Irrigation in Iraq at the end of the Ottoman era in the light of British reports, the report of Sir George Buchanan as a model ((historical study))

Abstract

Irrigation is linked to public life and is directly related to it. It has an important impact on people’s social and economic lives. One of Iraq’s natural resources that can be relied upon in the first degree is agriculture, especially during the study period. Iraq during the Ottoman era was in a deplorable state due to poor human practices. And encroachment and transgressions on rivers in the past, and it was supposed to be dealt with through correct frameworks, and despite the attempts made by some Ottoman governors to reform the irrigation conditions, in practice, they did not bear fruit. Although the engineering survey of the country and the rivers is a condition that must be spent before money is spent on projects investment .. Now the survey conducted by Sir William Wilcox was of high value and importance, but the survey operations were carried out in the most difficult ways and required to be extensive.