[1] The name is the Portuguese form of the native word
_i-pe-kaa-guene_, which is said to mean "road-side sick-making plant"
(Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ 1898).
IPEK (Slav. _Petch_, Lat. _Pescium_), a town of Albania, European
Turkey, in the vilayet of Kossovo and sanjak of Novibazar, 73 m. E.N.E.
of Scutari, near the eastern base of the Mokra Planina, the Montenegrin
frontier, and the headwaters of the Ibar and White Drin. Pop. (1905),
about 15,000, principally Albanians and Serbs. A small stream bearing,
like several others in the Balkan peninsula, the name of Bistritza (the
bright or clear), flows through the town. On one of the neighbouring
heights is situated the monastery of Ipek, founded by Archbishop
Arsenius in the 13th century, and famous as the seat until 1690 of the
patriarchs of the Servian church. The buildings are surrounded by thick
walls, and comprise a large central church (Our Lady's), and two side
chapels (the Martyrs' and St Demetrius'), each surmounted by a leaden
cupola. The church dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. Among its
numerous objects of interest are the white marble tombs of Arsenius and
other chiefs of the Servian church, and the white marble throne on which
the patriarchs were crowned. Ipek has been incorrectly identified by
some writers with Doclea or Dioclea (Dukle in Montenegro), the
birthplace of Diocletian, and the capital of a small principality which
was overthrown by the Bulgarians in the 11th century.
See Barth, _Reise durch das Innere der europaischen Turkei_ (Berlin,
1864); A. P. Irby and G. M. M. Mackenzie, _Travels in the Slavonic
Provinces of Turkey_ (1877); M. E. Durham, _Through the Lands of the
Serb_ (London, 1904).
IPHICRATES, Athenian general, son of a shoemaker, flourished in the
earlier half of the 4th century B.C. He owes his fame as much to the
improvements which he made in the accoutrements of the peltasts or
light-armed mercenaries (so called from their small round shield,
[Greek: pelte]) as to his military successes. Increasing the length of
their javelins and swords, substituting linen corselets for their heavy
coats-of-mail, and introducing the use of a kind of light leggings,
called after him "iphicratides," he increased greatly the rapidity of
their movements (Diod. Sic. xv. 44). He also paid special attention to
discipline, drill and manoeuvres. With his peltasts Iphicrates seriously
injured the allies of the Lacedaemonians in the Corinthian War, and in
392 (or 390) dealt the Spartans a heavy blow by almost annihilating a
_mora_ (battalion of about 600 men) of their famous hoplites (Diod. Sic.
xiv. 91; Plutarch, _Agesilaus_, 22). Following up his success, he took
city after city for the Athenians; but in consequence of a quarrel with
the Argives he was transferred from Corinth to the Hellespont, where he
was equally successful. After the peace of Antalcidas (387) he assisted
Seuthes, king of the Thracian Odrysae, to recover his kingdom, and
fought against Cotys, with whom, however, he subsequently concluded an
alliance. About 378 he was sent with a force of mercenaries to assist
the Persians to reconquer Egypt; but a dispute with Pharnabazus led to
the failure of the expedition (Diod. Sic. xv. 29-43). On his return to
Athens he commanded an expedition in 373 for the relief of Corcyra,
which was besieged by the Lacedaemonians (Xenophon, _Hellenica_, vi. 2).
On the peace of 371, Iphicrates returned to Thrace, and somewhat
tarnished his fame by siding with his father-in-law Cotys in a war
against Athens for the possession of the entire Chersonese. The
Athenians, however, soon pardoned him and gave him a joint command in
the Social War. He and two of his colleagues were impeached by Chares,
the fourth commander, because they had refused to give battle during a
violent storm. Iphicrates was acquitted but sentenced to pay a heavy
fine. He afterwards remained at Athens (according to some he retired to
Thrace) till his death (about 353).
There is a short sketch of his life by Cornelius Nepos; see also C.
Rehdantz, _Vitae Iphicratis, Chabriae et Timothei_ (1854); Bauer,
_Griech. Kriegsaltert_. in Muller's _Handbuch_, 4, S 49; and histories
of Greece, e.g. Holm, Eng. trans., vol. iii.
IPHIGENEIA, or IPHIANASSA, in Greek legend, daughter of Agamemnon and
Clytaem(n)estra. Agamemnon had offended Artemis, who prevented the Greek
fleet from sailing for Troy, and, according to the soothsayer Calchas,
could be appeased only by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter.
