class (pervasive throughout Arabia) who live" at the gate of Allah" on nothing in particular. Society in the greater settlements of al Hasa, Oman, Hadhramaut and the Yaman is substantially of this simply stratified type. The 44 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 12 same does not apply to the major seaports, where something of modern life has crept in, with a more cosmopolitan and even (within narrow limits) international society. Jiddah and Hudaidah are seaports first and Arabian cities but secondarily. Bahraill and Muscat are still less typical of the Peninsula, while Aden has socially little in common with it. MakaUah and Yambu' are intermediate. The place of Mecca is inevitably unique since it lives, and has lived since remote antiquity. upon its power to attract foreign Muslims (and notably non-Arabs) for the annual Pilgrimage, and thousands of these are among its citizens. To summarise, the inhabitants of Arabia are sea-eoast folk of the greater or lesser harbours and the tiny fishing villages; oasis folk in the desert-surrounded hinterland; the Mecca townsmen; and, finally, the nomad tribesmen who move to water and camel-grazing according to the rules fixed by their terrain and by their traditional agreements with their neighbours. Of these tribes the greatest names are the Shammar of northern Najd and the Nafud; the Dhafir and Mutair of 'Iraq's south-western borders; the bani Khalid and 'Ajrnan of al Hasa, the albu 'Ali of the Trucial Coast, the Murrah and Qarah of the fringes of thr. Empty Quarter, the Qahtan and Dawasir southwest of Najd towards Asir, the 'Utaibah and Harb of the Hijaz hinterland, the Shararat and Huwaitat towards and across the Transjordan frontier. But these are but a few of the scores of tribal names famous in Arabian history, and still dominant to-day each in its traditional dirah. § 12. HISTORICAL SKETCH (a) Before the Prophet The Sections above have attempted to give an idea, however sketchy and inexact, of the Arabian peninsula and its inhabitants to-day. A page or two may now be devoted to its past history, and this will be followed by an account of each of the States into which it is now divided, reserving Oman and the Gulf for a separate Part of the Handbook. The earliest period of the ArabiaD story can be imaginatively recon~ structed rather than told as a record of facts. Some idea of its primitive racial history was given above, and the first signs of civilisation date from an age when the population was already Semitised, and when the Arabian conditions of to-day-heat and aridity, desert barriers, scantiest living, barren coast, with fertility only in the Yaman-were already established although perhaps, thanks to a heavier rainfall, in less extreme form. We may safely assume a general cultural unity • II SEcnoN J2 J.P.C HANDBOOK 45 of the peninsula, with political divisions as numerous as the primitive communities. The "empires" half-remembered by later ages-and, in fact, important, though rather to the archaeologist thail the historianwere those, as could be expected, of the Yaman hinterland, and possibly of the Hadhramaut; civilisations, known as Minaean and Sabaean, attested by inscriptions and buildings and k.Q.own to have been advanced in culture and organisation, enriched by the spice trade, and on terms with the Kings of Axum. (Emigrants from these Kingdoms, or others like them, were tbe civilisers and semitisers of Ethiopia, and gave it the Ge'ez language). The connections of the legendary Queen of Sheba are, according to some traditions, with Saba', of the Sabaeans. The end of the golden age of the early Yaman, which occurred before the Christian era (since Aelius Gallus, the Roman general, in 26 B.C., found only desert behind the mountains) was due, according to tradition, to the bursting of the great Marib dam; and no equal civilisation was to appear in the peninsula until the Prophet's own age. A long period of obscurity descended on Arabia, unrecorded whether in the settled folk of Yaman and Oman and the pagan sanctuary of Mecca, or in the nomad tribes of which fragments were ever detaching themselves and seeking homes in the Fertile Crescent. Influences on the western coasts were those of Egyptian and Greek traders, and raiding-and even conquering-parties from the Axumite empire; and, on the northern fringes, the demands of Assyria or Persia to be treated as overlords of Arabia, with such exchanges, such claims or military expeditions as these may have produced. The Nabataean empire of Petra formed a bridge between northern Arabia and Syria, and such also was the role of the Kingdom of Palmyra and later the vassal princedoms of HiTa and of Ghassan in early Christian times. Communities of Jews-or Judaised Aramaeans-throughout western and south-western Arabia contributed to the culture as well as to the commerce of the settlements, wbile caravans for Mecca kept open trade and mutual knowledge between the Hijaz and Syria. Politically, the Arabia of the centuries before Muhammad was wholly disunited, and in religion devoted to many forms of paganism, whose prophets and partisans came and went. Monotheism was, however, not unknown to the Arabian mind; Judaism was familiar, and Christianity had a minority of followers on the northern fringes. There were towns in the Yaman, half-urban settlements in Oman and al Hasa, markets in the Hijaz; and at Mecca the greatest of Arabian cities and marlS, devoted to the worship of its local god, and thereby famed as a place of pilgrimage. (b) Early days of Islam No justice can be done here to the extraordinary story of the rise of Muhammad bin'Abdullah, a middle-class orphan of the Quraish 46 I p.e. HANDBOOK SEctION J2 tribe of Mecca, from obscure and unwelcomed preacher to Prophet and King of Arabia. In a few years he converted towf and tribe throughout a vast country, addressed his imperial neighbours of Persia and Byzantium, and could, in 632, bequeath a state and a treasury to his successor (Kbalif) Abu Bakr. The outward expansion of Islam, the new religion and government, followed a course amazing in its speed and extent, and not less so in its permanence; but Arabia, its birthplace, could not for many reasons maintain its position as headquarters of the Empire. The murder of the third Khalif, 'Uthrnan, gave the signal for aD era of division throughout Islam in which many tendencies and ambitions had their part: the foundation of imperial capitals first at Damascus, then at Baghdad; the increasing power of the non-Arab elements of the empire; and politico-religious movements based on new p.eresies, led by fanatics, and armed with strong forces emerging from the fennent into which Islam had plunged the world. From the latter half of the seventh century-less thaD two generations from the Prophet's Qwn time-Arabia falls back into a secondary place. It could make no attempt to assert its claims to primacy in the Empire, and failed for two centuries to achieve full local independence. Oman, while still Muslim, left the main body of the Faithful altogether, and could not be regained; the Yamau formed no state of its own, but relapsed into the age-long uncontrolled politics of its own mountains and coast, recalled to order at intervals by the distant Khalif. The Holy Cities of the Hijaz, flattered and enriched by the Pilgrimage-in its most elaborate and organised form under the early 'Abbasids-remained the spiritual heart of Islam; but, as the 'Abbasids lost their temporal power to their own bodyguards and the Fatamids of Egypt lacked moral as well as military strength, the Hijaz cities could develop their own resources of statecraft and withhold all but a nominal and occasional obedience to the Khalif. His authority was the weaker when he failed to master the violence of a heretical movement founded late in the ninth eentury by Shi'i malcontents, and known, from its founder Hamdan al Karmat, as "Carmathian .. , The Carmathians dominated Arabia for a century, sacked Mecca itself in 928, and, after a long occupation of the eastern districts and Bahrain, disappeared late in the eleventh century. (c) Princes of Hijaz alld Yamall It was inevitable that, at last, one of many possible dynasties should establish itself first in Mecca, later in the whole Hijaz. The Amirs of Mecca from the second half of the tenth century succeeded but gradually in asserting rule over other houses of equally noble deseent from 'Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, at Jiddab, Madinah and Yambu'; but, once established, strongly maintained themselves. The rulers of the Hijaz kept good relations with the similar dynasties of the Yaman, doubtful order in their own territory, and precarious peaeesometimes subservience-towards the Egyptian power; but the line SECTION 12 47 I P.C. HANDBOOK made itself notorious for its ill-treatment of pilgrims, upon whom the Amir (the ""Grand Sherif" of Europeans) and all his satellites and vassals battened wIthout shame. Nor did the Shi'i, or even Zaidi, leanings of the Sharif increase his popularity in Islam at large. The Yaman in the same period was divided (as it is to-day) between a Sunni (Shafi'i) coastline and the Zaidi highlands, in each of which one or more local dynasty of Sayids ruled. This territory was civilised and relatively stable. • Heretical tendencies in the Holy Places, however, were no longer tolerated when the Turkish line of Zanki assumed eontrol of Syria and established a new discipline in western Arabia; and Saladin (Salah al Din), their successor, all-powerful in Egypt as weB as the Levant, saw to it that orthodoxy returned to Mecca and that pilgrims were protected. A change of dynasty among the Sayids, about 1200, perpetuated these results, and the Sharifates, both of Hijaz and Yaman, admitted the spiritual suzerainty of Baghdad and the temporal of Cairo. Katada (Qa'tadah), a famous ruler in his day, founded the new line. 'His successors maintained a position of near-independence from their sovereigns, and close alliance with the Yaman; in central Arabia they had some prestige but little power, and none over 'eastern. The tribes of the Gulf hinterland roamed wholly independent. Under the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt, western Arabia was better controlled, by Governors and garrisons sent from Cairo. An uneasy balance of power-with the Egyptians supreme in the last resort but the Amir of Mecca allowed the prerogatives of Government-continued for two centuries, and the Meccan Sayid was often glad to invoke the help of his overlord against local rivals or trouble-makers. The Ottoman conquest of Egypt (1517) brought western Arabia within the empire of the new Khalif; but, in spite of a new sea-power and boundless prestige, it changed very little in the nature of Meccan Government. A Turkish representative still hampered periodically the freedom of the hereditary Sharifs, attended the pilgrimage and kept other Powers-Portuguese, Dutch, British-from the coasts. With varying relations between the Amir-himself chosen from one of two rival Houses of the clan, those of the Barakat and the Zaid-and the Turkish Pasha, and various degrees of real or attempted control during the long Ottoman decline, the people of the Hijaz remained, save for the Pilgrimage, remote from the outer world; while the tribes of Najd, ever forming and reforming, warring and peace-making, sank backwards morally to conditions which recalled the Time of Ignorance, their Islam paganised and half forgotten. In Yaman, Ottoman rule was first imposed in 1538 and continued, half truculent and half powerless and not without wholesale rebellion, for a bare century until 1642, when the territory again achieved indep~ndence, with endless disunion and civil strife but with someprosp~rity based on coffee export, for two centuries more. The Zaidi Imamate fell at the end of the sixteenth century to the House of al Qasim, which still survives. It ruled the highlands-but not always the alien Shafi'i coast, and not 48 1.P.C HANDBOOK SECTION 12 without rivals-until the Turkish reappearance in the nineteenth century. Over the present Aden Protectorate its sway wa~ precarious, and varied from partial control to none at all. The hinterland of the south-west coast was divided (as it is to-day) into scores of tiny states, admitting or denying the suzerainty of the Imam of Sana·a. The small settlement of Aden was seized in 1728 by the Sultan of Lahaj, acting as an independent ruler. . (d) Eighteemh and Nineteenth Centuries It has been shown that central and western Arabia presented, by the mid-eighteenth century, a spiritual vacuum ready to be filled; and, as before in the same territory, the filler was to be a Prophet. Muhammad bin'Abdul Wabhab, a man of piety and learning, summoned the Najd oases from 1740 onwards to return to the true religion; and the petty local Amir of Dar'iyah proved to be the strong right arm of the Revival, to conquer Arabia in its name. "Wahhabis" flooded over the GulJ shores, occupied the Yaman coast (but never the mountains), closely threatened Oman, and stripped Mecca itself in 1804 of its treasures and irreligious baubles. The sufferings of the Holy Places and the lively fears of Syria led to Imperial intervention, at the bands not of the Sultan of Turkey himself but of his Viceroy in Egypt, Muhammad 'Ali Pasha. He, through his brilliant unstable son, Ibrahim Pasha, fully perfomled his task. Mecca was restored to its Amirs, the Wahhabi forces were sought and destroyed in the heart of Najd in 1817-18, al Rasa itself briefly occupied, the Yaman Coast rescued from the idol-breakers. The Wahhabi power seemed broken for ever. Egyptian representatives remained in Western Al;abia, the ruling dynasty of Mecca was replaced by another (the house of al 'Aun), and the highlands of Yaman were closely threatened though never conquered. One result of the episode of Egyptian intervention in Arabia was a general opening up of the peninsula, not indeed to the armies or diplomats but to the interest and the explorers of Europe, whose published narratives dispelled much of the darkness which had enveloped the territory. Great Britain in 1839 occupied Aden and in 1857 Perim Island, from which, in spite of a general policy of noninterference in hinterland affairs, more light was thrown on conditions in Yaman and along the coast, and a network of treaties and agreements made with the inland Sultans. The middle years of the nineteenth century were marked by some revival of Turkish power in Arabia. They penetrated again into the Yarnan, whose highlands were occupied-this time permanently, though precariously and in constant uneasy balance with the Imam's powerin 1849 and more powerfully in 1870. Revolt after revolt followed, and the Yaman became the dread and grave of the Turkish armies. They permitted and recognised an independent State of Asir, on the I ... SECTION ;2 ! P.C HANDBOOK 49 coast and hinterland north of Yaman, in charge of another family of Sayids. They changed and rechanged the Amir of the Holy Cities at will from within or outside the 'Aun family, and after the Jiddah riots of 1858, in which foreign consuls were put to death, they adopted methods almost of direct Government in Mecca and its port. In 1871 the WaH of Baghdad made al Hasa-now independent, formerly a Wahhabi possession-a Turkish province; and some hold over the central deserts and oases was gained by the willing subservience of a new Principality established in northern Najd-that of Ha'il under the 'Shammar dynasty of Ibn Rashid. The power of Ibn Sa'ud, still the secular arm of the Wahhabi faith, rallied indeed from the blows of the ~gyptians a half-century ago, and showed a virile permanence ; but a pitched battle between the two Amirs in 1891 resulted in defeat and exile at Kuwait for 'Abdul Rahman bin Sa'ud and his son 'Abdul 'Aziz. The Turcophile house of the Rashid lorded it throughout central Arabia, and the Turks themselves in the east and west. So ended the ninteenth century. • (el The Twentieth Century to 1939 The early years of the twentieth century witnessed great changes in the Arabian political scene. Of these the first and most remarkable was the revival of the Wahhabi power in the Sa'ud dynasty. 