Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 9 (1/2)

The original vilayet extended from Mardin on the N. to the Persian Gulf on the S., and from the river Khabor on the W. to the Persian frontier on the E. From the middle of the 17th century, when this region was annexed by the Turks, until about the middle of the 19th century, the vilayet of Bagdad was the largest province of the Turkish empire, const.i.tuting at times an almost independent princ.i.p.ality. Since then, however, it has lost much of its importance and all of its independence. The first reduction in size occurred in 1857, when some of the western portion of the vilayet was added to the newly created sanjak of Zor. In 1878 the Mosul vilayet was created out of its northern, and in 1884 the Basra vilayet out of its southern sanjaks. At the present time it extends from a point just below Kut el-Amara to a point somewhat above Tekrit on the Tigris, and from a point somewhat below Samawa to a point a little above Anah on the Euphrates. It is still, territorially, the largest province of the empire, and includes some of the most fertile lands in the Euphrates-Tigris valleys; but while possessing great possibilities for fertility, by far the larger portion of the vilayet is to-day a desert, owing to the neglect of the irrigation ca.n.a.ls on which the fertility of the valley depends. From the lat.i.tude of Bagdad northward the region between the two rivers is an arid, waterless, limestone steppe, inhabited only by roving Arabs. From the lat.i.tude of Bagdad southward the country is entirely alluvial soil, deposited by the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, possessing great possibilities of fertility, but absolutely flat and subject to inundations at the time of flood of the two rivers. At that season much of the country, including the immediate surroundings of Bagdad, is under water. During the rest of the year a large part of the country is a parched and barren desert, and much of the remainder swamps and lagoons. Wherever there is any pretence at irrigation, along the banks of the two great rivers and by the few ca.n.a.ls which are still in existence, the yield is enormous, and the sh.o.r.es of the Tigris and Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Bagdad and Hilla seem to be one great palm garden. Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II. personally acquired large tracts of land in various parts of the vilayet. These so-called _senniehs_ are [v.03 p.0194] well farmed and managed, in conspicuous contrast with the surrounding territory. Ca.n.a.ls and dikes have been constructed to control and distribute the much-needed water, and the officials are housed in new buildings of substantial appearance. Indeed, wherever one finds a new and prosperous-looking village, it may be a.s.sumed to belong to the sultan.

These _senniehs_ are an advantage to the country in that they give security to their immediate region and certain employment to some part of its population. On the other hand, they withdrew large tracts of fertile and productive land from taxation (one-half of the cultivated land of the vilayet was said to be administered for the sultan's privy purse), and thus greatly reduced the revenue of the vilayet.

The chief city of the vilayet is its capital, Bagdad. Between the Euphrates and the Arabian plateau lie the sacred cities of Kerbela or Meshed-Hosain, and Nejef or Meshed Ali, with a population of 20,000 to 60,000 each, while a number of towns, varying in population from 3000 to 10,000, are found along the Euphrates (Anah, Hit, Ramadieh, Musseyib, Hilla, Diwanieh and Samawa) and the Tigris (Tekrit, Samarra and Kut el-Amara). The settled population lies entirely along the banks of these streams and the ca.n.a.ls and lagoons westward of the Euphrates, between Kerbela and Nejef. Away from the banks of the rivers, between the Euphrates and the Tigris and between the latter and the Persian mountains, are tribes of wandering Arabs, some of whom possess great herds of horses, sheep, goats, a.s.ses and camels, while in and by the marshes other tribes, in the transition stage from the nomadic to the settled life, own great herds of buffaloes. Of the wandering Arab tribes, the most powerful is the great tribe of Shammar, which ranges over all Mesopotamia. In January and February they descend as low as the neighbourhood of Diwanieh in such numbers that even Bagdad is afraid. Here and there are regions occupied by a semi-sedentary population, called _Madan_, occupying reed huts huddled around mud castles, called _meftul_.

