1849 / 1857 Jones Map of Ancient Canals near Baghdad, Iraq

A rare 1849 map of the region around Baghdad that appeared in James Felix Jones' Memoirs (published 1857), one of the most important English-language sources on Ottoman Iraq. Jones highlights the ancient Nahrawan Canal system on the Tigris and Diyala Rivers, which was the main source of water for the region in the Sassanid (3-7th century CE) and early Islamic eras.

A Closer Look

Ranging from Tikrit in the north, past Baghdad at center towards left, and southwards toward Kut, this map focuses on the Tigris River, some of its tributaries (especially the Diyala), and ancient canals that were built to provide the region with water. Throughout, ancient settlement sites, tombs, fortresses, bridges, and ruins are noted in detail. The portions of river traversed by Jones are shaded blue, while the ancient canals referred to in the title, collectively referred to simply as the Nahrawan Canal, are drawn in purple.

Early Islamic Baghdad and the Nahrawan Canal

Though dating as early as the 3rd century CE, the canal system seen here is remembered for providing Baghdad with water as it grew into a renowned metropolis of learning and culture in the Abbasid period. Replacing Ctesiphon-Seleucia to the southeast along the Tigris (labeled here), Baghdad was founded in 762 CE (144 AH) as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. It was a planned city, known in its first manifestation as the 'round city,' and required thousands of architects, surveyors, and laborers to construct.

This initial construction of the city was badly damaged in the early 9th century CE in a conflict between brothers vying for the title of caliph. A century later, the canal system was deliberately breached in a failed bid to suppress a revolt against Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, a regent for the caliphate. This event caused extensive flooding in the region, ruining its agricultural productivity, and became a notorious act which signaled a steep decline in Abbasid power. Though Baghdad rebounded and subsequent rulers occasionally attempted to revive the canals, they mostly remained a dry riverbed, including through late Ottoman times, when Jones explored them.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn in 1849 and appeared in Jones' Memoirs by Commander James Felix Jones, I.N. Steam-Trip to the North of Baghdad, in April 1846…, published in 1857 in Bombay (Mumbai). Jones and his collaborators travelled extensively throughout Baghdad and its surrounding region, gaining greater access than other Western travelers of the era. As a result, Jones' memoirs became a major source of information about Ottoman Iraq and Baghdad in particular. This map is quite rare, being independently cataloged with the University of Oxford and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich, and having no known history on the market, while Jones' entire memoir is held by perhaps twenty-five institutions worldwide.