'Abdul 'Ariz bin Sa'ud (the present King of Sa'udi Arabia) by a sudden expedition from his place of exile at Kuwait in 1901, entered Najd and re-established himself and his dynasty and power at Riyadh, and limited correspondingly that of Ibn Rashid's government of the Jabal Shammar. The Sa'udi power grew rapidly, in spite of brief Turkish expeditions into Najd in 1904/5 and the necessity under which 'Abdul 'Aziz found himself of admitting a Turkish claim of suzerainty (with himself as Wali of Najd) which was no more than nominal. He remained generally as much opposed to Turkish pretensions as Ibn Rashid was complacent to them. In 1913 Ibn Sa'ud forcibly occupied the al Hasa territory, evicting the Turks. It has remained his loyal possession ever since. The British occupiers of Aden continued their policy of friendly treaties with a wide circle of south Arabian potentates, and were able at last to demark a boundary-line between their Protectorate and the territories of the Imam. The line was surveyed in 1902/4 and fixed by a Treaty in 1914. Aden CQlony was still governed as part of the Bombay Presidency. In the Yaman a period of rebellion reached its climax in 1910, with a state of bitter hostilities between the Turkish and the Imam's forces. An agreement was made between them in 1912 (on the occasion of the Turko-Italian war) and the Imam thereafter tolerated, within limits, the T\.!rkish Wali and garrison. 50 I P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 12 In Asir the priestly dynasty of the Idrisi established itself early in the century, in supersession of the previous line of Sayids. It strengthened its position by alliance with the Yaman. In the Hijaz the pilgrim Railway appeared, as a Turkish propaganda enterprise, with the new century, and was completed to Madinah in ]908. In the same year Husain bin 'Ali, a member of the 'Ann family, was installed by the Turks as Amir and, although already an old man, soon showed that he would be no docile vassaL The Turks in general were losing ground in the Holy Cities, and indeed throughout Arabia. During the war of 1914/18 Ibn Rashid remained loyal to Turkey, Ibn Sa'ud favoured the Allies, and the worst of relations e~sted between the two. The Turks invaded and occupied the Aden Protectorate almost to the walls of Aden, which they failed to take. In the Yaman they maintained their position until the Armistice. The Idrisi retained his independenee. The Sharif of Mecca joined the anti- Turkishcause of the Allies, proclaiming himself King and supplying the forces led by Faisal and Lawrence, in return for British promises -of post-war independence for the Arab countries. After the war the position in the Aden Protectorate was easily fe-established, and negotiations (which included the arrest of a British delegation en route for San'a) dragged on (as they still drag to-day) between H.M.G. and the Imam. The latter recovered the Tihamah coastline which the Idrisi had occupied. To Ibn Sa'ud, now lord of all central and north-eastern Arabia, the establishment by the British of Shanfian kingdoms in 'Iraq and Transjordan was unwelcome, since his relations with King Husain, who had meanwhile adopted the title of Kbalif, were of the worst in both the political and the religious field. He was able, however, to consolidate the rest of the Arabian field under his own power, with the usual exceptions of the Gulf coasts and the Yaman: the Rashid dynasty of Jabal Shammar fell before him in 1921. After a period of mutual intrigucs and aggression which could have no other ending, he invaded the Hijaz in 1924-25 and expelled King Husain from the territory, followed at no great interval by King 'Ali his son. Ibn Sa'ud proclaimed himself King of the Hijaz in 1926, King of " Najd and its dependencies" in 1927: and in 1932 he consolidated these titles into the Kingship of Sa'udi Arabia. His relations with the powers of Europe were ou this basis regularised, aud successive Missions and Agreements settled his frontiers with northern neighbours. The Yaman, where the Imam Yahya eontinued his long reign disturbed only by the jealousies and ambitions of his many sons, would have lost its independence as the result of severe military defeat by Ibn Sa'ud in 1934 had not the latter shown a rare (but in him. usual) clemency. Some Italian penetration of the Yaffian was effected by a numerous Medical Mission: otherwise no foreign representation was permitted, nor did the Imam join in any international activity. The Idrisi State disappeared in 1926 in favour of Ibn Sa'ud. SECTION 13 I P.C. HANDBOOK 51 The condition of the Arabian territories since the outbreak of war in 1939, and their present administrative condition, can best be reviewed in Sections devoted to each separately. These now follow. • § 13. SA'UDI ARABIA TO-DAY The war record of Sa'udi Arabia is highly creditable. King Ibn Sa'ud never varied, even during the darkest days, from his attitude of support to the Allied Nations, and exercised his powerful influence in the Arab world in their interest. His own territory was at no time the scene of military operations and, in spite of inevitable restrictions upon traffic and imports, was treated with consideration by the British and American Governments. The King himself was born in 1880 and is the outstanding personality of the Arab nations, and probably one of the greatest personalities now in public life throughout the world. His long career of conquest and good government is due above aU to the qualities of his own character. The Heir Apparent is his eldest surviving son, the Amir Sa'ud, who was born in 1905 and is now his father's viceroy in Najd. The extent of Sa'udi Arabia is approximately 900,000 square miles, by far the largest part of which is desert. The population probably does not exceed 4 millions though it is sometimes estimated as high as seven. The territory is divided for administrative purpos~s into the main regions indicated by its geography. These are the al Hasa province on the Persian Gulf, ruled on his behalf for many years by his famous uncle Ibn Jiluwi: Najd itself, where numerous lesser alllirates obey his viceroy, the Amir Sa'ud: the Hijaz, over which his second son the Amir Faisal is governor, with representatives in the principal cities: and Asir, previously the Idrisi principality. The area and population of these main provinces is so variously estimated that no purpose will be served by atttempting precision. Government everywhere is of a simple, indeed primitive, type and strictly personal, with a background of the Shara' law and the Quran. The powers of the Amirs and Qadbis are limited mainly by fear of the displeasure of their master. There are the rudiments, but no more, of a medical and a police service. The mineral concessions are administered by a Mines Department. Officials of the Government, and notably those in touch with Europeans at Jiddah and in the Hasa oilfield, arc often of Syrian or other foreign nationality. Arabic is the sole language of Government. Representatives of nearly aU the United Nations are stationed a Jiddah (from which, penetration inland is normally not permitted, ~. • 52 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECfION 14 and Sa'udi Legations are found at the principal foreign capitals. C(Omtacts with other countries including those of Europe and America have greatly increased during the last fifteen years. The prestige of the Kingdom stands high in the world thanks, in large measure, to the wisdom and consistency of its Ruler. It has taken its part in the deliberations and decisions of the Arab League, of which it is an original member, and has shown its solidarity with other Arab States over the Palestine question. § 14. THE YAMAN TO-DAY The Yam3n is the second independent kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula. It has, as a nation or eultuTaUy and socially unite4 territory, a long continuous history, but few civilised countries of the world have exposed themselves less to the influence of European civilisation. In its policy of exclusiveness, long maintained by the Imam Yahya, the Yaman is reminiscent ofthe seventeenth to nineteenth centuries in Ethiopia. Geographically the Yaman includes the greater part of Asir, as well as the western half of the Aden Protectorate; politically, however, as has been shown above, these are to-day distinct from it. The present Kingdom, or Imamate, has an extent of between 50,000 and 75,000 square miles; its measurement from north to south is of the order of 250 miles, and from east to west between 150 and 200. Geographically the territory falls into easily distinguishable zones. The first of these is the Tihamah, or coastal belt, with an average width of some 20 miles, narrowing towards the south. This region is of desert character, with a few settlements in the beds of the larger wadis, and along its coast are the ports of Hudaidah, principal outlet of the territory; Mokhah, a decayed port formerly famous in the coffee trade; Zabid, an ancient capital; and Bait al Faqih, previously an important cultural centre. The island of Kamaran was formerly a part of the Yaman; it contains an important Quarantine station for the Mecea pilgrims under Anglo-Dutch management. To-day the island is under no sovereignty at all, but is for eonvenience administered from Aden. The second zone is that of the rough mountainous country between the Tihamah and the central plateau. It consists of broken ranges roughly parallel to the coast and containing numerous oases and inter-montane plains, with the important town of Manakhah. The climate of this region is generally unhealthy though with less humidity and less fierceness of heat than the Tihamah. Agriculture is limited to certain valleys and small flatlands iffigable by mountain torrents. r~ SECTION 14 LP.C HANDBOOK 53 The third zone consists of the central uplands of the Yaman, where the climate is generally excellent and rainfall abundant It contains a fairly dense village population devoted to agrieulture, especially the cultivation of coffee. This remains the most important product and export of the territory: coffee was introduced into the Yaman from Ethiopia early in the Christian era, and is grown at between 4,000 and 8,000 feet elevation. The principal cities of the highlands are San'a, the capital; Ta'iz, Yarim: Dhamar, Ibb, Qa'tabah, Raudhah and Sa'dah. The last main zone of the Yaman consists of the gradual descent from the highlands to the deserts of the east, where it meets the frontiers of Sa'udi Arabia and of the Aden Protectorate. This region was undoubtedly better watered and more densely inhabited in antiquity, when it formed the centre of Sabaean power. The physical type of the inhabitants varies slightly according to their zone of residence, and reflects the various constituent racial elements whose mixture peoples the Yaman to-day. All alike, however, speak a common dialect of Arabic, and no important cultural cleavage exists between them. The social composition of the territory has been covered, in general, by that already described above for Arabia as a whole. Distinction, however, in the Yaman and Hadhramaut between the four main strata of society is more marked than elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula. The four strata are, firstly, the Sayids or Ashraf, the descendants of the Prophet, who form a religious aristocracy; secondly, the tribesmen or Qaba'il, who are the recognised members of the Qahtan group of tribes, and therefore claim a superiority or authenticity of descent as compared with the trading class, who form the third stratum. To the latter is to be added, as a fourth, the servile and lowest class, consisting largely of slaves or serfs of African descent. It contains also many Jews. Reference has been made elsewhere to the Zaidi religion of the highland Yamanis. This, combined with differences of environment and interest, creates a sharp cleavage between the high country and the lowland Tihamah, whose population are Shaf'i Sunnis. The tribal inhabitants of inner Yaman east of the main plateau are similarly Shaf'i. and it is here alone that nomadism is found upon a major scale, since e15ewhere in the territory settled agricultural life is possible and preferred. The Jewish element in the Yaman cannot racially be distinguished from the rest, though minor differences in dress, social habit and degree of privilege exist. The Jews, who number perhaps 100,000, are found chiefly in the larger settlements-though many villages also are exclusively Jewish-and are an important element in the craftsmen and artisan stratum of society. There has, on the whole, been no persecution of the Jews, who have, in general, accepted philosophically their status of political and social inferiority. 54 I P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 15 In regald to the industries of the territory, there is nothing to add to the remarks made above for Arabia as a whole. Indigo dyeing, weaving and metal work are among the cottage industries of the Yarnan highlands. In spite of the cosmopolitan society of Hudaidah (where there are considerable numbers of resident Indians and Greeks) commercial life and exchange are little developed. Steamship sailings are few and irregular, there is no European bank, and currency, weights and measures aU exist in a condition of chronic and primitive confusion. It is notable tbat important eiements of Yarnan civilisation-the telegraph, and many of the larger buildings-are owed to the long years of unhappy Turkish occupation. Administratively the Yamall is extremely backward. The rule of the Imam Yahya was patriarchal, personal and organised upon no modern or considered system. The army is a rabble, and public services scarcely exist. Provincial government is in the hands of Amirs appointed by the Imam-frequently from the ranks of his too-numerous offspring. The Imam was aged about 80 at his death. Before and during the Waf of 1939/45 the lmam permitted a mild degree of Italian penetration, which unquestionably the Fascists intended to increase even to the point of conquest. In 1943, however, the Italian medical mission was removed. There is no representation by other foreign Powers, except for a British representative (of Arab race) at Hudaidab. An American diplomatic mission visited San'a in 1945, and a Treaty was signed. The Yaillan is a founder-member of the Arab League, and its spokesman (Saif al Islam 'Abdullah) has spent time (1946/48) in Europe and America. The Imam has never ceased to claim Aden, and has been persuaded with difficulty roughly to observe the 1914 boundary with the Protectorate. His relations with Ibn Sa'ud have been good since the magnanimity of the latter in 1934. During February, ]948, news reached Europe of the death or assassination of the aged Imam Yahya and the proclamation as Imam of 'Abdullah al Wazir, representative of a separate and rival house. Resistance by the late Imam's eldest son, Saif al Islam Ahmad, was soon reported and it appeared probable that a period of unrest and violence was beginning; this, however, soon ended in the victory of Prinee Ahmad, who assumed the Imamate in March, 1948. His success in administering his country, and his attitude to the outside world, remain to be seen. § 15. ADEN AND THE HADHRAMAUT The regime under which the interests of H.M.G. in south~western Arabia were the concern of the Government of India came to an end SECTION 15 I.P.C. HANDBOOK 55 in 1937. At that date the Aden Colony passed under the control of the Colonial Office and the Governor of Aden represented H.M.G. in its relations with the numerous potentates who occupy what is now known as the Aden Protectorate. The latter, in turn, is divided for convenience into two parts: The Western Protectorate includes the Sultanates and tribes between the sea and the flOntier of the Yaman, while the Eastern Protectorate (loosely known as the Hadhramaut) is bounded on the north and north-east by the Empty Quarter and on the east by the Dhufar province of Oman. The Aden Colony is extremely small. It consists of the original Aden settlement and Little Aden and a very small area inland of these, including the suburban village of Shaikh Othman (,Uthman), together with the island of Perim at the Red Sea entrance, and the Kuria Muria islands off the Oman coast. The remainder of these extensive regions forms the Protectorate and is not directly governed by H.M.G. As in the case of Ihe Yaman, great differences of climate and tenain exist within the Protectorate. The eoastal area, everywhere desert and usually narrow, is unfortunate, even by Arabian standards, in its climate, owing to its southward aspect and the mountains immediately behind. A better but generally severe climate is found in the barren maritime or inland ranges of mountains, and tolerable or even favourable conditions exist at certain inland places in the Western Protectorate as well as in the Wadi Hadhramaut and the other main wadis of the Eastern Protectorate. Between the coast and the Wadi lies the high plateau of the Jo1. The whole territory, whose social structure and divisions are similar to those prevailing in the Yaman, remains