These, like the Bedouin Arabs, are practically independent, waging constant warfare among themselves and paying an uncertain tribute to the Turkish government. In general, Turkish rule is confined to the villages, towns and cities along the river banks, in and by which garrisons are located. Since the time (1868-1872) of Midhat Pasha, who did much to bring the independent Arab tribes under control, the Turkish government has been, however, gradually strengthening its grip on the country and extending the area of conscription and taxation. But from both the racial and religious standpoint, the Arab and Persian s.h.i.+'as, who const.i.tute the vast bulk of the population, regard the Turks as foreigners and tyrants.

Of crops the vilayet produces wheat (which is indigenous), rice, barley (which takes the place of oats as food for horses), durra (a coa.r.s.e, maize-like grain), sesame, cotton and tobacco; of fruits, the date, orange, lemon, fig, banana and pomegranate. The country is naturally treeless, except for the tamarisk, which grows by the swamps and along the river-beds. Here and there one sees a solitary _sifsaf_ tree, or a small plantation of poplars or white mulberries, which trees, with the date-palm, const.i.tute the only timber of the country. The willows reported by some travellers are in reality a narrow-leaved variety of poplar.

Besides the buffaloes and a few humped Indian oxen, there are no cattle in the country. Of wild animals, the pig, hyena, jackal, antelope and hare are extremely numerous; lions are still found, and wolves and foxes are not uncommon. Snipe and various species of wild fowl are found in the marshes, and pelicans and storks abound along the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris.

Fish are caught in great numbers in the rivers and marshes, chiefly barbel and carp, and the latter attain so great a size that one is a sufficient load for an a.s.s. The princ.i.p.al exports of the province are coa.r.s.e wool, hides, dates and horses. At various points, especially at Hit, and from Hit southward along the edge of the Arabian plateau occur bitumen, naphtha and white petroleum springs, all of which remain undeveloped. The climate is very hot in summer, with a mean temperature of 97 F. From April to November no rain falls; in November the rains commence, and during the winter the thermometer falls to 46 F.

Cholera is endemic in some parts of the vilayet, and before 1875 the same was true of the bubonic plague. At that date this disease was stamped out by energetic measures on the part of the government, but it has reappeared again in recent years, introduced apparently from India or Persia by pilgrims. There are four great centres of pilgrimage for s.h.i.+'ite Moslems in the vilayet, Samarra, Kazemain, a suburb of Bagdad, Kerbela and Nejef.

These are visited annually by tens of thousands of pilgrims, not only from the surrounding regions, but also from Persia and India; many of whom bring their dead to be buried in the neighbourhood of the sacred tombs.

Unpleasant, but not dangerous, is another disease, the so-called ”Bagdad date-mark,” known elsewhere as the ”Aleppo b.u.t.ton,” &c. This disease extends along the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and the country adjacent from Aleppo and Diarbekr to the Persian Gulf, although there are individual towns and regions in this territory which seem to be exempt. It shows itself as a boil, attacking the face and extremities. It appears in two forms, known to the natives as male and female respectively. The former is a dry scaly sore, and the latter a running, open boil. It is not painful but leaves ugly scars. The natives all carry somewhere on their face, neck, hands, arms or feet the scars of these boils which they have had as children. European children born in the country are apt to be seriously disfigured, as in their case the boils almost invariably appear on the face, and whereas native children have as a rule but one boil, those born of European parents will have several. Adult foreigners visiting the country are also liable to be attacked, and women, especially, rarely escape disfigurement if they stay in the country for any length of time.

The boils last for about a year, after which there is no more likelihood of a recurrence of the trouble than in the case of smallpox.

The area of the vilayet is 54,480 sq. m. The population is estimated at 852,000; Christians, 8000, princ.i.p.ally Nestorians or Chaldaeans; Jews, 54,000; Moslems, 790,000, of whom the larger part are s.h.i.+'as.

See G. le Strange, _Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate_ (1901); _The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate_ (Cambridge, 1905); V. Cuinet, _La Turquie d'Asie_ (Paris, 1890); J. P. Peters, _Nippur_ (New York and London, 1897); Ed.