According to some accounts the sacrifice was completed, according to
others Artemis carried away the maiden to be her priestess in the Tauric
Chersonese [_Crimea_] and substituted for her a hind. In this new
country it was her duty to sacrifice to the goddess all strangers; and
as her brother Orestes came to search for her and to carry off to Attica
the image of the goddess, she was about to sacrifice him, when a happy
recognition took place. These legends show how closely the heroine is
associated with the cult of Artemis, and with the human sacrifices which
accompanied it in older times before the Hellenic spirit had modified
the barbarism of this borrowed religion. Orestes and Iphigeneia fled,
taking with them the image; at Delphi they met Electra, the sister of
Orestes, who having heard that her brother had been sacrificed by the
Tauric priestess, was about to tear out the eyes of Iphigeneia. The
brother and sister returned to Mycenae; Iphigeneia deposited the image
in the deme of Brauron in Attica, where she remained as priestess of
Artemis Brauronia. Attica being one of the chief seats of the worship of
Artemis, this explains why Iphigeneia is sometimes called a daughter of
Theseus and Helen, and thereby connected with the national hero. The
grave of Iphigeneia was shown at Brauron and Megara. According to other
versions of the legend, when saved from sacrifice Iphigeneia was
transported to the island of Leuke, where she was wedded to Achilles
under the name of Orsilochia (Antoninus Liberalis 27); or she was
transformed by Artemis into the goddess Hecate (Pausanias i. 43. 1).
According to the Spartans, the image of Artemis was transported by
Orestes and Iphigeneia to Laconia, where the goddess was worshipped as
Artemis Orthia, the human sacrifices originally offered to her being
abolished by Lycurgus and replaced by the flogging of youths
(_diamastigosis_, Pausan. iii. 16). At Hermione, Artemis was worshipped
under the name of Iphigeneia, thus showing the heroine in the last
resort to be a form of that goddess (Pausanias ii. 35. 1). Originally,
Iphigeneia, the "mighty born," is probably merely an epithet of Artemis,
in which the notion of a priestess of the goddess had its origin.
Iphigeneia is a favourite subject in Greek literature. She is the
heroine of two plays of Euripides, and of many other tragedies which
have been lost (see also Pindar, _Pythia_ xi. 23; Ovid, _Metam._ xii.
27). In ancient vase paintings she is frequently met with; and the
picture by Timanthes representing Agamemnon hiding his face at her
sacrifice was one of the famous works of antiquity (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._
xxxv. 10).
See M. Jacobson, _De fabulis ad Iphigeniam pertinentibus_ (1888); R.
Forster, _Iphigenie_ (1898); H. W. Stoll in Roscher's _Lexikon der
Mythologie_; and P. Decharme in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire
des antiquites_.
IPSWICH, a town of Stanley county, Queensland, Australia, on the river
Bremer, 23(1/2) m. by rail W. by S. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901), 8637. It
is the centre of a rich and populous agricultural mining and
manufacturing district. Coal is worked on the banks of the river with
but little labour, as it crops out on the surface. There are a woollen
factory, several saw-mills, and foundries and large railway workshops at
North Ipswich. The first settlement was made here in 1829; the town was
incorporated in 1860.
IPSWICH, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough and county town
of Suffolk, England, 69 m. N.E. by E. from London by the Great Eastern
railway. Pop. (1901), 66,630. It stands on a gentle ascent above the
left bank of the river Gipping, which here widens into the tidal estuary
of the Orwell. This land-locked inlet extends 11 m. S.E. to Harwich and
Felixstowe at opposite sides of its mouth, near which the wider Stour
estuary unites with it. Its banks are gently undulating, well wooded and
picturesque. In the lower and older portion of Ipswich, with its
irregular streets, are some few antiquarian remains. Sparrowe's house
(1567), named from a family which occupied it for some two centuries, is
well preserved and has ornate gabled fronts to two streets. Archdeacon's
Place (1471) is another still earlier example. Wolsey's Gateway (1528),
a Tudor brick building, is the only remnant of the Cardinal's foundation
to supply scholars to his great college (Cardinal's College, now Christ
Church) at Oxford. The older churches are all towered flint-work
structures, wholly or mainly Perpendicular in style, with the exception
of St Peter's, which is principally Decorated, with a Norman font of
marble. They include St Margaret's with a beautiful oak Tudor roof,
elaborately painted _temp._ William and Mary; St Mary-at-Key (or Quay),
with a similar roof; St Lawrence; and St Clement's. The most noteworthy
modern churches are St Michael's (1880), All Saints' (1892), St John the
Baptist's (1899) and St Bartholomew's (1901). The Roman Catholic church
of St Pancras (1863), a late First Pointed edifice, has a richly carved
reredos and a lofty fleche. Among public buildings, the town hall (1868)
is an imposing structure in Venetian style, with clock tower; forming
part of a fine group including the corn exchange (1881) and post office
(1880). The museum, including an art gallery, contains archaeological
and ornithological collections, and a noteworthy series of Red Crag
fossils. It was founded in 1847, and moved to new buildings in 1881. The
East Suffolk hospital was founded in 1836. In the theatre David Garrick
made his first important and regular appearance in 1741. The grammar
school, dating at latest from 1477, was refounded by Queen Elizabeth in
1565, and is housed in buildings in Tudor style (1851). There are
borough science, art and technical schools, with a picture gallery in
the fine Tudor mansion (1549) in Christchurch Park. There are also a
middle school for boys, a high school and an endowed school for girls, a
scientific society, corporation library and small medical library. Of
two beautiful arboretums the upper is public; part of Christchurch Park
adjacent to this is owned by the corporation; there are also recreation
grounds and a race-course. Industries include large engineering and
agricultural implement works, railway plant works, the making of
artificial manures, boots and shoes, clothing, bricks and tobacco and
malting. The port has a dock of nearly 30 acres, accommodating vessels
drawing 19 ft. and a large extent of quayage. Imports are principally
grain, timber and coal; exports agricultural machinery, railway plant,
artificial manures, oil cake, &c. Ipswich is a suffragan bishopric in
the diocese of Norwich. The parliamentary borough returns two members.