in a primitive and undeveloped condition, both economic and political. Agriculture is not capable of development much beyond its present level~onfined, that is, to a few wadi beds and rare inter-montane plains-and industry remains responsive only to the few and simple needs of the inhabitants. No major natural resources exist. The preparation of dried fish and fish manure is much practised along the coast, lime is burnt at the greater settlements, oil is crushed from sesame, pots are made and skins tanned. The Hamumi tobacco of the Hadbramaut and the honey of Du'an have high local reputation. Aden exports soap, incense, skins and salt, and builds its own dhows. No steamers call anywhere on the coast, except at Aden and rarely at Makalla; coastwise traffic by local craft is considerable. The Aden Colony, after a century of British administration, is, in spite of a lOtal lack of home-grown foodstuffs or of potable water, to-day the most developed seaport of the Arabian Peninsula. It owes this position to the security and good administration which it has long enjoyed, lO its value as a eoaling station on the route to India, to its status as an entrep6t for the Yaman, with which it is connected by a number of passable tracks, and to its strategic interest, which has led to its development as a fortress and air and sea base, not least 56 I p.e. HANDBOOK SECTION IS during the War of 1939/45. Its commercial operations have considerable importance and are in the hands of merchants of many nationalities, including British, French, Indian, Italian, Chinese and Jews. The last-named, with their Hindu and Parsee livals, are among the most progr:essive traders. In the population there is a considerable Somali element and many domiciled Indians; this is the case also at MakaUa and at Shihr. The amenities of the Colony have greatly developed during recent years. Its governmental needs are met by a miniature administration of normal colonial type, with political offieers specialised for work among the states and tribes of the Protectorate inland. Aden town and port are now well provided with all harbour facilities and adequately with hospitals, hotels, schools, and police. The greener and pleasantcr village of Shaikh Othman may be preferred as a place of residence. Perim Island has lost much of its former importance and is now little visited. The Kuria Muria islands (the gift of a Sultan of Muscat) were formerly rich in guano, but, this having been removed, are now uninhabited. The hinterland of both the Western and Eastern Aden Protectorates is inhabited by a fairly homogeneous south-Arabian population, who can claim in some measure to be the heirs of the early civilisation of that region. Their present political organisation varies from that of fairly substantial Sultanates to obscure and fragmented tribes or single villages. Allegiance which can be claimed by the Sultans, as well as their mutual relations and the degree of discipline they can impose, varies within wide limits. The principal rulers in both halves of ·the Protectorate have been for many years in treaty relations with H.M.G.-treaties which in no way interfere with their domestic administration (if any) nor with the chances of such progress upon purely local lines as may be within their capacities. The Agreements insist merely that H.M.G. shall control their external relations (thus prohibiting the entry of any foreign Power) and upon security on the main routes in their territories. Treaty Sultans are in receipt of small salaries from the Governor of Aden, who is in personal relations with them all. Nonh of the Wadi Hadhramaut lie scanty nomadic tribes on the fringes-and extending into the heart-of the great desert. In the Eastern Protectorate much progress has been made during the last deeade towards persuading the population units-Sultanate, tribe or village-to discontinue the endless and age-long feuds, destructive to all progress and security, which have been habitual amongst them for centuries. Steps in this direction have not involved direct administration, though certain assistance has been given to the major units. In the Western Protectorate the best-known towns, apart from Aden itself, are Lahaj (in the 'Abdali district), Dhala (Amiri district), Nisab (Upper 'Aulaqi district), Ahwar (Lower 'Aulaqi district). There are, however, from a dozen to twenty other major villages comparable with these. In the Eastern Protectorate the political units are generally more fragmented, but two amongst them exceed in scale any of the I SECTION 15 57 I.P.C. HANDBOOK Western Protectorate. These are the Sultanates of the Kathiri, astride the Wadi Hadhramaut itself and containing the considerable cities of Sayyun and Tarim; and that of the Qu'aiti, which includes an area of. the coast, with the ports of Makalla and Shihr, and a large inland region extending to and across the Wadi Hadhramaut on both sides of Kathiri territory. The largest inland settlement in the Qu'aiti state is that of Shibam, in the bed of the main wadi. The three chief cities of the 'wadi are famous for their skyscraper buildin'gs and contain a high level of civilisation; it is founded in large measure upon the wealth which has resulted for many years from the emigration of Hadhramis to the Dutch East Indies, Singapore. the Red Sea countries and East Africa, where they own important property and remit large sums to their original homes, to which they usually return to die. Malay and Dutch influences in dress, language and domestic life are at their strongest in the Wadi and have, indeed, created in some circles almost an Arab-Malay civilisation. Not only in its chief cities, but in many other settlements in' the main and lateral wadis, are garden-surrounded villages of long tradition and high repute, venerated for their ancient families of Sayids as well as formidable for their prowess in civil war. The ruling family of the Qu'aiti have a close connection with the Indian principality of Hyderabad, in which the ruler holds an hereditary position. The Hadhramaut is dominated by the two major states mentioned; nevertheless, within their nominal boundaries exist many small independent tribes and villages and outside their boundaries are others whose independence they do not question. East of the Qu'aiti lies the Mabrah Sultanate, whose ruler is the Sultan of Qishin, with its prineipal settlement at Saihut near the mouth of the Wadi The island of Sokotra fonns part of his dominions. The island, often examined during the nineteenth century as a possible naval or coaling base, has not been developed for purposes other than those of its primitive inhabitants until during the War of 1939/45, when it became an important station for anti-submarine activity. At Dhala and Lahaj, and at Makalla and the Wadi cities, public services on humble scale have begun to appear-dispensaries, schools and, in the Qu'aiti State, a regular gendarmerie force. The coinage of the Protectorate is usually the M.T. dollar, but the rupee prevails on the coast and in the larger centres everywhere; it is the official currency of Aden. Commerce is organised on Western lines only at the last-named, and to a smaller extent at Makalla. All along the south coast a line of landing grounds linking Africa to India Was developed during the War for the use of the R.A.F. and the U.S.A.A.F., and indeed the future of air travel in the Protectorate may be important. Landing grounds exist in the hinterland of both the Eastern and Western Protectorate and were freely used even before 1939. The war period saw also the development of inland routes, and that linking the cities of the Wadi with the coast at Shihr, 58 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 16 completed in 1937, proved invaluable for the relief of the serious famine of 1942/44. The language of the Protectorate is everywhere (except in the Mahrah country) a dialect of Arabic approximating to that of the Yaman but containing words not found elsewhere. The religion is unifomlly that of Shafi'i Islam, except for that of the strangers resident in the seaports and for the Jewish colony at Aden. The Company's operations in the Aden Protectorate, for which it holds exploration rights, have been limited hitherto to a geological exploration of the more interesting parts of the eastern territory. In view of the primitive social and political conditions it is a matter of course that such work be undertaken only with the co-operation and guidance of the British authorities, whose political officers-few in number but closely in touch with all elements of the population-can supply the infonnation and security indispensable to the work. This work of inland exploration was continued in 1947/48. • § 16. BOOKS ON ARABIA All general histories of Islam or of the Khalifate begin in Arabia itself and must frequently revert to it. Some of these were mentioned in Section 9. A convenient outline of purely Arabian history is D. G. Hogarth, History of Arabia (Oxford, 1922). The heroes of Arabian travel are many. They include Niebuhr, HaleY}", Wellsted, von Wrede, Miles, Burckhardt, Burton, SnouckHurgronje, Sadlier, Wallin, Palgrave, the Blunts, Doughty. Their explorations are summarised by D. G. Hogarth, The Penetration of Arabia (London, 1904), and R. H. Kiernan, The Unveiling of Arabia (London, 1937). Of the later travellers, C. M. Doughty still stands easily at the top with Travels in Arabia Deserta (London, 18.88). Outstanding successors have been A. Musil, A. Wavell, C. E. Ruuer, T. Bent and H. St. J. B. Philby. The works of these are all easily accessible. The last-named, in Arabia (London, 1930), gives a detailed history of the Wahhabi State. T. E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (London, 1936), contains good infonnation on Hijaz conditions. Studies of recent Arabian politics, and especially of its , King, are found in A. K. Williams, Ibn Saud, the Puritan King of Arabia (London, 1933); A. Ri1lani, Ibn Sa'oud of Arabia (London, 1928); H. C. Annstrong, Lord of Arabia (London, 1934); K. S. Twitchell, Saudi Arabia (Princeton, 1947). The Yarnan is treated in two historical works: A. S. Tritton, Rise of the Imams of Sanaa (London, 1926), and H. L. Kay, Omarah's History of Yemen (London, 1892). Recent travel and politics in the ,.. SECTION 16 59 1.P.C. HANDBOOK same territory are found in W. B. Harris, A Journey through the Yemen (London, 1893); G. W. Bury, rhe Land of Uz (London, 1911), and Arabia Infelix (London, 1915); H. F. Jacob, Perfumes of Araby (London, 1915), and Kings of Arabia (London, 1923); A. Rihani, Arabian Peak and Desert (London, 1930); H. Scott, In the High Yemen (London, 1942). For Aden and the Hadhramaut, the treaties with the local Suilans, to 1930, are given in Vol. XI of Aitchison. An interesting history is F. M. Hunter, An Account of the British Setrlement or Aden ill Arabia (London, 1877). Recent and readable accounts are those of T. Bent, Southern Arabia (London, 1893); D. van der Meulen and H. von Wissmann, Hadramaut (Leyden, 1932); Freya Stark, The Southern Gates of Arabia (London, 1936), Seen ill the Hadhramaut (London, 1938), and A Winter ill" Arabia (London, 1940); W. H. Ingrams, Arabia and the Isles (London, 1942). For all parts of Arabia, a great part of the most authoritative literature, especially for geographic and social conditions, is to be found in the back numbers of the specialised periodicals . o , PERSIAN GULF & OMAN MILES 100 ZOO , I \ \ OMAN 'I"" IV THE PERSIAN GULF § 17. NATURAL CONDITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS The Persian Gulf area consists, for our present purpose, of certain territories fringing the waters of the Persian Gulf, of the Gulf of Oman, and of the Arabian Sea. The outer or open-sea portion of this area concerns us in so far as it contains the Oman territories. The Persian Gulf itself includes Bahrain Island, the Qatar Peninsula and the Trucial Coast, and will be first described-with the reminder, however, that no part of the north-west, north-east or east coast thereof, but only the southern, is of interest to the Companies. The Gulf, which measures about 100,000 square miles, is connected with the ocean outside by a narrow entry, 29 miles wide at the Straits of Honnuz. The maximum width of the Gulf is 180 miles; its length, from the ea§tern end of the Trucial Coast to the mouth of the Shatt al'Arab, is 600 miles. It is, for so large a sea, remarkably shallow; the deepest water is found nearer to the Persian than the Arabian shore, and extremely shallow water is found everywhere on the Trucial Coast and that of al Rasa. The d.ifficulties eaused by this are increased by a maze of coastal shoals and reefs, home of the famous pearl fisheries. Many islands of shoal or coral type fringe the same southern shore. The Gulf waters are less salty than might be expected in an inland sea, thanks to the infiowing fresh water of the great rivers at its head. The Gulf is tidal, but contains no ocean currents. Many varieties of fish are found, including sharks, flying fish and porpoises. The western and southern shores, in striking contrast to the precipitous north, slope upward very gradually inland; the coastal tract passes over long ntiles of monotonous and empty flatlands to the undulating 62 [P.e HANDBOOK SEcnoN 17 pebbly wastes which divide it from the endless deserts of the interior. Only eastward, along the Oman coast, runs the rugged mountain range of which the Jabal Akhdhar forms the central massif and Ras Musandam the northern end; and in the Oman Sultanate are found the only scenic beauty, the only vegetation and signs of human develop~ ment, which contrast with the unbroken dullness and desolation of the southern shores of the Gulf. The climate of the region is determined by the broad mountain chains which extend across Iran and Kurdistan, from north-west to south-east, and prevent the inflow of cool winds from the north, while the absence of mountains on a similar scale to the south and west gives free aecess to scorching blasts from the desen. During the summer the north-west wind (Shamal) prevails, an intensely hot and dry wind, but not unhealthy. In late summer and autumn the" qaus " or " Sharqi " from the sOllth-east blows for a few days at a time, aod has enjoyed a bad reputation throughout history. Rainfall, as the latitude and type of terrain would suggest, is low. Basrah has an average of 6.25 inches in the year, Bahrain 2.5 inches, and Muscat rather less thaD 4 inches. Minimum shade temperatures are 23.7 degrees Fahrenheit at Basrah, 40.8 at Bahrain and 57.5 at Muscat, and the corresponding shade maxima are 120, 108 and 114. MeaD temperatures vary from 51.8 degrees in January to 90.7 in August at Basrah, 61 in January to 91 in August in Bahrain, and 69 iIi. January to 89 in June in Muscat. Relative humidity is notoriously high throughout the Gulf area, the maximum being experienced at Bahrain. On the whole, however, the evil reputation of the Gulf climatc IS not entircly deservcd. Throughout the winter and spring the climate is cool and bracing, not inferior to that of Egypt iu the same season. Even in the unfavourablc months of summer, conditions, although definitely severe, need not be unhealthy if reasonable precautions are taken and suitable amenities available. This is the experience both of military forces in the area and of the Oil companies. With good accommodation and facilities (to provide which is now, or should be, a matter of course) there is no reason why the health or efficiency of Europeans need suffer during a not too extended tour of duty. The nature of the Gulf terrain and the scarcity and primitive development of its inhabitants create the necessity, for any industrial enterprise, of importing the whole of its European food supplies and frequently its drinking water, its vehicles and, indeed, an the stores and equipment, domestic and other, which it will require. In Bahrain very limited housing accommodation is available, and elsewhere on the coast and in Oman almost none at all. The communications of the region havc been more developed than its own nature might suggest. Full postal and telcgraphic communications exist at Basrah. British post offices are fOllnd at Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and Dubai. Telegraphic and wireless facilities are available at the first three stations, and at Sharjah wireless facilities for the public are provided by International Air Radio. European """ SEGnON IS I.P.C. HANDBOOK 63 parties, however, engaged on field operations anywhere in the area, require their own wireless units. The same is true of aircraft, in the case of operations requiring extended and rapid transport. For normal