Sachau, _Am Euphrat und Tigris_ (Leipzig, 1900); A. V. Geere, _By Nile and Euphrates_ (Edinburgh, 1904).

(J. P. PE.)

BAGDAD, or BAGHDAD, the capital of the Turkish vilayet of the same name. It is the headquarters of the VI. Army Corps, which garrisons also the Basra and Mosul vilayets. It lies on both sides of the river Tigris, in an extensive desert plain which has scarcely a tree or village throughout its whole extent, in lat.i.tude 33 20' N., longitude 44 24' E. At this point the Tigris and the Euphrates approach each other most nearly, the distance between them being little more than 25 m. At this point also the two rivers are connected by a ca.n.a.l, the northernmost of a series of ca.n.a.ls which formerly united the two great waterways, and at the same time irrigated the intervening plain. This ca.n.a.l, the Sakhlawieh (formerly Isa), leaves the Euphrates a few miles above Feluja and the bridge of boats, near the ruins of the ancient Anbar. As it approaches Bagdad it spreads out in a great marsh, and finally, through the Masudi ca.n.a.l, which encircles western Bagdad, enters the Tigris below the town. At the time of Chesney's survey of the Euphrates in 1838 this ca.n.a.l was still navigable for craft of some size. At present it serves no other purpose than to increase the floods which periodically turn Bagdad into an island city, and sometimes threaten to overwhelm the dikes which protect it and to submerge it entirely.

The original city of Bagdad was built on the western bank of the Tigris, but this is now, and has been for centuries, little more than a suburb of the larger and more important city on the eastern sh.o.r.e, the former containing an area of only 146 acres within the walls, while the latter extends over 591 acres. Both the eastern and the western part of the city were formerly enclosed by brick walls, with large round towers at the princ.i.p.al angles and smaller towers intervening at shorter distances, the whole surrounded by a deep fosse. There were three gates in the [v.03 p.0195] western city and four in the eastern; one of the latter, however, on the north side, called ”Gate of the Talisman” from an Arabic inscription bearing the date A.D. 1220, has remained closed since the capture of the city by Murad IV. in 1638. These walls all fell into decay long since; at places they were used as brick quarries, and finally the great reforming governor, (1868-1872), Midhat Pasha, following the example set by many European cities, undertook to destroy them altogether and utilize the free s.p.a.ce thus obtained as a public park and esplanade. His plans were only partially carried out. At present fragments of the walls exist here and there, with the great ditch about them, while elsewhere a line of mounds marks their course. A great portion of the ground within the wall lines is not occupied by buildings, especially in the north-western quarter; and even in the more populous parts of the city, near the river, a considerable s.p.a.ce between the houses is occupied by gardens, where pomegranates, figs, oranges, lemons and date-palms grow in great abundance, so that the city, when seen at a distance, has the appearance of rising out of the midst of trees.

Along the Tigris the city spreads out into suburbs, the most important of which is Kazemain, on the western side of the river northward, opposite which on the eastern side lies Muazzam. The former of these is connected with western Bagdad by a very primitive horse-tramway, also a relic of Midhat Pasha's reforms. The two parts of the city are joined by pontoon bridges, one in the suburbs and one in the main city. The Tigris is at this point some 275 yds. wide and very deep. Its banks are of mud, with no other retaining walls than those formed by the foundations of the houses, which are consequently always liable to be undermined by the action of the water.

The western part of the city, which is very irregular in shape, is occupied entirely by s.h.i.+'as. It has its own shops, bazaars, mosques, &c., and const.i.tutes a quarter by itself. Beyond the wall line on that side vestiges of ancient buildings are visible in various directions, and the plain is strewn with fragments of bricks, tiles and rubbish. A burying-ground has also extended itself over a large tract of land, formerly occupied by the streets of the city. The form of the new or eastern city is that of an irregular oblong, about 1500 paces in length by 800 in breadth. The town has been built without the slightest regard to regularity; the streets are even more intricate and winding than those in most other Eastern towns, and with the exception of the bazaars and some open squares, the interior is little else than a labyrinth of alleys and pa.s.sages. The streets are unpaved and in many places so narrow that two hors.e.m.e.n can scarcely pa.s.s each other; as it is seldom that the houses have windows facing the thoroughfares, and the doors are small and mean, they present on both sides the gloomy appearance of dead walls. All the buildings, both public and private, are constructed of furnace-burnt bricks of a yellowish-red colour, princ.i.p.ally derived from the ruins of other places, chiefly Madain (Ctesiphon), Wasit and Babylon, which have been plundered at various times to furnish materials for the construction of Bagdad.