The corporation consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors.
Area, 8112 acres.
A Roman villa has been discovered here. But the Saxon settlement at the
head of the Orwell was doubtless the first of any importance. In 991 the
town (_Gipeswic_, _Gipeswich_) was sacked by vikings. It owes its
subsequent prosperity to its situation on a harbour admirably suited for
trade with the Continent. The townsmen had acquired the privileges of
burgesses by 1086 when Roger Bigot kept the borough in the king's
hands. In 1200 King John granted the burgesses their first charter,
confirming their town to them to be held at fee-farm, exempting them
from tolls and similar customs, and granting them a gild-merchant. These
liberties were extended in 1256; Edward I. and Edward III. both resumed
the borough for short periods, but the charter of 1200 was confirmed by
almost every subsequent sovereign. The burgesses were definitely
incorporated in 1464 and re-incorporated in 1665 under a charter which
remained in force previous to its modification by the Municipal Act of
1835, except during a short period in the reign of Charles II. From 1295
onwards the town has sent two representatives to parliament. The cattle
market, held on Tuesdays, and the provision market on Saturdays are the
prescriptive right of the corporation. A September fair, still held in
1792, was in the hands of the corporation in the 17th century. Large
ironworks were established late in the 18th century. The wool and cloth
trade which flourished here in the 14th and 15th centuries was
superseded by the manufacture of sailcloth, now represented by the
sacking industry.
See _Victoria County History_: Suffolk; J. Wodderspoon, _Memorials of
the Ancient Town of Ipswich_ (ed. 1850).
IPSWICH, a township of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on both
sides of the Ipswich river, about 27 m. N.N.E. of Boston. Pop. 1910
(Federal census), 5777. It is served by the Boston & Maine railroad. The
surface is diversified by drumlins, vales, meadows, sand-dunes and tidal
marshes. Ipswich has several manufacturing industries, including
hosiery. The public library was the gift of Augustine Heard. Among the
residences are several built in the 17th and 18th centuries. The oldest
of these, the John Whipple House, is the home of the Ipswich Historical
Society (1890), which has gathered here a collection of antiques and
issues publications of antiquarian interest. In the Ipswich Female
Seminary, which no longer exists, Mary Lyon taught from 1828 to 1834 and
here planned Mount Holyoke Seminary; Professor J. P. Cowles and his wife
conducted a famous school for girls in the building for many years.
Facing the South Common were the homes of Rev. Nathaniel Ward
(1578-1652), principal author of the Massachusetts "Body of Liberties"
(1641), the first code of laws in New England, and author of _The Simple
Cobler of Aggawam in America, Willing to help mend his Native Country,
lamentably tattered, both in the upper-Leather and the Sole_ (1647),
published under the pseudonym, "Theodore de la Guard," one of the most
curious and interesting books of the colonial period; of Richard
Saltonstall (1610-1694), who wrote against the life tenure of
magistrates, and although himself an Assistant espoused the more liberal
principles of the Deputies; and of Ezekiel Cheever (1614-1708), a famous
schoolmaster, who had charge of the grammar school in 1650-1660. In the
vicinity was the house of the Rev. William Hubbard (1621-1704), author
of a _Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New England_
(Boston, 1677) and a general _History of New England_, published by the
Massachusetts Historical Society in 1815.