air communication, the B.O.A.C. Far East service touches Bahrain and Basrah. At the time of writing, 'Iraqi Airways operate a weekly service touching at Basrah, Kuwait, Bahrain and Sharjah, while B.O.A.c. maintains a service designed to cater for oil companies' needs between Bahrain and the United Kingdom, via Kuwait and Basrah. A slow steamer service exists between Karachi, Muscat, Sharjah, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait and Basrah, with a faster weekly service touching Bahrain and Basrah only. The use of dhows and motor launches for maintaining local communications is common. Land transport in the southern Persian Gulf has been for many centuries confined to the use of camels. The prevailing flatness, however, makes possible the use of motor transport suitably adapted for desert traeks. Only salt swamps at certain seasons, and deep sand-belts always, may be found impassable. No local maintenance arrangements for motor transport exist, except in Bahrain. § 18. HISTORY (a) Early History Contrary TO its present appearance of emptiness and isolation, the Persian Gulf has in the past presented many scenes of picturesque and of political interest, and few areas of the world can boast a longer recorded history. Its waters were sailed by the fleets of the early Assyrian masters of 'Iraq-perhaps even by predecessors of these. Some authorities suggest that Phoenician shipping plied, in the great days of their sea traffic, between the ports of South Persia and Arabia, and would attribute the mysterious sepulchral mounds at Bahrain to these occupiers. The Gulf was undoubtedly the scene of later Babylonian sea power, to which an end was put by the rise of the Persian Empire of Cyrus and Darius. The conquests of Alexander gave a fresh impulse to exploration and travel, and it was under his orders that his admiral, Nearchus in 326 B.C. made, up and down the Gulf, one of the most famous voyages of all time. Along all the south coast and that of Oman the original Hamitic inhabitants (if such they were) were swamped, in a prehistoric process many centuries long, by wave after wave of Semitic or Semitised tribesmen from the Arabian wastes, each bringing fresh names and 64 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SEcnON !S fresh elements into the traditions of their descendants. These were Arabs Of proto-Arabs from Najd, the Yaman and the Hijaz and, with some admixture of Persians and Baluchis, negro slaves and Indian settlers, they fonned the basis of the Arab race which, till our own time, peoples the same coasts. Of their early culture or political fortunes little caD be known. It is, however, certain that both Bahrain and Oman were subject to raids, and even to long years of occupation, by invaders from the Persian shore, always in turn to be expelled by local uprising or fresh immigration. B~rain (earlier known as Hajar) was the capital of a wide mainland area, including modern al Hasa ; and Oman, whenever it could attain unity of control, probably included the Trucial Coast and the south coast of Arabia to Dhufar. During the centuries from Alexander to Muhammad, little enough is known of events in the Gulf region. The coasts are mentioned by a number of geographers of the classical period, though rarely from personal knowledge. Such are Eratosthenes of Cyrene in the third century, Polybius in the second, and Strabo in the first century B.C. Something is added about the region-which one and all considered as an interesting and important highway-by Pliny in the first century A.D., and Ptolemy in the second, while the anonYmous author of the famous " Periplus ", written about A.D. 80, sailed the Gulf of Oman as well as the Red Sea. But in general a long period of darkness descends upon the whole area between later classical times and the conquests and geographers of Islam. Throughout the Gulf region the religion of the Prophet gained easy and early converts, but these no less rapidly seceded on his death and campaigns of reconquest by generals of the Khalifs Abu Bakr and 'Umar were needed before Islam was firmly established and Muslim traders (upon whom the legendary Sindbad the Sailor, of this same period, is based) sailed the Gulf. Bahrain passed from Persian rule to that (at least nominal) of the Ummayid dynasty of Damascus, and then to the 'Abbasids of 'Iraq. In spite of a century~long occupation by the Canuathian heretics, Bahrain was a flourishing trade and cultural centre and a citadel of Islam throughout the Middle Ages, and the metropolis of aU north-eastern Arabia, but already the pirates of Bahrain and its adjacent coasts were infamous. Oman, always the most detaehed and isolated part of Arabia, gave a vague allegiance to the Ummayids for a century and then established, with its own heterodox form of Islam, its own tradition and line of ruling Imams who were drawn from one or other of the great Arab tribes which had peopled the rich valleys of the Jabal Aklldhar. Their capital was 'at one of the inland towns-Nizwah, Izki or Rustaq. 'Abbasid dominance was sometimes attempted by force of anus, but was successfully resisted. Civil war changed at intervals the balance of internal power from one ambitious local dynasty to another, and Persian inroads led to some form of Persian jurisdiction over parts of the Oman littoral from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. With the dawn of the sixteenth century new elements appeared in the Gulf. • ,.. PLATE X. SAN 'A. CAPITAL OF THE YEMEN. 66 I p.e HANDBOOK SECTION 19 and victory in 1809 brought only temporary improvement; but the more ambitious campaign of 1819, co-operating with Muscat forces, destroyed almost the whole fleet of the Jawasim (by which name the Trucial Coast tribesmen were generally known to Europeans) at Ras al Khaimah. This success was followed by a series of treaties with the pirate Shaikhs who finally bound themselves to abstain from piracy by a General Treaty in 1820. This document, later amended to remain in force ill perpetuity (1853) and known as the Maritime Truce, has given its name to the T rucial Coast. Meanwhile this Coast, with Qatar and Bahrain had like Oman been threatened by the Wahhabi power, whose failure to occupy these territories otherwise than temporarily was due less to their own resistance than to Egyptian campaigns against the Wahhabis elsewhere in Arabia 1818 and 1835/8. But it successfully renewed its aggression after the final Egyptian witbdrawal from al Hasa in 1840, and still dominates certain stretches of the Gulf coast. Bahrain was freed from the Portuguese only to fall under other successive masters. It was occupied at times briefly by the Persians, at times by the arms of Oman, at times by immigrant Arab forces from the mainland. Tn 1753 the islands became again a Persian dependency. This was ended 30 years later by a successful invasion by 'Atbah (pI. 'Utub) tribesmen of the mainland. These survived a further expediliou from Muscat and a brief Wahhabi occupation, and from the 'Utub is derived the present ruling house of the Al Kbalifah. The later history of Oman, the south-eastern Gulf shores, and Bahrain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be recorded in the separate accounts hereinafter to be given bf each. § 19. BAHRAIN (a) The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries The Shaikh of Bahrain was not a signatory of the Maritime Truce of 1853, though in action he conformed to it. Successive Shaikhs have co-operated with Great Britain in the suppression of the slave trade and have accepted British advice and mediation, and even a general and benevolent supervision, for the last century; there is, however, no formal Protectorate. Relations were stabilised by a treaty in 1861 which secured the integrity and independence of the Bahrain State and which has effectively repelled claims sometimes advanced by the Turks after their annexation of al Hasa in 1871, and more recently those of the Persians based upon their occasional and short-lived seizures of the islands in the past. S[!CTJON 19 j P.C. HANDBOOK 67 In 1880 Shaikh 'Isa re-defincd his Treaty relations with H.M.G. and this was followed in 1892 by the" Final Exclusive Agreement". In 1895 an attempted invasion of Bahrain by tribesmen from the Qatar mainland called for British intervention which was successful in avoiding bloodshed and safeguarding Bahrain integrity. A British Political Agent representing the Government of India was appointed in 1900. ' In the present century Bahrain has made considerable progress under the well-established and well-conducted dynasty of the Al Khalifah. Shaikh 'Isa, after more than 60 years of rule, handed over in 1922 to Shaikh Hamad, and he in turn to his son, the present ruler Shaikh Salman, in 1942. Apart from the Political Agent, half a dozen British of'ficials--or less-assist the Shaikh in his Government. The Political Agent is subordinate to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, whose headquarters were transferred in 1947 from Bushire to Bahrain. Interest in Gulf affairs was until 1947 divided between the Government of India and H.M.G., but with the transfer of power in India in August, 1947, the Foreign Office became the sole spokesman of H.M.G. in that region. (b) Bahrain in 1948 The inhabited islands of the Bahrain group are three-Bahrain Island measuring 27 miles by 10, Muharrak 4 miles by l mile, and Sitrah 3 miles by I. There are in all some 100 villages. The developed and most fertile area is the northelfl fringe of Bahrain Island; much of the rest is desert. Fresh water supplies exist from wells and springs (in the sea itself) off Bahrain Island. The population is Arab with a fairly strong Persian imusion, considerable traces of negro blood (relic of the slave trade), and a few resident Hindu merchants. All four Sunni sects are represented, with a Shi'i minority. The local administration is sound and suitable, and development of all kinds is proceeding actively. An American Mission has worked for many years. The traditional industry of the islands is pearl fishery, which previously employed up to 1,000 boats and 20,000 men. Its fall on evil days synchronised-fortunately for the otherwise destitute Bahrain Treasury-with the discovery of Oil in the eentral area of the island. This led, within less than 10 years, to the exploitation of an important oilfield, refinery and sea-loading station, all of which are operated UDder Concession by "Bapco". This concern 'necessarily dominates the economic life of the island. The pre-existing local industries of making sail cloth, local craft and reed mats, and the breeding of white donkeys, have receded. Dates are the principal natural product. The rupee currency is used. The island, thus reasonably prosperous and progressively administered, affords an excellent base for the Companies' activities in the Gulf. 68 I l' C HANDBOOK SECTION 20 § 20. TRUCIAL COAST AND QATAR (a) The Nineteenth Century I The record of these territories since the middle of the nineteenth century is one of the gradual disappearance of piraey and the slave trade (although domestic slavery still flourishes) and the successful efforts of the British Government to diminish the arms traffic. The Trucia! Rulers acknowledge -the paramount position of H.M.G., represented by the Political Resident, but no restrictions are placed upon their independence provided that they adhere to the various Conventions which they have signed. The British Government has scrupulously avoided interference in their petty and often violent internal affairs. All have undertaken not to alienate territory or bestow rights upon foreign subjects, otherwise than with the knowledge of H.M.G., to whom in fact they owe their positions and their freedom. Each of the Rulers (of whom particulars will be given later) is thus -in direct treaty relations with the British Government, but without the declaration of any formal protectorate. A representative of the Political Resident is now stationed at Sharjah. . Up to the middle of the nineteenth century the Jawasim power. with its headquarters at'-Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah, was paramount along the coast, with the Sharjah Shaikh as the principal ruler. This is no longer the case; the seven States recognised by H.M.G. as independent are now equal in status. The Peninsula of Qatar is historically distinct from the Trucial Coast but its Shaikh, early in the present century, entered into agreements with H.M.G. similar to those of the Trucial rulers, and has accepted the same obligations. The State visit of Lord Curzon as Viceroy in 1903 to Oman, Sharjah and 'Other Gulf ports is still remembered. (b) The Trucial Coast To-day . The territory from the southern limits of AI Hasa (a Sa·udi Arabian province) to the slopes of the Oman mountains is a flat, sandy and monotonous area of repulsive aspect and scanty popUlation. Drinking water is of rare occurrence, cultivation unknown except for an occasional meagre date-belt; there are no natural resources except dates insufficient for local needs, fairly abundant fish, and the increase of the flocks of camels which form· the transport and only wealth of the tribesmen. The plain immediately west of the Oman range is slightly more favoured both in water and vegetation. Trade is mostly concentrated in the hands of Persians, many of whom have migrated from Iran during the last 25 years. The standard of living and prosperity throughout the coast is the lowest imaginable, especially since the suspension of profitable piracy and the serious decline of the pearl trade . •. ,': SECTION 20 69 ! p.e HANDBOOK The currency in use througbout Qatar and the Trucial Coast is the Indian rupee, but the Maria Theresa dollar is more acceptable in hinterland areas; the value of this :fluctuates between two and three rupees. The climate of the coast, exceedingly severe but not unhealthy in summer and only moderately malarial, is cool or cold in winter, when th.ick clothing is required. There are few medical facilities. • Islam is the sole religion. Political features are the lack of all cohesion between the petty political units, hereinafter to be described ; the limited powers of command or even of persuasion of the Shaikhs over their own people, among whom the original democracy of Islam prevails; and the lack of geographical boundaries between.the various principalities. There is, indeed, little question of any given land (outside the headquarter villages) being" under" this or that ruler; their power takes rather the form of superior influence over this or that tribe regardless of where the latter may be al the time. Boundaries have neve.r been demarked, and the conception of lines upon a map or in nature is totally incomprehensible to the local mind. The areas of the various States are therefore more or less imaginary. Among the characteristics of the local population (not always excluding the rulers) are an avarice which seeks advantage from every situation and is shameless in its demands, and a suspiciousness of foreigners and foreign ways which renders dealing with the people and their leaders a task of great difficulty and calls for infinite patience. Time is of no object, future or hypothetical situations cannot be considered, modern requirements are not understood. The prevailing xenophobia appears lately to be somewhat diminished by increasing contacts (largely with the Companies themselves), and by war conditions which made the hinterland dependent upon H.M.G. for its food and clothing supplies. The population of the Trucial Coast and Qatar may be divided imo the Shaikhdoms and their subjects, the independent villages, and the hinterland tribes. These elements wi!! now be considered in order. (c) Qatar The Shaikhdom of Qatar covers the Peninsula of that name, itS southern boundary being very roughly a line from the base of the Bahrain inlet to the Khor al 'Udaid at the base of the east coast. It measures some 4,500 square miles. The population is scanty and wretchedly poor. The Company's present operations supply almost the sole source of wealth in the territory. Dohah is the Shaikh's capital and the only considerable vil!age. The north-western end of the peninsula is claimed by the AI Khalifab as the homeland of the pr~sent Bahrain dynasty, and bad relations arising from this have frequently brought the two 70 SECTION 20 I I'. C HANDBOOK Shaikhs to the verge of war. Otherwise, the Qatar people have few outside contacts. The present fuler, Shaikh 'Abdullah bill Jasim al Thalli, is very old and was much influenced by his son and heir Hamad, who died in 1948, and by his kinsman Salih al Ma'nah, who acts as 11is secretary. The Shaikh's