/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Agriculture

The Tigris–Euphrates lowlands were revolutionized by a series of large dams on the headwaters of both rivers, and control and check dams, settling ponds, irrigation and drainage channels and saline-water pumping stations. Over 700,000 laborers were at work from 1919–1948 on water control; tens of millions of hectares were brought under cultivation, and the ancient problem of soil salinity eliminated. Labor was provided by drafts from Turkey, Bulgaria and China; a dense road-rail net provided instant communications.

The areas to the north of Baghdad were partially irrigated, and partially used for dryland cultivation. The mountain areas were swept clear of their Kurdish-Turkish populations and afforested; the desert likewise depopulated, with a fringe of ranches and the deeper areas left as State Reserve parks.

Products: wheat, barley, rice, dates, cotton, citrus, sugar cane, truck crops, fodder crops, feedlots (southern lowlands); grains, vineyards and fruit-orchards, livestock, wool, nuts (pistachio, walnut) (northern foothill zone).

Cities: Basra (2,500,000, 91% serf); Baghdad (600,000, 89% serf); Mosul (250,000, 88% serf).