The town was founded under the name of Aggawam in 1633 by John Winthrop,
jun., and twelve others, with a view to preventing the French from
occupying the N. part of Massachusetts, and in the next year it was
incorporated under its present name. In wealth and influence during the
early colonial period it was little inferior to Boston, whose policies
it not infrequently opposed. When Governor Andros and his Council in
1687 issued an order for levying a tax, a special town meeting of
Ipswich promptly voted "that the s'd act doth infringe their Liberty as
Free borne English subjects of His Majestie by interfearing with ye
statutory Laws of the Land, By which it is enacted that no taxes shall
be levied on ye Subjects without consent of an assembly chosen by ye
Freeholders for assessing the same," and refused to assess the tax. For
this offence six leaders, headed by the Rev. John Wise, minister of the
Chebacco Parish (now Essex), were prosecuted, found guilty, imprisoned
for three weeks to await sentence and then disqualified for office; they
were also fined from L15 to L50 each, and were required to give security
for their good behaviour. In Ipswich were originally included the
present townships of Hamilton (1793) and Essex (1819).
See T. F. Waters, _Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1633-1700_
(Ipswich, 1905), and the publications of the Ipswich Historical
Society.
IQUIQUE, a city and port of Chile, capital of the province of Tarapaca,
820 m. N. of Valparaiso, in 20 deg. 12' 15" S., 70 deg. 11' 15" W. Pop.
(1895), 33,031; (1900, est.), 42,440. The coast here runs due N. and S.
and the city is built on a narrow level plain between the sea and
bluffs, the latter rising steeply 2000 ft. to the level of the great
desert plain of Tarapaca, celebrated for its rich deposits of nitrate of
soda. Facing the city is the low barren island of Serrano, or Iquique,
which is connected with the mainland by a stone causeway 1500 ft. long,
and shelters the anchorage from southerly storms. A mole extending from
the N.E. end of the island affords some further protection. The city is
laid out in the rectangular plan, with broad streets and large squares.
Water is brought by pipes from Pica, 50 m. distant. Iquique is a city of
much commercial importance and is provided with banks, substantial
business houses, newspapers, clubs, schools, railways, tramways,
electric lights, telephone lines, and steamship and cable communication
with the outside world. It exports iodine and immense quantities of
nitrate of soda obtained from the desert region of the province. A large
number of vessels are engaged in the nitrate trade, and Iquique ranks as
one of the two leading ports of Chile in the aggregate value of its
foreign commerce. It is connected by rail with the inland town of
Tarapaca and various mining centres, and through them with the ports of
Pisagua on the N., and Patillos on the S. Iquique was an insignificant
Peruvian fishing settlement until 1830 when the export of nitrate began.
In 1868 the town was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, in 1875 by fire,
and again in 1877 by earthquakes, a fire and a tidal wave. It was
occupied by the Chileans in 1879 in the war between Chile and Peru, and
was ceded to Chile by the treaty of the 20th of October 1883.
IQUITOS, a tribe of South American Indians. It is divided into many
branches, some on the river Tigre, others on the Nanay. Missionary
efforts have failed and they remain savages, worshipping figures carved
in the shape of birds and beasts. They brew the Indian fermented liquor
_chicha_ better than any of the neighbouring tribes, flavouring it with
the shoots of some plant which has the effect of an opiate.
IQUITOS, a city and river port of Peru, and capital of the great inland
department of Loreto, on the left bank of the upper Amazon near the
mouth of the Rio Nanay, 87 m. below the mouth of the Ucayali and 930 m.
from Puerto Bermudez. The geographical position of Iquitos is 3 deg. 44'
S., 73 deg. W. Pop. of the city (1906, est.), 6000; of the district
(1906, est.), 12,000. Iquitos stands about 348 ft. above sea-level, on
the low wooded banks of the river opposite some islands of the same
name, and has a warm but healthful climate (mean annual temperature,
about 78 deg. F.). The city consists of two _pueblos_, the larger of
which is occupied by Indians and half-breeds, the descendants of the
Iquitos tribe from whom the city takes its name. The opening of the
Amazon to navigation, and the subsequent arrival of foreign ocean-going
vessels at Iquitos, added immensely to the importance of the city, and
made it the commercial entrepot of eastern Peru. In 1908 three lines of
ocean-going steamers were making regular voyages up the Amazon to
Iquitos (about 2500 m.). The city has a large import and export trade
for an immense region watered by the Maranon, Huallaga, Ucayali and
other large Amazonian rivers navigated from Iquitos by lines of small
boats. Iquitos was put in wireless telegraphic communication with Puerto
Bermudez on the 8th of July 1908, whence a land line runs across the
Andes to Lima. Besides machine shops and shipbuilding facilities, the
important industries are the weaving of hats and hammocks, and the
preparation of salt fish; and there is a considerable export of rubber
and straw hats. Tobacco is produced in the vicinity and sent to other
parts of the Montana region. Iquitos dates officially from 1863, when it
had a population of 431, though there had been a white settlement there
for more than half a century.