two brothers and a bare half-dozen" notables" are the only personalities of note in this needy and primitive community which, with its rulers, has lived for cenlllries on the pearl trade. (d) The Coastal Shaikhdoms The Shaikhdom of Abu Dhabi is in size of territory by far the largest on the Trucial Coast, containing some 25,000 square miles. The ruler, Shailili Shakhbut bin Sultan of the Al Bu Falab, is a quiet, nervous personality. He has three brothers, Hazza', Khalid and Za'id, of whom the last named is probably the outstanding and most influential person in the whole 'of Trucial Oman. Shaikh Za'id, a grandson of the well-remembered Za'id bin Khalifah, is the ruler's representative in Baraimi and responsible to his brother for political relations with the interior tribes. It is through him that the Al Bu Falah exert their very considelable influence with the bedouin, with. which 'no other Shaikhdom on the Trucial Coast can compete; this is a decisive factor whenever tribal disputes alise involving the Abu Dhabi shaikhs. Relations with their eastern neighbour Dubai and the Al Bu Falasah, a seceding branch of the Al Bu Falah, are at present not good. Shaikh Shakhbut's standard of living is low and his income, apart from oil revenues, is negligible. His receipts from pearl fishing and his date gardens in the Baraimi oasis are his only other resources. The village of Abu Dhabi is situated on a barren island off the coast and is not visited by steamers. The Shaikh's" palace" is the only presentable building and the water supply is very poor and food scanty. The small and otherwise unimportant Shaikbdom of Dubai, covering some 1,500 square miles, has the advantage of frequent visits by British-India and other steamers, and handles the greater part of the sea-borne trade of the area. Some part of the commodities thus imported (piece goods, sugar, etc.) is re-exported to Iran for barter purposes in local craft. The bulk of the inhabitants of Dubai territory belong to the tribe of A1 Bu Falasah, a braneh of the Bani Vas. The Shaikh's authority is largely confined to the coast. Dubai creek has been used as a landing-place for flying boats. Hostilities have been frequent between two. factions in the town itself and the present Ruler, Sa'id bin Maktum, has in the past had difficulty in controlling a rival faction (representing a ruling family deposed a century ago), who live at Dairah, a section of the town on tbe east side of the creek. The resources of the Sbaikhdom are small and SECTION 20 I.P.C. HANDBOOK 71 handled by the Shaikh's personal staff. The relations of the telritory with its neighbours on both sides are not unifonnly cordial. The ~uling family of the Shaikhdom of Sharjah claims the leading position in the important tribe-group of the Jawasim already mentioned, which at one time dominated the coast with a second headquarters at Ras al Khaimah. The latter, indeed, has been at times under the direct rule of Sharjah; they were separated in 1869, rejoined in 1900, and separated again in 1910. The present importance of the Sharjah Shaikhdom-a port of call for the British-Tndia steamers, but eommercially less important than Dubai-is that it contains an R.A.F. and a British Overseas Airways Corporation staging-post with landing-ground and imposing fort and rest house. This, and the provision of guards and services for it, has been a leading feature in the State economy. The Ruler, Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr, is not without a tendency towards progress. There is a representative stationed at Sharjah of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. The Sbaikh's authority funs little and precariously towards the hinterland. He claims a paramount position over the Jabal Faiyah, but cannot, it seems, substantiate this. The area effectively controlled is of the order of 300 square miles. The very small but officially independent territory of 'Ajman, covering about J r; ,>':],uare miles, with a population belonging to the Na'im tribe, is ruled by Shaikh Rashid bin Humaid. He is repofted 'friendly with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi and the Regent of Kalbah. He owns the date gardens of Manamah and, like his fellow Rulers, derives his normal revenue from pearl fishing. His territory has no features of interest. The coast town of Umm al Quwain is built upon a promontory 27 miles south-west-by-west of Ras al Khaimah. The Ruler, Ahmad bin Rashid, and his people belong to tbe Al Bu'Ali tribe. The tribe is without features of interest, the terrain of some 250 square miles and its economics being identical to all its neighbours. The Ruler is understood to enjoy prestige with some of the Shaikhs of the hinterland and to own property in the area of Dhaid. He spends the summcr at Falaj al 'Ali. The village of Ras al Khaimah was long famous as a nest of Jawasim pirates and a scene of their radication. It is, as already mentioned, still a Jawasim settlement and now independent of Sharjah. The territory of the Shaikhdom extends southward along the western base of the mountains for some 30 miles, but includes little or no mountain territory. The Ruler, Shaikh Sultan bin Salim, recently abdicated and his successor has not, at the time of writing, been acknowledged. The Shaikhdom includes some date gardens, watered by springs. Certain village settlements along the ·coast claim to be independent of the major Shaikhs already mentioned, but are, with the exception of Kalbab, not thus recognised by H.M.G. It has not so far (with the J2 I P.C HANDBOOK SECTION ~o same exception) been thought by the Company worth while to obtain prospecting rights over their minUle or dubious territories. These consist of the villages of AI Hirah, q miles north-west of Sharjah ; of HamriyaP-, 6 miles north-east of 'Ajman; Fujairah, on the east coast of Oman, 4 miles north of Kalbah; and the latter place itself. No particular interest attaches to any of them. Kalbah, on the northeast coast of Oman, is governed at present by Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad as Regent for his young nephew. The Company's Concession over Kalbah territory was obtained rather with a view to enlisting the influence of Shaikh Khalid in its hinterland affairs than because his own territory was of interest. (el The Hinterland Tribes The tribes whose villages and grazing grounds skirt the western face of the Oman mountains arc claimed as subjects or vassals by the Sultan of Muscat, and in part also by the Shaikhs of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah. Without entering into full detail, it must be said that none of these has established his ability effectively to control thc.cc tribes, or to secure to the Companies full rights of access. They must therefore be treated as effectively independeUl, and the problem of securing amicable entry and freedom of prospecting in their country has not yet been fully solved. The Bani Qitab occupy the country round the Jabal Faiyah, and tend to dispute the claim of the Shaikh of Sharjah to be paramount over it. Their own Shaikh, Muhammad bin 'Ali, has shown extreme suspiciousness of foreigners and has only recently permitted direct contact with the Companies' spokesmen; there are some hopes that his future attitude will improve. Without his goodwill penetration of that area cannot be easy. The Bani Ka'ab, subjeets of Shaikh 'Ubaid bin Juma', occupy the country from Jabal Raudhah, thence south to east of Baraimi, and lip the Wadi Jizzi. The same anti-foreign attitude is displayed here by the ignorant and fanatical tribesmen. The Na'im as a tribe are disunited and occupy a part of Baraimi oasis, part of Dhank and part of Hath village, 20 miles south of Baraimi. The principal Na"im Shaikh, Saqr bin Sultan, is all unpopular personality, whose influence over his people outside BarainU is now negligible. The AI Bu Shamis, originally a branch of the Na'im, are on bad terms with the latter, but are friendly with the AI Bu Falah and as a tribe are of some importance in the BaraimiJabal Hafit area. Baraimi oasis, with the exception of three date gardens, belongs to the AI Bu Falah; of these three gardens one belongs to the Al Bu Shamis and two to the Na·im. The Sultan of Muscat claims that these latter areas are within his territory and sphere of influence, but his claim would be exceedingly -difficult to substantiate. Amongst the many tribes who occupy the country south of Baraimi arc the Bani Qitab of Aftaj : the Baluch of Ma'zam : the Duru', a large SECnO'lll p.e HANDBOOK 73 bedouin tribe to be found in the area west of Dhank and thence south to Tanu'm and Adam: the Wahibah and lanaba in the Wadis Halfain and Andam: and the Harasis in the interior west of the Hugf l\,fea. § 21. OMAN (al The Nineteenth Century The dynasty of Muscat has seldom succeeded in asserting itself in 'the hinterland of the territory where the tribes and oases whieh acknowledge the Imam have, on the contrary, constantly threatenoo the coastal strip. The great Saiyid Sa'id extended his dominions to East Africa and there founded the principality of Zanzibar, but he required effective British support to maintain bis position in Oman itself against the Imam and the Wahhabis. From the latter, indeed, he was at times glad to purchase peace by payi1!-g tribute. Upon the death of Sa'id in 1856 his empire was partitioned; Zanzibar became an independent Sultanate. In Oman, Sultan Thuwaini entered into treaty relations with France and the U.S.A. and accepted a British resident (epresentative. With H.M.G. also Conventions were made for the suppression of the remains of piracy and tbe slave trade. The reign of Thuwaini was marked by civil war and active aggression by the Wahhabis, to whom tribute was again paid. Thuwaini was assassinated by his son in 1866. Years of civil war and insecurity followed until the succession of Sultan Turki. This ruler re-adopted the enlightened policy of Sa'id, enjoyed the high favour of H.M.G., and assisted to the best of his ability in suppressing the slave trade. All the Muscat possessions on the Persian coast, except Gwadar, were gradually lost. Turki died in 1888. His successor, Sultan Faisal, was again faced with rebellion among the inland tribes, who, in 1895, captured Muscat itself and were with difficulty bought off. The remote province of Dhufar, which had seceded, was recovered for the Sultan by British intervention. Politics in Oman, too often involving civil waf, range themselves astride the division of the whole population into the rival f.'l.ctions of the Ghafiri and Hinawi. The quarrel originated early in the eighteenth century in an episode between· the chi~f of the Bani Ghafir and the Imam's agent, who invoked the Bani Hina. The cleavage, now profound and traditional, involves not only present politics and inherited antipathies but also reputed origins-the Ghafiri from the 'Adnan or Northern Arabian, the Hinawi from the Qahtani ,Jr Yaman element. The endless quarrel appears to th~ outsider meaningle .... s II ., 74 I P.C HANVBOOK SECTION 21 but is ill fact all-pervading, and bas resulted in the division of the country with its dual sway of an Imam paramount in the mountainous hinterland and the Sultan controlling the eastern and southern coasts. There is no space in this account for the international complications, especially as between Great Britain and France, which arose in the nineteenth century out of the relations of both with the Oman Ruler and from their different attitudes towards the arms traffic. The local coastwise population gained what advantage they could by playing off the local representatives of one power against those of the other. Faisal was, on the whole, a satisfactory and enlightened Ruler. He died in 1913, and was succeeded by Sultan Taimur. During the first Great War, a further threat to Muscat from inland occurred in 1915, but otherwise litlle change was recorded in this backward and unexplored territory whose resources and administration remained undeveloped. Taimur abdicated in J928, to be succeeded by the present Ruler Sayid Su'id, then a child. The latter was educated in India and 'Iraq, is well accustomed to European society, and is a Ruler of excellent intentions. (b) Oman To-day As the historical account has indicated, the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, with whom H.M.G. has Treaty relations and from whom the Company holds Concessions, has no fiml authority outside Muscat, the Batinah Coast and Dhufar. The hinterland of Oman may be said to be ruled by a triwnvirate consisting of the imam, Muhammad bin 'AtduUah a1 Khalili: Shaikh Sulaiman bin Hamir, who is chief of the Bani Riyam tribe inbabiling the Jabal Akhdhar and who claims, somewhat unconvincingly, to be paramount chief of the whole Ghafiri faction: and Shaikh Salih bin 'lsa, paramount chief of the Hinawi faction. In addition, there are a number of tribes who owe little or no allegiance to any of the Big Three or to the Sultan and who are, therefore, virtually independent. The Sultan exercises a modicum of authority in the Sur and Ja'ian area, as also along the south-eastern coast from Ja'lan to Dhufar. The Dhahirah, which extends from Bafaimi southwards to 'Ibri, is not within tbe sphere of influence of the Big Three, but is equally remote from that of the Sultan. These tribes therefore enjoy a large degree of freedom. Dhufar province, with its capital Salalah, is loyally the Sultan's, and a frequent place of his residence. The same is true of the Batinah, the half-moon of coastline northward from Muscat. The double Government of Oman (which, when united, was a major power m Arabia) has many inconveniences. The Muscat dynasty has free contact with the outside world; that of the Imam has none The former seeks modern ways and wealth, the latter SEC'IO.'l 22 75 ! P.C. HANDBOOK isolation and Religion. In neither do public services exist; in both the standards of life are of the most primitive. The Muscat Sultanate has, however, always been supported by the Government of India. The territories of the Imam have been unvisited by Europeans, save on the fringes, for a century. Apart from the twin town of Muscat-Matrah, with its mainly Baluchi and negro population, the other ports of some importance are Sur and Suhar. The latter was long independent of Muscat. Both are markets for the coastal strip and enlrepots for the hinterland, which is entered from the coast by many tracks into and across the mountains-a traffic not interrupted by the different Government in the interior. The coast eontains an imposing date-belt of great extent upon which, with other cultivation and fishing, the population exists. The valleys and slopes of the Jabal Akhdhar are in many places well watered and carry a heavy vegetation of tamarisk, oleander, aeacia and euphorbia, as well as dates and all types of fruit. The large seaside oasis of Dhufar, which the Sultan treats as a separate and highly personal unit of his domains, enjoys the south-west monsoon. The more plentiful rainfall from this ensures comparatively high fertility, and the mountains which rise behind the coastal settlements have some vegetation; they produce valuable gums and were, it is believed, the starting place of the incense traffic of antiquity. § 22. KUWAIT In addition 10 the other territories of south-eastern Arabia, it will be convenient to glance at the Shaikhdom of Kuwait. This small principality, situated north of the Wahhabi province of al Hasa and south of 'Iraq's southern border, is itself flat -and featureless, the town of Kuwait being almost the only permanent settlement. The territory is neither extensive nor fertile, and owes its separate existence probably to the presence of a spacious and well-protected harbour. The founders of Kuwait were a fragment of the great 'Anizah tribe and the settlement seems not to date from before the middle of the eighteenth century. It gained greatly in population and repute during the Persian occupation of Basrab in 1775/79, when it afforded a refuge to many merchants and citizens of the 'Iraq port, not aU of whom returned thither. It was used more than once as the site of a factory of the East India Company, and it endured persecution and conquest at the hands of the Wahhabis during their first northeastward expansion in the last years of the eighteenth century; but it 76 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECl10N n recovered well and became, as it could be to·day, a main outlet for the trade ofthe Najd oases. It was ruled by an independent Shaikh. An Egyptian representative was stationed at Kuwait in 1838, but remained for a short time only. Later in the century the steamers of the British India Company began to