The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-03-09

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. d. CO
Out OF the exceedingly complex
Near Eastern puzzle, that kept the CON
ference at Lausanne in session longer
than any other of the postwar meet
ings except that at Versailles. the
Kingdom Of Iraq and its province of
Mosul finally emerged as the pivotal
problem. One of the chief easOn
was oil. The Germans discovered it
in 1904 and planned to exploit it.
The World war eliminated the Ger
mans. Then came the creation of the
Arab Kingdom Of IraQ under British
control with the Mosul oil regions an
important part in the Kingdoms
domains.
When it was created in 1927. IraQ
was hailed as a new country. bur
in reality it is one of the oldest and
most historic patches of the earth's
surface. Iraq has existed rs Il geo
graphical name for ages, but i'm recent
centuries it has had little more Off
cial sanction than Manhattan" for
the American metropolis or Frisco"
for a thriving Pacific port. Yet il
overs more or less indefinitely a
region known. and often famous, in
every age of mar frGm the dawn of
tradition to the p~reSent-the fertile
plain Of the Tfgris and EuphrateS val
leys. where the Garden of Eden is sup
pnSnJ Inv many stnJnnts m hnIn hnan
situated. and where the first weak
rootlets spronted that have grown into
the worldwide civilization Of today.
Strip Iraq Of its alias call it Babylon,
Nineveh, MesopOtamia, ana it is
known to every school child.
The country includes approximately
the old Turkish vilayets OF BaSra,
Hagdad and Mosul which over. the
delta of the Tigris and Euphrates ard
IL considerable part OF the upper
reaches Of those streams, lying be-
tween the Srrian desert on the one
side and the hills of kurdistan and
western Persia on the other. To the
southeast, AT the mouth OF the rivers,
is the pavigable Persian gulf.
Capable of Great Development.
10 gain an idea of what wonderful
development can be brought about in
M~eSOpotamia n need only look into
the past. At the beginning of history
the plain of the Tigris and Euphrate>
was Il garden-spot teeming with Il
well-fed and wealthy people. If there
was Il grandeur that was Greece and
II glory that was. Rome" there was as
truly Il splendor that was Babylon
And the splendor of Babylon WAS
MADE possible five thousand years
NJ, largely by the wealth tina: sprane
from the intensive cultivation of the
river plain under IL gigantic system 81
irrigation which wen the most am
bitiOus modern systems probably Lave
failed in many ways to surpass.
Great canals crossed the region be
tween the rivers and ran for miles az
/ the outer sides. while smaller canals
spread the water to every corner 81
the country. Some of these ancient
canals were practically artificial riv,
! ciS WIN lNO liiu tnltt i6ilstiItt Chilli
nelS, The remains of which may be
traced tOday for scores of miles. Wat
cred by these countless streams, near
~ every square foot Of the country
produced it's crop of dates. figs, grain
ami other products. and the pOpuia
ton was many times that OF today.
B%abylon's agricultural Utopia was
M fsllort-lived affair. hut continued
for nearly ten times as long us the
period which has passed since white
men settled in America. The countr,
throve with only minor interruptions
under BabyIonians. Assyrians, Chal
deans, Greeks and Romans. But nj
ways the settled civilization of tho
;gricu'turists was threatened nv the
turbulent hill people tn the north ant
east. Finally the Parthiars captured
the country and were followed by tho
Persians. Under these more barbarous
rulers the great irrigation systems
even then much less efficient thu.