IRAK, a province of Persia, situated W. of Kum and Kashan and E. of
Burujird, and paying a yearly revenue of about L16,000. The province has
many flourishing villages which produce much grain, but its greatest
income is derived from the carpets made in many of its villages and
mostly exported to Europe, the value of which is estimated at about
L100,000 per annum. An important British firm is established at
Sultanabad, the capital of the province, solely for this trade.
Sultanabad is situated 77 m. S.W. of Kum in 34 deg. 6' N. and 49 deg.
42' E. at an elevation of 5925 ft. It has a population of about 8000 and
post and telegraph offices. It was founded in 1808 and made a recruiting
centre for some battalions of infantry which were to form part of the
reorganized Persian army as recommended by the chief of the French
mission, General Gardane. In consequence of its recent foundation it is
still occasionally spoken of as Shahr-i-no, the "new city."
IRAK-ARABI ('Iraq-Arabi, "Arab Irak"), the name employed since the Arab
conquest to designate that portion of the valley of the Tigris and
Euphrates known in older literature as Babylonia. Irak is approximately
the region below the Median Wall, from Opis on the Tigris, at the mouth
of Shatt-el-Adhem, to the neighbourhood of Ramadieh (Ramadiya) on the
Euphrates; that is, from nearly latitude 34 deg. to the Persian Gulf, and
from the Syrian desert to the Persian mountains. It consists of two
unequal portions, an extensive dry steppe with a healthy desert climate,
and an unhealthy region of swamps. There is a good deal more agriculture
along the Euphrates than along the Tigris, but swamps are at the same
time much more extensive along the former. The borders of both streams
wherever there is habitation are lined with date-palms. This is
especially true of the lower part of Irak in the Basra vilayet, where
the date-palm forms dense groves bordering the banks for a distance of
many days' journey. A luxuriant vegetation of water plants is to be
found in the swamps, which are the haunt of numerous wild beasts--pigs,
lions, different kinds of aquatic animals and birds. These swamps are
inhabited by a wild race of men, dark of hue, with many negroes among
them, who cultivate rice and weave straw mats. Their chiefs, with their
wives and a very few retainers or members of their immediate families,
live in mud castles; the tribesmen live in rude huts of reeds and mats
about these castles. In the main these swamp-dwellers, who designate
themselves _Ma'-dan_, keep pretty free both of the Turkish government
and of the semi-Bedouins of Irak. Some of them are very lawless,
especially the inhabitants of the region below the Shatt-el-Hai, between
the two rivers. Here the Turkish government exercises no authority, and
the tribesmen of the swamps play pirate on the merchandise passing up
and down the Euphrates above Korna, where for some 80 m. the river has
been allowed to form an immense swamp. Some of the Bedouin tribes also
engage in marauding expeditions and terrorize certain portions of the
country. Especially troublesome are the edh-Dhafir, westward of the
Euphrates, opposite the mouth of the Shatt-el-Hai, and the Beni Lam
(7500 tents strong) who occupy the country east of the Tigris to the
south of Bagdad. Still more difficult of control is the great tribe of
Shammar, who descend every year from the north, pitching their tents in
the Jezireh (i.e. the region between the two rivers) southward of
Bagdad, and terrifying the whole country during their stay. The Turkish
government is, however, gradually extending its authority over all Irak
partly by force, partly by treachery. The Affech nation, Ma'-dan Arabs,
occupying the swamps behind Diwanieh between the Tigris and Euphrates,
and the great Montefich tribes, Bedouins who claimed the whole country
southward of the Affech to the Shatt-el-Hai and beyond, have since 1880
been deprived gradually of their power and a considerable part of their
independence. In 1903 the Turkish government transferred the capital of
the sanjak of Hillah to Diwanieh opposite the Affech swamps, and there
is now a line of towns, centres of Turkish power and Turkish force,
extending southward from Ana to Nasrieh, at the mouth of the
Shatt-el-Hai canal, while similar stations are being established or
strengthened along the Tigris. Some important steps have also been
taken by the Turkish government to control the Euphrates floods, and to
drain the swamps in some sections of the country, especially westward of
the Euphrates. A dam was built at the mouth of the Hindieh canal to
prevent the waters of the Euphrates from losing themselves as heretofore
in the swamps westward, and to assure a continual supply of water in the
main bed of the Euphrates. It is, however, frequently carried away. The
ancient Assyrium Stagnum, or Bahr Nejef near the town of that name, with
other swamps formed by the overflow of the Hindieh, have been drained
and turned into rice plantations. At the same time large sections of
Irak have been converted into imperial domain, to the diminution of the
revenues of the country but to the increase of the prosperity of the
population which inhabits that domain. Something, though not very much,
has thus been done to restore the land to its ancient fertility.