make it a regular port of call. Additional revenues accrued to the Shaikh from smuggling operations into 'Iraq, and from the pearl fishery which it shared with Bahrain and the smaller ports. The present ruling family dates from the end of the nineteenth century when Shaikh Mubaral< installed himself as Ruler. This eoincided with a period of jealous activity by the Turkish Government, which claimed and partly obtained recognition as Suzerain. Further interest was created by the probability of Russia in 1898 claiming a warm-water outlet at the same spot, and two years later, in 1900, a German commissioner visited Kuwait to seek a terminus for the Baghdad railway. But an agreement between me Shaikh and the British Government in 1899 had already, in spite of Turkish pretensions, removed the danger of such foreign occupation. It was from exile in Kuwait that 'Abdul 'Azjz bin Sa'ud in 1901 recaptured his Najd empire. Two years later occurred the famous visit of Lord Curzon. The present status of Kuwait-that of an independent but British-protected state-dates from 1914, when the Shaikh threw off Turkish sovereignty and co-operated with British forces invading 'Iraq. "The relations of the Kuwait Ruler-at present Shaikh Ahmad al Jabir al Subah-with 'Iraq have been variable but never violent. He has proved a loyal ally of HoM.G. His economic relations with Ibn Sa'ud were for long unfortunate, since the desire of the latter to encourage his own seaports led to the boycott of Kuwait in the transit trade. The Shaikh has, however, been fortunate in the discovery by the Kuwait Oil Company of oil deposits within his territory upon a major scale, and the development of these will assure the finances and prosperity of his State to an undreamed-of scale. The pearl fishery has lost much of its importance. The boundaries "Of Kuwait with 'Iraq have been delimited by' Treaty, though not yet marked on the ground in detail. Those with Sa'udi Arabia presented difficulties which were resolved or postponed in 1923 by the formation of a Neutral Zone immediately south of the Kuwait boundary. The British Government is represented at Kuwait by a Political Agent responsible to the Political Resident at Bahrain. There are no other official foreign representatives. An American Mission and hospital has been established at Kuwait for many years. Communications with 'Iraq are assured both by regular steamship sailings as well as native craft, and by an easy roaq journey of some four hours. A landing ground outside Kuwait town is used by B.OA.C., Iraqi Airways, the R.A.F .. and others. SECTION H II'.C HANDBOOK J7 § 23. BOOKS ON THE PERSIAN GULF TERRITORIES The literature on the Persian Gulf territories, other than [ran itself, is fragmentary and not always accessible; the most expert contributions are often concealed in geographi~al .or historical periodicals and not found at the booksellers. For its mediaeval period, the region is covered by the histories of Islam and of the Khalifate. The Portuguese regime in Oman and elsewhere is described by writers and travellers of that race, reprinte4 by the Hakluyt Society-d'Albuquerque, della Valle, P. Teixeira, di Varthema. For early British enterprise, J. Bruce, An1U1ls of the Honourable East India Company (London, 18\0). A convenient general history is that of Sir A. T. Wilson, The Persian Gulf (Oxford, 1928), which has also a good bibliography. Fragments of the local history of Omanare available in G. P. Badger History of the Imams alld Seyyids of Oman (London, Hakluyt Society, 1871). There is a biography of the first Sultan Sa'id: V"Maurizi. History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat (London, 1819), and of his greater successor: R. Said-Ruete, Sait! bin Sultan (London, 1929). The Empty Quarter has been explored by B. Thomas, Arabia Felix (London, 1932), and by H. St. J. Philby, The Empty Quarter (London, 1933); the edge had already been visited by R. E. Cheesman, III Unknown Arabia (London, 1926). Much detail of pre-1914 tribal and social life is given in S. B. Miles, The Countries and Tribes of the Persiall Gulf (London, 1919), and in the Admiralty Handbook of Arabia (1917). The Persian Gulf Gazetteer (six vols., 1906,J. G. Lorimer), published by the Governme.nt of India, is to be seen.in officiallibraries·.1 The Persian Gulf pilot (1932) is excellent for the coasts and climate.' Social life is intimately described in P. Harrison, The Arab at Yome (New York, 1924). Certain earlier travels are not yet wholly superseded, and are full of interest: C. Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie (Amsterdam, 1776), J. R. Wellsted, TrGl'e/s ill Arabia (London, 1839), ·W. G. Palgrave, Narrative of a· Year's Journey through CeQ/ral and Eastem Arabia (1862-63) (London, 1865) are three of the best-known of these. I Recent travel or descriptive books are: B. Thomas, Alarms and Excursions in Arabia (London, 1931), and A. Rihani, Around the Coasd· of Arabia (London, 1930). The Treaties between H.M.G. and all the Gulf potentates up to 1930 are to be found in Vol. Xl of C. U. Aitchison, Collection of Treatie.f, Engagements, and Sanads (Delhi, 1933). ,. , . KU-muHhaJ. '--". L,W4("""'~~ • .J.- t :;P:;':f.!~~ c.. .... ,,"~ ,,~~a /!//7RH//,W> Ra'-'",ays .. ••• i ? , ." , y ~ -"", • '-. " BA-Y;;A;7I, , , :MVNTAFIQ \ : ,~---- , , : i 11" , -" ..;.. /0" .... -tVn.ral ",' f "',10'" --- Oi.t'ul v IRAQ • § 24. COUNTRY AND CLIMATE • The present Kingdom of 'Iraq has an area of some 150,000 square miles. It is bounded on the east by Irau (Persia), on the north by Turkey, on the west by Syria and a narrow sec-tion of Transjordan, on the south by Sa'udi Arabia, the Shaikhdom of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf. The territory forms the eastern half or arc of the "Fertile Crescent ". In its orientation among the nations, 'Iraq holds a position of manifold significance . .Tn the south, it looks to the waters of the Gulf and the trade and traffic of India. Its eastern flank is the mountain wall (with flatlands only in the extreme south) of Iran. In the north, its natural connections are with Turkey, while its west and south merge in the broad Arabian steppes which form the hinterland of the Crescent, where the nomad tribes have ignored political frontiers for centuries. 'Iraq thus forms a bridge or a buffer between peninsular Arabia and the non-Arab countries of the Middle East. It is, at the same time, a land-bridge between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, a position which, before the piercing of the Suez Canal, appeared to offer it a great future in the world of communications. 'Iraq is characteristically and essentially the country of the Two Rivers. The Euphrates receives no tributary in 'Iraq territory; the Tigris from the northern and eastern mountains receives the Greater and Lesser Zab, the Diyalah and (just outside 'Iraq territory) the Karun. The two rivers join near Basrah to fonn the magnificent water-way of the Shatt al 'Arab, which, passing the great oil refineries of Abadan, reaches the sea at Fao. Hasty or unenterprising visitors to 'Iraq bear away an impression of monotonous sameness. They are wrong: the territory, whose frontiers follow no geographical and no racial criteria, contains the 80 1 P.C. HA?,UKOOK SECTION l5 greatest diversity. In the south, below Samarra and Hit, lies the: dead-flat alluv.ial plain formed, as the delta of the two rivers, since .about B.C. 5000. North of it, and forming the prehistoric mainland, are the higher undulating steppelands and cornfields of Kirkuk and Mosul (al Mausil). In the far north and north-east are the wild mountains of Kurdistan, different completely in character (as also in the race of their inhabitants) from central and lower 'Iraq. In the lower reaches of both the great rivers are extensive marshes, which .have developld a civilisation of their own among the reeds and ricefields; and west of the Euphrates lie the semi-desert steppes of the Shamiyah, habitable only by the camel herds of the Badu. Within all this diversity there are belts and islands of the greatest fertility as well as wide regions of utter desert. The climate of the '[raq Kingdom is, except in the southern territory facing the Gulf, of the continental type, without the modifying influences of the sea. Extreme summer hea"t is encountered throughout the territory, except in the Kurdish mountains, where it is somewhat moderated; and with the heat comes a worse enemy-dust. It is, however, except in the far south, unaccompanied by humidity and therefore not unhealthy; cool nights are usual. Malaria is prevalent in some localities, but as a whole 'Iraq treats its inhabitants and visitors with leniency in the matter of tropical diseases. The autumn and spring are exhilarating and delightful everywhere, with severe cold in the north and at times frost even ill the Basrah date-gardens. Rain is confined to the four winter months; it is least on the western fringes, where not more than four to five inches are deposited, and heaviest in the mountainous north, where it sufJices for the growing of spring rain-crops. Central 'Iraq has an average of eight to ten inches deposit .. Snow is rare, except in Kurdistan. The European visitor or resident must take clothing for aU extremes of temperature, and will do well to respect and conform to the climate rather than defy or ignore it. HISTORY 1·,- (a) Antiquity Human occupation of 'iraq 'began in the north-Ilecessarily, since the south was still sea-GOver-ed; but traceable or recorded civilisation began in the south. Here, by B.C. 3000. successive immigrations, from Iran and probably from Anatolia, had been fused-by whatever process of conquest or superimposition-into a people whom we call Sumerian, a people of ordered life and high culture. By B~C. 2500. they had created a civilisation expressed in a score of riverside city SECTION l~ p.e HANDBOOK 81 slates. Their culture was altered, but not destroyed, by the first major Semitic immigration, that of the Akkadians from the southwestern l'iese.ry.s. Akkadian power flourished and declined, and from another Semitic invasion, that of the Amorites, arose the great Babylon of King Hammurabi (2100 B.C.). Babylon under various dynasties, some non-Semitic, survived and partly absorbed further waves or immigration from the iranian and Auatolian plateaux; but it fell in 745 B.C. to the arms of Nineveh, the capital of a Semitic state of tipper 'Iraq, which, by its virile devotion to warfare, grew from obscurity to be the domi!lating empire of all western Asia, including, 'Iraq, Syria and Palestine. The brutal but not uncivilised Assyrian state fell in turn to a combination or revived Babylon and a new Median power which destroyed Nineveh in 612. The neo-Babylonian (or Chaldrean) empire-that of Nebuchadnezzar and Balthazar-endured for a bare century. It was overcome by the Medo-Persian armies of Cyrus in 539, and 'rraq remained an outlying province of the Acha:menid Kings of Persia until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. His successors, of the house of Se\eucus, though they founded cities of Greek type in 'haq, could hold it effectively for little more than a century. They were displaced (but never acquiesced in their displacement) from 'Iraq by the Scythian-Persian lille of the Parthian Arsacids. These ruled 'Iraq as a disputed border province for four centuries, to fall in turn before the power of a reyived llational dynasty, more purely Persian, the Sassanids. It was against the power of these, shown to be still aggressive by their recent invasions of Syria and Palestine across the desert, that the Arab forces of the earliest Khalifs hurled their Muslim raiding parties which became armies and could not be withstood. \ (b) The Middle Ages The Arab armies of the new faith swept, in the first few years of the Islamic era, northward out of Arabia and far across 'Iraq and Iran, and these territories, though they were from the very first distracted with feuds and heresies, never again gave up their new Islamic allegiance. 'Iraq, indeed, was destined a century after the Prophet's death (that is, in the middle of the eigbth century) to becomeby successful and largely racial (Persian against Arab) reaction against the Ummayid Khalifate reigning in Damascus-the seat of the most famous, most wealthy and most advanced of Islamic states, the 'Abbasid Khalifate. Its capital was at Baghdad, a city built for the purpose in the ninth century by the second monarch of the line. For four centuries 'Iraq was the centre of the leading civilisation of the world. It could boast the widespread prosperity derived from its vast works of irrigation and still more the leading position in literature, science. culture and the arts. This civilisation contained, 82 I P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 25 indeed, many Persian as well as Arab elements, and fastion between the 'Abbasids and other Islamic rulers led in time to the shrinkin[. province by province, of their empire. At the same time, religious controversy joined hands with racial distinctions and the ambitions of other dynasties to render the political world of the Middle East constantly disturbed and fragmented. Baghdad, however, remained without rival in wealth and in religious and cultural prestige. By the tenth century the 'Abbasid Empire was already territorially narrowed and insecure. The Khalif had become the protected puppet of foreign bodyguards, and lived in fear of his own powerful governors. The disruption of the Islamic world was complete, and the 'Abbasid Empire, in all save culture, among its weakest elements. The Commander of the Faithful had become a merely spiritual functionary, and did not scruple to invoke the aid even of Mongol infidels to save himself from the threats or presence of his masters. The flood of the Seljuk Turks from central Asia over all Persia and Anatolia was but one of the dangers he could not hope to survive. A Hamdanid (Arab) dynasty ruled northern 'Iraq for a century from 929, the Buwayid of Persia lorded it over the Khalif in the same period, the 'Uqailids (Arab tribesmen) were masters of Mosul throughout the eleventh century, and the Bani Mazyad of Hillah throughout the twelfth. In this century and the thirteenth, the Zankids-ex-captains of the Seljuk forces-ruled large areas of 'Iraq and Syria, and the 'Ayyubids (dynasty of Saladin, of Kurdish origin), by dircct and indirect rule, disposed of the fortunes of the Faithful. Begliginids at Arbil were under their dominance. Nor do these names exhaust the dynasties or pretenders who disputed for power in 'Iraq during the nominal rule of the KhaliL The conquests of Jenghis Khan brought the danger of total suppression very near, and it fell to Jenghis' grandson Hulaku, in 1258, to sack Baghdad, destroy its life-giving can.als, scatter its populace and reduce it in a day to a shabby outpost of his barbarian empire. One 'Abbasid survivor escaped to Cairo. The three centuries which separate the Mongol sack of Baghdad from its conquest by the Ottoman (,Uthmani) Turks faU into four periods. For 80 years Baghdad was a province of the Mongol Emperors of Iran, during which time it fell ever lower in the scale of culture and prosperity. For 70 years more it was the southern capital of a state carved by a vassal, Hasan Jala'ir, from the weakened body of the 11 Khan Empire. In 1410, it fell to be possessed by a half-tribal dynasty of Turkomans only in turn [0 be reft from them by a rival state of the same race and the same savagery. Finally, in 1508, 'Iraq was added to the dominions of Isma'il Shah, founder of the new Sbi'i Persian dynasty of the Safawis. But 'Iraq was to remain Persian for a bare generation; the emergence of a united and aggressive Persian Empire coincided with the great expansion movement of the Ottoman Turks, who had superseded Seljuk and Byzantine alike; and even while the Shah was arranging his administration of 'Iraq, his armies turned to meet the eastward-marching forces of the Sultan. If' I SECTION 26 I P. C HAN[)]!OOK 83 ) (e) Under the Turks The occupation of Baghdad by Sultan Sulaimal' the Magnificent in 1534 brought him dominion over the whole of 'Iraq from the Kurdish mountains to the sea. Turkish government of this age was of the simplest type, designed rather to enrich the ruler than to restore either the wealth or civilisation of its subjects. In spite of the Sultan's immense prestige and powerful forces, discontent and local rebellion were common. Early ill the seventeenth century, Baghdad was reoccupied by the Persians, but for a few years only. In 1638, the viclOrious armies of Sultan Murad entered the capital and restored Ottoman rule throughout the