The houses of the richer cla.s.ses are regularly built about an interior court. The ground floor, except for the _serdab_, is given up to kitchens, store-rooms, servants' quarters, stables, &c. The princ.i.p.al rooms are on the first floor and open directly from a covered veranda, which is reached by an open staircase from the court. These const.i.tute the winter residence of the family, reception rooms, &c. The roofs of the houses are all flat, surrounded by parapets of sufficient height to protect them from the observation of the dwellers opposite, and separate them from their neighbours. In the summer the population sleeps and dines upon the roofs, which thus const.i.tute to all intents a third storey. The remainder of the day, so far as family life is concerned, is spent in the _serdab_, a cellar sunk somewhat below the level of the courtyard, damp from frequent wettings, with its half windows covered with hurdles thatched with camel thorn and kept dripping with water. Occasionally the _serdabs_ are provided with punkahs.

Sometimes, in the months of June, July and August, when the _sherki_ or south wind is blowing, the thermometer at break of day is known to stand at 112 F., while at noon it rises to 119 and a little before two o'clock to 122, standing at sunset at 114, but this scale of temperature is exceptional. Ordinarily during the summer months the thermometer averages from about 75 at sunrise to 107 at the hottest time of the day. Owing to the extreme dryness of the atmosphere and the fact that there is always a breeze, usually from the N.W., this heat is felt much less than a greatly lower temperature in a more humid atmosphere. Moreover, the nights are almost invariably cool.

Formerly Bagdad was intersected by innumerable ca.n.a.ls and aqueducts which carried the water of both the Euphrates and the Tigris through the streets and into the houses. To-day these have all vanished, with the exception of one aqueduct which still conveys the water of the Tigris to the shrine of Abd al-Qadir (ul-Kadir). The present population draws its water directly from the Tigris, and it is distributed through the city in goat-skins carried on the backs of men and a.s.ses. There is, of course, no sewerage system, the surfaces of the streets serving that purpose, and what garbage and refuse is not consumed by the dog scavengers washes down into the Tigris at the same place from which the water for drinking is drawn. As a consequence of these insanitary conditions the death-rate is very high, and in case of epidemics the mortality is enormous. At such times a large part of the population leaves the city and encamps in the desert northward.

The princ.i.p.al public buildings of the city, such as they are, lie in the eastern section along the river bank. To the north, just within the old wall line, stands the citadel, surrounded by a high wall, with a lofty clock-tower which commands an excellent view. To the south of this, also on the Tigris, is the _serai_ or palace of the Turkish governor, distinguished rather for extent than grandeur. It is comparatively modern, built at different periods, a large and confused structure without proportion, beauty or strength. Somewhat farther southward, just below the pontoon bridge, stands the custom house, which occupies the site and is built out of the material of the medreseh or college of Mostansir (A.D. 1233). Of the original building of the caliph Mostansir all that remains is a minaret and a small portion of the outer walls. Farther down are the imposing buildings of the British residency. The German consulate also is on the river-front.

As in all Mahommedan cities, the mosques are conspicuous objects. Of these very few are old. The Marjanieh mosque, not far from the minaret of Mostansir, although its body is modern, has some remains of old and very rich arabesque work on its surface, dating from the 14th century. The door is formed by a lofty arch of the pointed form guarded on both sides with red bands exquisitely sculptured and having numerous inscriptions. The mosque of Khaseki, supposed to have been an old Christian church, is chiefly distinguished for its prayer niche, which, instead of being a simple recess, is crowned by a Roman arch, with square pedestals, spirally fluted shafts and a rich capital of flowers, with a fine fan or sh.e.l.l-top in the Roman style. The building in its present form bears the date of A.D.