Ethnographically Irak is subject to a double influence. On the one hand
the connexion with Nejd, the centre plateau of Arabia, continues
uninterrupted, even the 'Agel Bedouins from central Arabia having a
quarter of their own in Bagdad. Many of these Arabs come to Irak merely
for a temporary residence, returning later to their homes with the
earnings acquired in that comparatively rich country; but a considerable
number remain permanently. Even stronger than the influence of Arabia is
that of Persia. In general the inhabitants of Irak are Shi'ites not
Sunnites, and their religious connexion and allegiance is therefore
toward Persia, not Turkey. Persian customs are in fashion, Persian
coinage is used equally with the Turkish, and in some parts, more
especially in Bagdad, there is an important Persian quarter, while
Kerbela and Meshed 'Ali to the west of the Euphrates are really Persian
enclaves in Turkish territory. No traces remain of that rich
intellectual development which was produced in the time of the caliphs
through the reciprocal action of Persian and Arabic elements. Still, the
quick-wittedness of the inhabitants of Irak makes a decided impression
on the traveller passing through Asiatic Turkey. Throughout Irak also
Indian influence is visible in not a few particulars. In the hot summer
months, for instance, when the natives live in those underground
apartments called _serdab_, the Indian punkah is used in the houses of
the rich. There are also small Indian colonies at most of the large
towns and a considerable trade with India is carried on, especially in
horses.
The trade of Irak is even now not unimportant. The principal exports
from Basra are dates, various grains, millet seed, rice and wool, while
the imports consist chiefly of Manchester goods, lumber, petroleum, coal
and household necessities. Besides this there is a considerable land
commerce by caravan, of which Bagdad is the centre. The total value of
the exports of Irak according to the official figures of the Turkish
government amounts to nearly L2,000,000, while the imports of every kind
reach the value of about L1,800,000. If the ancient system of irrigation
were restored and the land restored to cultivation, the country could
support five hundred times as many inhabitants as it usually contains.
Steamboats navigate the Tigris only as far as Bagdad, and that with
great difficulty. In general, communication by water is carried on by
means of the most primitive craft. Goods are transported in the
so-called _turradas_, moderately big high-built vessels, which also
venture out into the Persian Gulf as far as Kuwet. Passengers are
conveyed, especially on the Euphrates, in the _meshhuf_, a very long
narrow boat, mostly pushed along the river bank with poles or towed by
ropes. The Mesopotamian _kelleks_, rafts laid on goat-skin bladders,
come down the Tigris as far as Bagdad. At Bagdad round boats made of
plaited reeds pitched with asphalt, the so-called _kufas_ (_qufas_), are
used. At Basra the _bellems_ are in use, boats of large size, having the
appearance of being hollowed out of tree trunks and partly in fact so
constructed. There are no roads, and the extensive swamps and periodic
inundations which lay large sections under water render land traffic by
caravan somewhat uncertain.
Irak in general is an alluvial plain, formed by the deposits of the
rivers Tigris and Euphrates, with a few scattered reaches of sand
appearing here and there. The mass of solid matter which the rivers
deposit is very considerable. The maximum proportion for the Euphrates
in the month of January is 1/80 and at other times 1/200; for the
Tigris the maximum is 1/100. In general, the northern plains of the
interior have a slight but well-defined southerly inclination, with
local depressions. The territory undulates in the central districts,
and then sinks away into mere marshes and lakes. The clay, of a deep
blue colour, abounds with marine shells, and shows a strong
efflorescence of natron and sea-salt. When the soil is parched the
appearance of the mirage (_serab_) is very common. As extensive
inundations in spring are caused by both the rivers, especially the
Tigris, great changes must have taken place in this part of the
country in the course of thousands of years. It has been asserted that
in former times the alluvial area at the mouth of the river increased
1 m. in the space of thirty years; and from this it has been assumed
that about the 6th century B.C. the Persian Gulf must have stretched
from 45 to 55 m. farther inland than at present. The actual rate of
increase at the present time is about 72 ft. per annum. While we may
be unable to determine accurately the former physical configuration of
southern Babylonia, it is at least certain that in Babylonian times
the Euphrates and Tigris reached the sea as independent rivers, and