territory. The events of 'Iraq bjstory, from the second and final Turkish occupatioll until the Great War of 1914/18, can be summarised as a series of large-scale campaigns between the neighbouring and everhostile Turkish and Persian powers, fought largely on 'Iraq soil: endless turbulence of the tribes, endless ambitions and quarrels among the Pashas, stagnation in development, drabness and poverty in the towns, increasing separateness from the main body of the empire. The period was one of no progress, moral or material, for the 'Iraqi people. They participated only too completely in the long-drawn sickness and debility of the Sick Man of Europe, and only during the close of the period-from the latc nineteenth century-did Turkish governors appear who realised, but could not cure, the many maladies of society and government. The most famous of these were Midhat Pasha (1.870) and Nadhim Pasha (19\0). From the turn of the century, the beginnings of an Arab movement, by reaction against the long suppression of Arab independence under foreign rule, began among the patriots of Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad, and hoped, during and after the Great War of 1914 to 1918, to find opportunities for expressin.g itself. § 26. THE IRAQ KINGDOM TO-DAY The three Turkish wilaiyats which form modern 'Iraq fell into British military possession by the eviction, after stubborn fighting, of the Turkish armies therefrom; and by the date of tbe Armistice, 11th Novembcr 1918, 'Iraq was free of the Turks. There followed a period first, in 1918-1920, of keen and honest British administration, which, however, seemed to ignore or to belittle 'Iraqi aspirations to independence; then a period of growing agitation and protest, wherein many forces of disorder, tribal and urban, were harnessed to the Nationalist movement, which was led by veteran 84 ,. c HANDIlOOK SECTION 26 'Iraqi or pan-Arab patriots, by 'Iraqi officers who had served wilh Faisal and Lawrence, and by the Holy Men of the SJ:ti'ah. It ended with the widespread insurrection of 1920. The suppression of thisDO easy and no pleasant task-was complete by the autumn of the year. It was followed by the return of Sir Percy Cox as High Commissioner, the setting up of all 'Iraqi Council of State with considerable powers and, in the summer of 1921, the arrival, election and coronation of the Amir Faisal (deposed from his Syrian throne by the French) as King of 'Iraq. Meanwhile, a Mandate for 'Iraq had been promised, at San Remo In 1920, to Great Britain. However well meaning, it was always regarded by 'Iraq's statesmen as inconsistent with their national self-respect, and was correspondingly unpopular; and the Anglo-'Iraq Treaty by which it was to be implemented was accepted-by Cabinet, Constituent Assembly and, finally, Parliament-only after long and bitter opposition in political circles. The building up of 'Iraq's constitutional and administrative life proceeded-though with many political distractions-during the years 1922 to 1929. The frontiers were fixed, notably by the League of Nations decision,-in 1925, not to return Mosul to the Turks. A body of modern law came into being. Finances were fostered and controlled, courts and civil service organised, the public services developed, an army trained. The transfer of executive power from British to 'Iraqi hands proceeded, and the tact and patience desirable on both sides for this delicate operation were usually forthcoming. An amended Anglo-'Iraq Treaty was signed in 1929, and 'Iraq accepted as a member of the League of Nations in 1932. Since then, the constitutional life of a limited monarchy has been interrupted, indeed, more than once by abuses of power, notably by the Army; but, on the whole, the last sixteen years in 'Iraq have been years of progress and hope, and generally of financial prosperity. Great development lies ahead, while important problems; internal rather than international, remain for solution. The statutory powers of the King of 'lraq (or, to-day, the RegentH.R.H. the Amir 'Abdul lilah-on behalf of the boy King Faisal II, now at school in England) arc limited by the Organic Law; his actual influence depends on personality and opportunity. Parliament is of the two-chamber type: the Chamber of Deputies contains a representative for each 20,000 male 'Iraqis, the Senate consists of twenty members named by the King. There are eight (but sometimes more or less) Ministries, whose heads, appointed by the King on recommendation of the Prime Minister, form the Cabinet. Under the Ministries are grouped the various departments. Among these are found all those for which modern government makes provision-the Finance branches of Revenue, Budget, Customs, Accounts, Audit; the Legal branches, Courts, Land Registry (Tapu) ; the Schools and the Archaeological service; departments of Trade SECTION 27 II'.C H.ANDBOOK 85 and industry; the various divisions of the Heahh and Veterinary service; Agriculture and irrigation; Public Works, Railways, Transport, Posts and Telegraphs, Aviation, the Port of Basrah .: Religious Endowments (Auqaf); Municipalities; the 'Iraq Police; and the 'iraq Army. These departments are represented at the main centres throughout the country, wherever applicable, and staffed by 'Iraqi officials of every grade. , The provincial administration of 'iraq divides the territory into fourteen Liwas or provinces, and these in turn into Qadhas (districts) and Nahiyahs (sub-districts). The Governor of a Liwa is the Mutassarif, of a Qadha the Qaimmaqam, of the Nahiyah the Mudir. In north-eastern 'Iraq, for example, Kirkuk and Arbil are the headquarters of Liwas; Kifri and Chamchamal of Qadhas; Tuz and Altun Kupri of Nahiyahs. All principal towns, and many scarcely more than villages, have organised municipalities. These are supervised by the local Mutasarrtls and Qaimmaqams, who, in turn, correspond with the Ministry of the interior in Baghdad. The Turkish division into wilaiyats no longer exists. With this exception their administrative units and grouping have been substantially adopted. Diplomatic or Consular representatives of most important nations are accredited to the Court of Baghdad, and 'Iraqi representatives are similarly installed in many European and Western-Asian capitals, and the U.S.A. § 27. RACE, POPULATION, SOCIETY The population of 'Iraq, which cannot be ascertained with exactness in tribal or remote mountain areas, lies probably between 3t and 4 millions. Although in tradition and in present culture tlil: lerritory is predominantly Arab, this Uust as in Palestine or Syria) is based in no racial singleness. The 'Iraqi of to-day is, inevitably, heir in blood to aU the previous races which have inhabited the land, starting with the remotest aboriginals, followed by Sumerians, Akkadians and other Semites, by the Indo-Iranian and Annenoid contributions of Persia and Anatolia; then infiltrations of Greek and again of Persian; and all the time, and most obviously after the Islamic conquests, wave after wave of pure Arabs from the deserts of the south and west. The latter, though the least advaneed at the lime of their successive entries, have absorbed the rest and given its present cultural aspect to the territory. The Arabs of 'Iraq, however, are themselves far from uniform. They are subject, firstiy, to the great cleavage between tile Sunnah and the Shi'ah. The two elements are in 'Iraq numerically not unequal, 86 HANDBOOK SECTION n T P. C I: II the Shi'is having probably a slight majority. Geographically, southern 'Iraq is predominantly Shi'i, the north Sunni, with Baghdad itself and its environs divided between the two. The Sunnis are largely followers of Abu Hanifah, while the sect of Shafa'j is well represented. The Shi'is nearly all belong to the main body of tbat faith and revere above all the Holy Places of 'Ali and his followers-Karbala aud Najf, Samarra and Kadhimain, where the annual Shi"i festivals are kept with fervour in an atmosphere of great emotion. The most important of non-Arab communities in 'iraq is that of the Kurds. This people, of Indo-Iranian race and language, occupy the mountainous country in the north and nonh-east. They form a part (approximately one-thud) of the main Kurdish block found in north-western Iran and south-eastern Turkey, as \vell as in the four 'Jraq liwas (provinces) of the uorth-Kirkuk, Sulaimauiyah, Arbil and Mosul. Few major faces of the world seem more likely than do the Kurds to have been faithful, from time immemorial, to their present areas of settlement. The 'Iraqi Kurds are strict Shafa'i Sunnis with their own strong local attachments, conscious of their racial and cultural difference, virile and hardy and determined to obtain from the central government a treatment recognising their distinction from the Arab majority. They numbeJ.; in 'Iraq between half and threequarters of a million. Other minorities in 'Iraq are less important but highly interesling. Christian communities are found in all the principal towns and in an important belt of villages around Mosul. 'Iraqi Christians are, on the whole, an intelligent, industrious and law-abiding element. They include the Nestorians (known also popularly as Assyrians) in north 'Iraq, a remnant rescued by H.M.G. in 1918/19 from iran and Turkey. The problems which this community has presented and still presents need not be described here. The otJICr Christian minorities belong to sects who will be IDentiolled later in this Handbook, when Syria and Palestine are described. They are the so-calJed Jacobites (or Syrian Orthodox), centred at Mosul; the Gregorian Annenians, few and scattered all over 'Iraq; a few Greek Orthodox; and the Uniate Churchesthat is, those offshoots of the independent eastern churches who have latterly admitted the supremacy of Rome. The Uniates are the Chaldaeans or East-Syrian Uniates of Mosul and Baghdad, the Jacobite Vniates, and the Armenian Vniates. The 'Iraqi Jews have been for many ccnturies an active and large minority in Baghdad, where they have enjoyed an assured place in society and commerce under the 'Abbasids, Turks, and me present Government alike; only the development of political Zionism in Palestine has diminished the uniform good treatment accorded them. Their own sentiments are usually anti-Zionist. They have their own schools, hospitals and charity institutions. Lesser but interesting minorities are those of the Yazidis (known, but not accurately, as SECTION 27 I P.C. HANDBOOK 87 .. devil worshippers ") of the Kurdish districts north of Mosul-with headquarters at Shaikh 'Adi-and the Sinjar Hills. TIley arc of Kurdish type and speak a dialect akin to Kurdish but, under their Mir and around their own sanctuaries, retain a strong community sentiment. The Turcomans, a remnant of pre-Ottoman Turkish invasion or occupation, arc now found in the line of small towns bctwcen the Diyalah and Mosul following the old North Road, and including Kirkuk and Arbil; and the Sabaeans or Mandaeans, peaceful riverside folk with a religion of their own in their settlernellls in and near 'Amarah, where they are famed as silversmiths. There are many families of Annenians and some of Greeks in Baghdad and other of the towns; the weight-lifting porters of Baghdad are Lurs. A few Indian families have been long domiciled. in 'Iraq. From these varied elements in whieh (elsewhere than in Kurdistall) the Arab language and way of life greatly predominates, is formed the town and village society of the territory. In urban life and amenities 'Iraq has made immense progress during the last generation. To-day an active commercial life tlourishes, public services are weB maintained, life aud property are secure, and the conveniences aud amenities of modelli life are represented well in the greater cities and increasingly in the smaller. All social classes are found, from the high official or land-owner to the simplest peasant and artisan. AU trades and modern professions are practised. Supplies of all kinds are offered for sale, though under restriction in lime of war. The use of motor transport is universaL One English and many Arabic newspapers are publishcd. Outside the towns, the life of the village-dwelling cultivator is simpler and more traditionaL Here, too, modern medicine and the availability of modern supplies have done something to raise the standard of life, while irrigation by canal or pump has stabilised the means of subsistence. On the whole, however, the village dweller remains poor and relatively backward. • Beyond the villages and tbc nearer grazing grounds which support their sheep and goats, lie the open steppes of the Jazirah and the Hammad or Syrian Desert-the home of the great bedouin confederations of tribes, whose life, for al! that their greater ehiefs now own motor cars and visit cities, remains substantially that of the earliest ages; and no more picturesque aud instructive scenes can be visited by strangers than the ever-hospitable aud animated camps of the badu. In the Kurdish areas there is little real nomadism, since greater rainfall produces pasture rendering long migrations unnecessary; but the tribal form of society exists, just as elsewhere in 'Iraq, almost unquestioned outside the towns, and embraces settled folk throughout the Kurdish valleys as it does by the Tigris and Euphrates banks. Throughout Kurdistan racial and cultural life rests on a less mixed basis, and (save in Government circles) no language but Kurdish is to be heard. 88 PC H .... NDBOOK SECTION n The nomadic tribes of 'l~aq, though numerically a small ~jnority, form nevertheless a commumty not merely of general or soclOtogical but of practical and daily interest; and it may be worth while l~ notice the modes and areas in which the Companies in 'Iraq have dealings with this tribal world. The Kurdish and Turkoman villages situated along and around the main Kirkuk structure and the outlying structures (whose turn for development may come later), are, indeed, settled folk; but moving south-west along the I.P.c. pipe-line one may meet, within 20 miles, camps of the 'Ubaid tribe, who possess lhe broad Hawijah plain astride the Jabal Hamrin as far as the Tigris. These are Arabs, pure nomads, and have perhaps 5,000 tents. On the Tigris banks and Lesser Zab are the mainly-settled Jubur and smaller cultivating and grazing tribes; and west of these, in the broad Iazirah traversed by the Wadi Tharthar, are the Shammar Jarba'. These arc an offshoot of the great Sham.mar group of northern Arabia, whose homelands are the Jabal Shammar, with Ha'il as headquarters of its now extinct dynasty: a major branch is found on the middle Tigris, from Kut to the Diyalah. Sbammar relations with the Jubur have always been delicate or bad, and variable to good with the Dulaim. With the Shammar Shaikhs are made the Companies' arrangements for safeguarding their property in the Iazirah section. The Dulaim-divided, like aU other tribes, into many sections and sub-sections-hold both Euphrates banks from Abu Kamal to -Falujah, and supply much of the Company's unskilled labour and watchmen. They are (except for a few shepherd sections and fewer camel-breeders) non-nomadic tribesmen of peasant type, and are therefor considered as inferior by the pure badu. The main Dulaim scetions contain each a thousand tents or more. Those with whom the Company has most contact are the Albu Mahal and Albu Nimr. West and south-west of the desert-fringe sections of the Dulaim begin the vast grazing grounds of the 'Anizah, of whom more will be said-since they are mainly Syrian-in a later section. The shaikhs of the 'Amarat and Dahamishah ('Iraqi) branches are, with their many sub-shaikhs of greater or less independence, familiar figUl:es to the Companies' security and employment officers, and many watchmen and some labour arc taken from these purest of nomad Arabs. As the Companies' operations in northern and southern 'Iraq develop, more and more contact will no doubt be made with the great tribal groups of the M.P.C. and B.P.c. Concession areas; in the former, with Kurdish tribesmen of the northern foothills, with other arfd stronger Jubur, with the Tai, and always with the Shammaf; and in the far south, with the populous Shi'i tribes of lower Tigris and Euphrates, aU cultivators of grain Of rice according to the terrain, with half-nomad grazing sections. On the south-western desert fringes of 'Iraq ate still the 'Anizah, with the Dhafir, Mutair and other groups of northern Arabia. SECTION 2~ r p C. HANDBOOK 89 § 28 RESOURCES AND COMMUNICATIONS Apart from its oilfields-so enormous an asset to 'Iraq's economy -what arc the natural resources of the territory? They are considerable, and may be greater. In essential