1682, but the sculptures which it contains belong probably to the time of the caliphate. The minaret of Suk el-Ghazl, in the south-eastern part of the city, dates from the 13th century. The other mosques, of which there are about thirty within the walls, excluding the chapels and places of prayer, are all of recent erection. Most of them are surmounted by bright-coloured cupolas and minarets. The Mosque of the Vizier, on the eastern side of the Tigris, near the pontoon bridge, has a fine dome and a lofty minaret, and the Great Mosque in the square of el Meidan, in the neighbourhood of the _serai_, is also a n.o.ble building.

The other mosques do not merit any particular attention, and in general it may be said that Bagdad architecture is neither distinctive nor imposing.

Such attractions as the buildings possess are due rather to the richly coloured tiles with which many of them are adorned, or to inscriptions, like the Kufic inscription, dated A.D. 944, on the ruined _tekke_ of the Bektash dervishes in western Bagdad. More important than the mosques [v.03 p.0196] proper are the tomb mosques. Of these, the most important and most imposing is that of Kazemain, in the northern suburb of the western city.

Here are buried the seventh and ninth of the successors of Ali, recognized by s.h.i.+'as, namely Musa Ibn Ja'far el-Kazim, and his grandson, Mahommed Ibn Ali el-Jawad. In its present form this mosque dates from the 19th century.

The two great domes above the tombs, the four lofty minarets and part of the facade of this shrine, are overlaid with gold, and from whatever direction the traveler approaches Bagdad, its glittering domes and minarets are the first objects which meet his eye. It is one of the four great shrines of the s.h.i.+'ite Moslems in the vilayet of Bagdad. Christians are not allowed to enter its precincts, and the population of the Kazemain quarter is so fanatical that it is difficult and even dangerous to approach it.

In the suburb of Muazzam, on the western side of the river, is the tomb of Ab[=u] [H.]anifa (_q.v._), the canon lawyer. There is a large mosque with a painted dome connected with this tomb, which is an object of veneration to the Sunni Moslems, but it seems cheap and unworthy in comparison with the magnificent shrine of Kazemain. On the same side of the river, lower down, is the shrine of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (of Jilan), founder of the Q[=a]dirite (Kadaria) sect of dervishes, also a noted place of pilgrimage.

The original tomb was erected about A.D. 1253, but the present fine dome above the grave is later by at least two or three centuries. The possessor or controller of this wealthy mosque is the _nakib_, locally p.r.o.nounced _najeeb_, or marshal of the n.o.bles, whose office is to determine who are Se'ids, _i.e._ ent.i.tled to wear the green turban. He is second only to the governor or vali pasha in power, and indeed his influence is often greater than that of the official ruler of the vilayet. Just outside of the wall of the western city lies the tomb and shrine of Ma'ruf Karkhi, dating from A.D. 1215, which also is a place of pilgrimage. Close to this stands the so-called tomb of Sitte Zobeide (Zobaida), with its octagonal base and pineapple dome, one of the most conspicuous and curious objects in the neighbourhood of Bagdad. Unfortunately it is rapidly falling into decay. K.

Niebuhr reports that in his day (A.D. 1750) this tomb bore an inscription setting forth that Ayesha Khanum, the wife of the governor of Bagdad, was buried here in 1488, her grave having been made in the ancient sepulchre of the lady Zobeide (Zobaida), granddaughter of Caliph Mansur and wife of Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d, who died in A.D. 831. The tomb was restored at the time of her burial, at which date it was already ancient, and it was evidently believed to be the tomb of Zobeide. Contemporary historians, however, state that Zobeide was actually buried in Kazemain, and moreover, early writers, who describe the neighbouring tomb and shrine of Ma'ruf Karkhi, make no reference to this monument.