Ritter estimates that in the time of Alexander the Great the
embouchures were still separated by a good day's journey. Although
they cannot now be traced, great alterations have probably taken place
also in the upper portions of the rivers as well as in the country
near their mouths. The names of a large number of canals occur in the
old Babylonian inscriptions, as in the works of the Arabian
geographers, but while some of these have been traced it has not been
possible hitherto to identify the greater number of them with actually
existing canals or remains of canals. To the west of the Euphrates, on
the edge of the Syrian desert from Hit downward to the neighbourhood
of Basra and beyond, ran the Sa'ade, now for the most part dry, a very
ancient canal, extended or enlarged at different periods. Lower down
near Mussaib, the Hindieh canal, at least equal in volume to the
present main stream, branches off and after traversing and irrigating
an extensive territory rejoins the river at Samawa. Between the
Euphrates and the Tigris, there was a large number of great canals,
especially in the region northward of Babylon between that city and
the northern edge of the alluvial plain, of which the most famous were
the 'Isa, the Sarsar, the Malk ("Royal"), the canal of Kutha, the Sura
and the Arakhat (Shatt-en-Nil). Of these only one at present carries
water, namely, the Nahr 'Isa, which, leaving the Euphrates at
Sakhlawieh (Sakh lawiya), terminates in extensive marshes near Bagdad;
but this is now no longer navigable. Southward of Babylon the Daghara
canal, which leaves the Euphrates a little below Hillah and empties
into the Affech marshes, and the Shatt-el-Kehr, which, leaving that
stream a little above Diwanieh, makes a great curve through the
interior of the Jezireh, finally losing itself in the Hosainieh
(Hosainiya) marshes near the mouth of the Shatt-el-Hai, are the only
navigable or partly navigable canals of the Euphrates in the Jezireh.
The Tigris canals are not so numerous as those of the Euphrates and
were not so famous in history, but eastward of that river the great
Nahrawan channel still exists in part, while the Tigris is connected
with the Euphrates by a navigable stream, the Shatt-el-Hai, which
leaves the former river at Kut-el-'Amara and enters the Euphrates at
Nasrieh. Everywhere the country is intersected with ancient canals,
some still deep dry beds, other so silted up that their course is
represented only by parallel lines of hillocks. Some of these, of
great antiquity, like the Shatt-en-Nil, which can be traced through
its whole course from Babylon, through or past Nippur, Udnun (Bismya)
Gishban (Gis-ukh), Erech and Larsa, to the Hosainieh marshes, were
equally as important as the Euphrates itself; and indeed it may be
said that in ancient times that stream after reaching the alluvial
plain was divided into a large number of channels, partly natural
partly artificial, no single one of which, but all together,
constituted the Euphrates. By the restoration of these old canals,
traces of which are met with at every step, the country might be again
raised to that condition of high civilization which it enjoyed not
only in antiquity but even as late as the time of the caliphs. The
classical writers are unanimous in their admiration of Babylonia, and
it is certain that nowhere else in the ancient world was the
application of canals to the exigencies of agriculture worked out so
successfully as here. The most luxuriant vegetation was diffused over
the whole country and three crops were obtainable in the year. In the
matter of civilization indeed no country of the ancient world
surpassed. Babylonia. How densely peopled this country once was may be
gathered from the fact that about 794 B.C., 89 fortified towns and 820
smaller places in the Chaldaean region were captured during one
military expedition. And even in the times of the caliphs there stood
on the royal canal and its branches, north of Babylon, 360 villages,
contributing in gold 225,000 dirhems to the state treasury besides the
tax in kind. To-day the whole region from the swamps about Basra
northward is dotted with ruin mounds, and at places the plain itself
is strewn for miles with fragments of glass and pottery, evidence of
earlier occupation, while, as stated, lines of canals of all possible
sizes, from the great triple canals with four rows of parallel
hillocks, down to the small canals for purposes of irrigation,
intersect the country in every direction.
There seem to have been almost from the outset two centres which strove
with one another for political supremacy in this region, the south and
the north. In the north in the Babylonian time lay Kish, Akkad, Kutha
(Tell-Ibrahim), Sippara (Abu Habba), Babylon and Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud).