foodstuffs-wheat, barley, dates-it is usually more than self-supporting, and important exports of these three commodities to world markets were normal before the War. The quality of the first two is inferior; of the last-named, it is world famous Smaller export items are wool, hides, casings, liquorice. Meat, rice, vegetables and goat hair are produced for home consumption, while to the nomadic tribes the camel provides clothing, meat, hide, and a surplus of young stoc.k fOJ the market. The quality of agricultural produce and wool can no doubt be much improved by heightened standards and improved and modernised methods in cultivation and stock-breeding, of which there has long been need, but to which the prevailing conservatism and lack of capital are opposed; and the quantity-to an extent which would permit of a population many times greater than the present-by increased irrigation from the Great Rivers. Much has been done in (his direction by well-controlled canals depending on the modern barrages of Hindiyah and Kut, by flood c.hannels from the rivers in spring, and by pump irrigation; but much more would be required--calling for a planned country-wide scheme, mobility and adaptability of population, and a raising of crop values quite as much as for mere provision of capital-before the wealth of the 'Abbasid period or of remoter antiquity could be reproduced. The essential problem is to conserve. a part of the spring flood water which now runs to waste and often disastrously inundates, and to spread (his on the land under control in the summer and autumn. To this and to allied problems the 'Iraq Government is devofing its attention. We turn now from agriculture to industry and commerce. The commercial facilities are generally adequate. Banking is well understood and well represented; there is an 'Iraq State Bank, an Agricultural Bank, and three British banks (Ottoman, Eastern, and Imperial Bank of Iran). Minor banking and exchange facilities are provided by operators in almost all towns, and are sound and reliable. Commerce in all commodities is active. Import, in normal times, presents no difficulties, and distribution is facilitated by good communications and security. The currency, based on sterling, is stable and unquestioned. In the field of industry ihe picture is less favourable; indeed, few territories with the same social and political pretensions as 'Iraq possess so small an industrial background. Apart from its oil, there is no mineral wealth of importance: the bitumen of Hit has played a traditional part in local river-craft building, there is lignite in southern Kurdistan, and salt deposits suffice for local needs. A soft, inferior .. marble" is quarried around MosuJ. The traditi9nal industries of the terri.tory, apart from primeval and indispensable pottery and 90 I.P.C. HANDBOOK SECTION 28 mat-making, include the weaving of rugs from wool and camel hairthe type varying with the region of the country; none, however approaches the excellence of Persian carpets. Boat building for th~ great rivers follow lines familiar in remote antiquity. Fabrics of wool and camel hair are woven by the women of the tribes, and differ little from the fabric of their tents; The carved stonework of city buildings is a faint but interesting echo of older days, and uses good traditional designs; but, as with aU industries of Baghdad's great medieval peliod, there are but slight traces of the old-time skill and profusion. The engraving of antimony on silver, practised by the Sabaeans, produces articles bought eagerly by tourists. The introduction of modern industry has been slow and limited, a position due, no doubt, to the smallness of the skilled technician class (almost non-exlstent in 1918), remoteness from important markets, and lack of mineral and other raw materials. A cement factory has been long proposed, but is not yet operating; the same may be said of sugar-refining plant. Cotton is ginned. Small-seale factories process the tobacco of Kurdistan. A woollen textile factory has been operating for some 15 years; its products arc excellent. The manufacture of furniture and domestic articles has greatly improved. In spite, however, of these beginnings, the majority of mechanics are employed in connection with TOad and railway transport, and with pump-operated irrigation. The picture of transport conditions in 'Iraq is instructive, for to compare tbe narratives of travellers in 'Iraq a half-century-or even a single generation-ago with the state of communications of today is to realise the very remarkable changes which have occurred. Under the Turkish Government, Baghdad was the remotest (as well as among the shabbiest) of wilaiyat capitals. Today it lies on the 'Iraq State section of a railway continuous from Europe to the Persian Gulf, and is a centre of air-lines linking East and West. Not only Syria, Turkey and Iran, but India and London, are b!ought to within a few hours' distance. Even before 1939, main air-lines of Great Britain, France, ltaly and Holland served the territory, and an 'Iraqi company had been formed. First-class civilian air-ports have been created at Bagbdad and Basrah, and easy landing grounds and seaplane staging posts elsewhere. Air travel, international and internal, wi!! remain a developed feature of 'Iraqi life. 'Iraq railways-standard gauge from Baghdad to the Turkish frontier, and metre gauge elsewhere-serve all principal areas save the lower Tigris and upper Euphrates. Extensions are planned of the standard gauge southwards down the Euphrates, and of the metre gauge northward from Kirkuk to Arbi!. The speed and timekeeping of trains and the amenities provided compare well with those of other Middle-Eastern systems. The river-steamer traffic, with its long and interesting history, retains in normal times only a limited importance. It no longer enjoys T P C HANDBOOK 9l its monopoly of pre-motor and pre-railway days, but it has still a function of freight-moving on the middle and lower Tigris, which was largely exploited (in conjunction with a temporary Kut-Ba'qubah rail-line) during the War. Local river craft-shakhtur, gufah, muhailah _are ubiquitous. The port of Basrah is in all respects a first-class modern seaport. The roads of the territory which present especially difficult problems in a stonyless country have improved and are improving, and give access to many areas until recently inaccessible. No single factor, indeed, has more changed the daily life and economics of the 'Iraqi in the last quarter-century than road travel, including the crossdesert trunk routes to Syria and Transjordan. In the latter development, which dates from 1923, the Companies have since 1931 played a great part. Full postal and telegraph and telephone facilities exist throughout ·Iraq. § 29. ARCHA3.0LOGY The archreological remains in 'Iraq are of the highest interest to scholars, but not, in general, correspondingly impressive to the general public. The mounds marking the Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian cities have been or are being successively laid bare and studied by expeditions sent by British and American learned bodies; but most are in desert surroundings, not easy of access, and offer no spectacle to the eye. This, however, does not apply to the cities of Ur, Babylon, Birs Nimrud (Borsippa), or the Agarguf outside Baghdad. -Many great cities of the earliest period-Larsa, Erech, Kish, Shuruppak, Kisurra, Nippur, Cutha-are mere desert mounds. The Assyrian remains at Nimrud are striking. The outstanding Persian work is the impressive Arch of Ctesiphon (or rather,.Khasrau), south of the lower Diyalah. The ruined palaces of Hatran, near Sharqat, are those of a Persian or Arab dynasty overthrown by the Sassanids about A.D. 200. The wonderful remains at Ukhaicihir, west of Karbala, date from the Lakhmid (pre-Islamic, .but Arab) State, a vassal of the Persian Empire. There is not much surviving Muslim work earlier than the later Khalifs. The wide ruins of Samarra (temporarily their capital) and many detached buildings in Baghdad and elsewhere commemOiate the 'Abbasids in their decline; of the Round City of Mansur-the original ~ghdad-almost nothing remains; of the canal systems of all ages, 8,Ulnt traces still traverse the riverain areas, mostly high above present nver levels. The walls of medieval Baghdad, dismantled by Midhat Pasha in 1870, were built by the 'Abbasid Mustansir and improved 92 p.e HANDBOOK SECTION J(l by the Jala'ir kings in the early fifteenth century. They iucluded the Talisman Gate, used for the last time by Sultan Murad ill 1639. The great Mosques of Mirjaniyah and the Haidarkhanah in Baghdad, the shrine of 'Abdul Qadir al Gailani, the tombs of Ma'ruf, Zubaidah, and Abu Hanifah, the Mustansariyah, are among tbe many Muslim buildings in and around Baghdad which date from various centuries of the Middle Ages~though not always from the period of the saint or statesman whom they commemorate. The great shrines of the Sbi'ah, at Samarra, Kadbimain, Karbala, Najf, are among the most impressive or Muslim buildings. § 30. BOOKS ON 'IRAQ Works Oil the ancient history or pre-history of 'Iraq arc numerous: [he biblography of any Encyc10predia article gives the best-known· ,E. Bevan, The Land of the Two Rivers (London, 1917) is a useful summary. Adequate articles are to be found in the Cambridge Ancient History, or the Encyclopredia Britannica. For medieval 'Iraq, see G. Le Strange, Lands of [lie Eastern Caliphate (Cambridge, 1905), and the histories of the Khalifate. For the Turkish period, S. H. Longrigg, Four Centuries of Modern Iraq, (Oxford, 1925). The European travellers in the territory from the earliest times to 1900 are listed, with comments, in au Appendix to that work; some are readable, notably (among the more modern) those of Sir M. Sykes, E. B. Soane, and Gertrude Bell. The Admiralty official four-volume" Handbook of Mesopotamia" (1917) has much detailed information of the pre-1914 period. The War of 1914-18 in 'Iraq is covered by E. Candler, The Long Road to Baghdad (London, 1921), as well as the Official History. Miss Bell's Report 011 the Civil Administratioll of ftlesopotamia (India Office, 1920) is excellent. Early post-1918 books, in addition to the invaluable yearly Reports by H.M.G. to the League of Nations, are J. S. Mann (Biography of), An Administraror ill the Making (London, 1921); Sir A. Haldane, The Insurrection ill Mesopotamia, 1920 (London, 1922); E. S. Stevens, By Tigris alld Euphrates (London, 1923); H. C. Luke, MOSllI and its Minorities (London, 1925) ; Sir A. T. Wilson, Loyalties, 1914-1917 (Oxford, 1930), and Mesopotamia, 1917-1920 (Oxford, 1931); R. Hay, Two Years in Kurdistan (London, 1921); " Fulanaiu", Hajji Rikkan, Marsh Arab (London, 1927) ; Freya Slark, Baghdad Sketches (Baghdad, 1932); H. Field, The Arabs of CenTral Iraq (Chicago, 1935); SiT H. Young, The Independent Arab (London, 1933); R. Coke, The Heart of the Middle East (London, 1925); SECTION JU I.P.C. HANDBOOK 93 J. van Iss, Meel Ihe Arab (New York, 1943); Seton Lloyd, Twill Rivers (Oxford, 1943); Lady Drower, Folk Tales of Iraq (London, 1931), and Peacock Angel' (London, 1941). The recent constitutional history or 'Iraq has been well studied in H. A. Foster, The Making of Modern Iraq (Oklahoma, 1935); P W. Ireland, Iraq (London, 1937); E. Main, Iraq from Mandate 10 Independence (London, 1935); A. H. Burne, Mesopotamia, the Last Phase (London, 1936). See also R. S. Stafford, The Tragedy of the Assyrians (london, 1935). Among recent" war books" in which 'Iraq appears are Somerset de Chair, The Golden Carper (London, 1943) ; Freya Stark, East is Wesl (London, 1945). THE LEVANT STATES 31. THE REGION It is the plan of this Handbook to treat as a single region, in as many respects as possible, that western hair of the Fertile Crescent which is to-day divided into tbe four political units of Syria, the Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan. Thereafter, a brief account will be given of such features of each territory as must be consideled separately. The area is, indeed-or wa:., before the days of political Zionismdespite its four modern States, more homogeneous than the eastern half of the Crescent, which is now the single State of 'Traq; it contain.s less geographical diversity, and had no racial minority as important as the 'Iraqi Kurds. With its northern edge the limit of the Arabicspeaking world, its south resting on the deserts of Sinai and Midian, its west the sea, its cast the central north-Arabian desert, the single region has a general geographical unity; and throughout it, though a few extraneous elements have found lodging there, the picture is uniformly one of a scanty origiual non-Semitic race, reinforced more than ouce by immigraut non-Semites (Philistines, Hittites), buL through the centuries swamped by waves of Semitic peoples, languages, and cultures from the Steppe. Elements of many of tbese-Amorite, Phoenician, Moabite, Hebrew, Nabatean-had each their day; but, thanks to the scale and vigour of the last of these waves of immigration (the Muslim conquests of the seventh century), the Arabic language and Ule faith of Muhammad have almost everywhere prevailed. For twelve centuries these territories have formed an unquestioned part of the Arab world, in which Christian minorities are generally no less willing to claim membership than is the Muslim majority. The present boundaries of the four political units depend but little on geography. The Lebanese Republic, as constituted in 1920, 96 I I' C. HANDBOOK ~ECTION 31 contains large areas never before considered Lebanon, such as the Biqa' and Tripoli. Syria has' lost these and lost also Palestine, which was Syria under the Turks, and indeed generally throughout history. The boundary with Turkey is-or should be-racial, with no clear geographic line; with 'Iraq, it is the open desert of ilOmads. Palestine has its natural eastern, western and southern frontier, but a purely arbitrary boundary with the Lebanon to the north. Transjordan has a natural and historic boundary from Palestine, but none from Syria, Arabia or 'Iraq. Both Syria and Palestine are names whose significance has varied very widely throughout history. The former takes its name probably from the Suri, a people of the upper Euphrates in Babylonian times; it had no connection originally with "Assyria", though confusion started in early days. "Palestine ,. recalls the immigrant European Philistines' of the thirteenth centl,lry B.C. But 11either name, and no survey of past boundaries in various historic ages, i~ of any territorial significance to-day. The Greater or Geographical Syria here under presentation consists essentially of a very narrow coastal region (widest in southern Palestine), north-la-south ranges or blocks of mountains inland, with plains, lakes and rivers parallel to the coast, one deep depression interposed between the roughly parallel ranges, and a hilly, broken area where the cultivable belt breaks down eastward into the steppe. The coast is little indented and offers no fir~t-das~ natural harbour. The climate varies widely according to elevation and distance from the sea. Along the coast, the historic region of Phoenicians and Philistines, the scene and conditions are typically Mediterranean, with an average maximum temperature in August scarcely exceeding 80% F., an average minimum in January not below 50% F., and an all-year average of 68% F. Humidity at the seaside ,is high throughout the area, the only unfavourable feature of the coastal climate. Vegetation in this belt is strictly of Mediterranean type and the land extremely fertile, with fruit of all types, including oranges, bananas and mulberries. Wheat and miUet, sesame, tobacco, cotton and sugar-cane are cultivated. Liquorice grows wild. Humidity is less and conditions in every way at their most favourable in the hill zones between 1,500 and 3,500 feet in elevation, thougb even here a greater rainfall, better storage, and more soil would prevent the too-frequent aridity. There is, however, perfection of scene and climate, all(~ villages of a healthy and friendly population. Grain crops and the fig, vine and olive are characteristic products, with considerable natural forests in Northern Syria. In the higher mountains, temperatures are lower and vegetation, is of mountain <:haracter, but with small survivals only of the great Syrian cedar forests of antiquity. In Syria snow lies for tong periods on the peaks which in the Lebanon reach 10,000 feet and slightly less in the Hermon range; nothing in Palestine exceeds 4,000 feet, nor ill Transjordan PLATE XVI. K1RKUK FIELDS. New units in the Stabilisation Plant, under constructiou, 1946/7.