Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia

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Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia
John Gordon Lorimer
LanguageEnglish
Published1908, 1915
Pages5000[1]
John Gordon Lorimer

The Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia (nicknamed Lorimer)

Persia.[1]

The work was declassified in 1955 under the fifty-year rule, and was widely praised for its extensive coverage of the region's history and geography.[2] It is considered to be "the most important single source of historical material on the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia" from the 17th to early 20th century.[1]

Background

Beginning in the 20th century, the

Lord Curzon to the Gulf in 1903.[1] To ensure that British agents in the region were adequately informed and prepared to strengthen their influence in the region, a light-weight and easily accessible handbook was needed.[3]

In November 1903, the British authorities commissioned John Gordon Lorimer, a member of the

Bombay, and from multiple field expeditions to the Gulf.[1]

Contents

The gazetteer is a 5000-page document divided into two volumes; the first details the region's history and the second details its geography.[1] The geography portion of the gazetteer was completed first and was published in 1908. The history portion of the gazetteer was only completed and published in 1915, one year after Lorimer himself died in a shooting accident.[1]

History

Titled "History, geography and genealogy", the volume was split into three sections which were divided by ethnicity. Section 1 (the Arab section) was dedicated to the history of the Persian Gulf, central

Arabistan. Section 3 consisted of 19 genealogical charts pertaining to the ruling families of the region.[4] The research was compiled from Lorimer's own notes and the work of colleagues such as J.A. Saldanha and C.H. Gabriel and ranged from the 17th to the 20th centuries.[1]

Doha in 1904, from the gazetteer.
Map of the Persian Gulf, from the gazetteer.

Geography

Titled the "Geographical and Statistical" section, this is a 2000-page document and lists an extensive alphabetical arrangement of tribes and settlements across the region, divided into different countries.[4] The data was obtained through research missions carried out by Lorimer and his group.[1] Also in the volume are 56 reproduced images of the region taken from colonial records and two maps showing the distribution of pearling sites and the overall political geography.[4]

Reception and legacy

Classified for official use only, the gazetteer was published in secrecy in 1908 and 1915 respectively with only dozens of copies in circulation. As such, there was no public awareness of the existence of the work. Consequently, Lorimer's obituary makes no mention of the gazetteer.[2] He was credited as the author only when the work was declassified in 1955.[5]

In 1971, The Times Literary Supplement praised the historical coverage of the work as "stupendous" and its geographical section as "without modern substitute". The gazetteer, although drawn from British sources and written from a British perspective, is still regarded as a valuable resource for the serious researcher.[1]

The gazetteer was digitised and made available online by the Qatar Digital Library in January 2015.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia". Cambridge Archive Editions. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Lowe, Daniel A. "'Persian Gulf Tragedy': the Death and Legacy of John Gordon Lorimer". Qatar Digital Library. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. ^ Leech, Nick (7 January 2012). "A reference book for every historian to rely on". The National. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Lowe, Daniel. "Colonial Knowledge: Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia". Qatar Digital Library. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  5. ^ Teller, Matthew (6 December 2014). "The diplomat's portable handbook (wheelbarrow required)". BBC News. Retrieved 10 August 2015.

External links

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