In the south were Eridu and Ur (Mughair)--originally on the shores of
the Persian Gulf, now 125 m. inland--Erech (Warka), Larsa (Senkereh),
Lagash (Tello) and Gishban (Yokha). Nearly in the centre lay Nippur and
Udnun (Bismya). Besides these there were numerous other cities, some of
considerable importance, which are known to us at present only by name;
and there are in Irak hundreds of ruin mounds, some of them of
considerable size, covering ancient Babylonian cities, the greater part
of which are still unexplored and unidentified. During the period of
Greek domination a Greek city, Seleucia (q.v.), which afterwards
attained great prosperity, was founded by Seleucus I. in an extremely
favourable situation on the right bank of the Tigris. Greek cities were
founded also in the south, at the head of the Persian Gulf, and some of
the ancient Babylonian cities of the interior like Lagash, Erech and
Nippur, were rebuilt on the old sites. After the conquest of Babylonia
by the Parthians (130 B.C.) Ctesiphon (q.v.) was built on the east bank
of the Tigris opposite Seleucia, and became the winter residence of the
Persian kings. Later this double city became the imperial capital of the
Sassanids, and under the name Madain still continued to flourish after
the Arabic conquest, to be finally superseded by the neighbouring
Bagdad. That region was called in the time of the Sassanids, Suristan, a
translation of the Aramaean designation Beth-Aramaya, "country of the
Syrians," for the land was mainly occupied by Aramaeans. By a notable
substitution the Arabs afterwards gave the name Nabat, i.e. Nabataeans,
to these Aramaean tenantry, who it may be added were already found in
these parts at the time of the Babylonian empire. Indeed, some small
portion of this old Syrian population of Irak still remains
distinguished by a special religion (see MANDAEANS), chiefly on the
shores of the lower Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Suk-esh-Sheiukh.
Another important city of the Sassanian period was Perisabora, known in
the Arabian period as Anbar, the centre also of Babylonian Judaism after
the destruction of Pombeditha in A.D. 588, situated on the east bank of
the Euphrates in about the same latitude as Bagdad. During the Sassanian
period flourished in the south-east the Arabic kingdom of Hira (q.v.).
There was also for a time a Jewish kingdom in Babylonia, and Nehardea
and Pombeditha are mentioned as centres of Jewish religions and national
life during this period.
After the Arabian conquest in the 7th century A.D., Irak entered for a
time on a new period of prosperity. Several important new cities were
founded, among them Kufa, Basra, Wasit on the Shatt-el-Hai, and Bagdad
on the site of an old Babylonian city of the same name, which later
became under the Abbasid caliphs not only the capital of Irak but for a
time the metropolis of the world (see CALIPHATE). With the decay of the
Abbasid power the system of irrigation began to fall into disrepair, the
ancient sites were gradually deserted, and the country finally returned
to a condition of semi-barbarism alternating between inundation and
drought, which is its present state.
See Ritter, _Die Erdkunde von Asien_, 2nd ed., vol. vii., 10th and
11th parts (Berlin, 1843, 1844); W. F. Ainsworth, _Researches in
Assyria_ (London, 1838); F. R. Chesney, _Expedition for the Survey of
the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris_ (2 vols., London, 1850); W. K.
Loftus, _Chaldaea and Susiana_ (1857); F. Delitzsch, _Wo lag das
Paradies?_ (Leipzig, 1881); W. F. Ainsworth, _The Euphrates
Expedition_ (1888); J. P. Peters, _Nippur_ (1897); E. Sachau, _Am
Euphrat und Tigris_ (1900); F. Delitzsch, _Im Lande des einstigen
Paradieses_ (1903). Maps: Chesney (1850); Selby, Bewsher and
Collingwood (1871); Kiepert, _Ruinenfelder_ (1883).
(A. So.; J. P. Pe.)
IRAK-I-AJAMI (i.e. Persian Irak), the name (now obsolete) of the
important Persian province which the Arab geographers called Jebel (the
mountainous region). It used to be the country bounded N. by Azerbaijan
and Gilan, E. by Samnan and the central Persian desert, S. by Kerman,
Fars and Arabistan, W. by Kermanshah and Kurdistan. Its length,
N.W.-S.E., was about 600 m. from the Kaflan Kuh on the Kizil Uzain, the
frontier of Azerbaijan, to the frontier of Kerman beyond Yezd, and its
width, N.E.-S.W., about 300 m.
IRAN, the great plateau between the plain of the Tigris in the west and
the valley of the Indus in the east, the Caspian Sea and the Turanian
desert in the north, and the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean in the
south, surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges with a great salt
desert in the centre. The modern name Iran, in middle-Persian Eran (a
form preferred by many German authors) is derived from the ancient
_Aryana_, "the country of the Aryans," i.e. that part of the Aryans
which we call Iranians. Eratosthenes limited the name of Ariana to the
south-eastern part of Iran, and excluded Persia, Media and Bactria, and
therein he is followed by Strabo (ii. 78, 130, xv. 720 ff.; Pomp. Mela
i. 3; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vi. 113, 116, xii. 33); Pliny (_Nat. Hist._
vi. 93) confounds it with Aria, Areia, Pers. Haraiva, i.e. the district
of Herat; but Strabo himself says (xv. 724) that some extended the name
to the Persians, Medes, Bactrians and Sogdians, as they all spoke the
same language with small dialectic variations (cf. 727 and i. 66, xi.
523).