1925 Ottoman General Staff Map of Baghdad, Iraq

Baghdad in Transition from Ottoman to British Rule.

This is a rare c. 1925 Ottoman Turkish map of Baghdad, originally prepared by Rashid (Reşid) Bey and updated by the Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umûmiye Matbaasından, the Printing House of the General Staff of the Turkish military. Although published after the city's capture by British forces, the map presents the city at the end of the Ottoman period, with references to its earlier history.

A Closer Look

The map is oriented towards the northeast, so that the Tigris (دجله) River is roughly horizontal in the foreground. The geography of the city, with a Medieval walled core combined with more modern buildings and surrounded by farms and orchards, is immediately evident. Today's Rusafa District, consistent with the Old City, lies at top here on the east side of the Tigris, while the western side is today's Karkh, closer to the earlier, symmetrical Round City built by the Abbasids. The historic walls (سور العتيق) of Baghdad are shown on this map, even though the Ottomans tore them down in the 1870s to modernize the city. The Bab al-Talsim (باب الطلسم), the Talisman Gate towards top-right here, was not part of this initial destruction, but was blown up as the Ottomans retreated from British forces in 1917 during World War I (1914 - 1918). Today, only the of Bab al-Wastani (باب الوسطاني), or Middle Gate, survives.

Throughout the dense core of the city, mosques (مسجد), markets (سوق), and Ottoman administrative and military buildings are labeled, including a large armory (طوپخانه), barracks (قیشله), and courts (عدلیه). Both within and around the city, neighborhoods and buildings are named for Ottoman officials, beys and other grandees, and important sheiks. For example, near the Bab al-Wastani is the shrine of Sheikh Omar (شيخ عمر), that is, Umar al-Suhrawardi, an important 12-13th century CE figure in the Sufi Suhrawardiyya Order. In Karkh is a similar shine to the earlier (8th-9th century CE) Sufi Saint Ma'ruf al-Karkhi (شيخ معروف), who in popular religion is a city protector and patron saint. An index of 24 additional sites, whose names could not fit on the map but were represented numerically, appears at top-right. Two squares along the outskirts of the city represent Jewish (يهودي مقبره‌سي) and Islamic (اسلام مقبره‌سي) cemeteries.

The Baghdad-Samarra Railway (بغداد — سامرا شمندفري), under construction but completed in 1914, appears at bottom along with Baghdad Station (بغداد استاسيوني). This was meant to be part of the ambitious Berlin-Baghdad Railway, but was one of the only sections completed by the start of the war. The railway was completed in 1940, but did not reach Basra, which was the original goal of the Germans, who sought direct access to the Persian Gulf.

At top-left is an inset of the fascinating Round City of Baghdad, the administrative center built by the Abbasids in the 8th-10th century CE (150 and 300 AH). Also known as the 'City of al-Mansur' (مدينة المنصور) after the second Abbasid caliph and the founder of Baghdad, the map depicts the city's geometric structure, labeling palaces, gates, mosques, and canals.

Wider Historical Context

Although it discusses the history of Baghdad extensively, this map was a product of contemporary geopolitical concerns, namely the increasing closeness of the Ottomans and the German Empire in the years before World War I, which were both a response to British expansion and an impetus for greater British attention to Iraq. The centerpiece of this German Drang nach Osten (Drive to the East) was the ambitious Berlin-Baghdad Railway project, which aimed to connect Europe to the Persian Gulf. This was seen as a direct threat to British strategic interests, particularly the security of their maritime routes to India and their emerging regional oil interests. Consequently, the Ottomans utilized German technical and military expertise to modernize their administration and cartographic capabilities, as evidenced by maps from the era that adapted German surveys for Ottoman military use.

During this period, the British maintained a complex relationship with the Ottoman provinces, balancing a long-standing policy of preserving Ottoman territorial integrity against the need to protect their own imperial 'lifelines.' While British merchants and officials were embedded in the social and commercial fabric of cities like Baghdad and Basra, the British government grew increasingly wary of the growing German presence in the Ottoman General Staff and other offices. This rivalry transformed the Levant and Mesopotamia into a theater of competition akin to the 'Great Game' of Inner Asia or the later Cold War, where infrastructure projects, military missions, and even archeological surveys served as proxies for imperial power. By the time hostilities broke out in 1914, the groundwork for the eventual British Mandate had been laid through decades of competition.

Publication History and Census

The publication history of this map is quite complex. It was originally prepared in 1912 by Rashid (or Reşid) Bey for a group of German army officers visiting Baghdad and was then published in German in 1917 by the Kartographischen Abtheilung des Stellvertretenden Generalstabes der Armee. Afterward, the Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umûmiye Matbaasından, in the course of the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Türkiye, modified the map to fix certain errors (it is noted as being drafted by M., probably Mehmed, Şevket) and reprinted it between 1922 and 1925 (1338-1341 AH on the reformed Rumi Calendar), as indicated in the note below the title, though the map is also simply dated 1922 (1338) in the bottom-left margin. Therefore, although printed in the early-mid 1920s, after Baghdad was in British hands, it reflects the situation before the war. The original 1917 German edition of the map is held by a handful of institutions in Europe, but we have been unable to locate any other examples of this Ottoman Turkish printing in institutional collections or in market history.

Cartographer

Erkan-i Harbiye-i Umumiye Matbaası (اركان حربيه عموميه مطبعه سى ; fl. c. 1899 – 1927) was an Istanbul-based publisher of the late Ottoman and early Republican eras affiliated with the Turkish military's General Staff. Modeled heavily on the Prussian system, its primary mandate was to publish the materials required to run the empire's active military machine, from operational maps to regulations, strategic directives, intelligence reports, and translations of foreign military doctrines. Rather than being aimed at the general public or even government officials, its audience was the active officer corps, field commanders, and the high command. The documents it produced were often restricted, meant for internal circulation among commissioned officers and general staff planners.   Further Details...

Condition

Good. Partial spits repaired and reinforced on verso. Slight reinstatement at a few fold intersections.