دار الخط العربي DAR AL-KHAT AL-ARABY

1960

خارطة الدول العربية [Map of the Arab League].

محمّد صٰالى الأعظمى طبعت على نفقة - مطبعة المساحة العامة Public Surveying Press

Baghdad

Separate Map

70

100

Baghdad: , محمّد صٰالى الأعظمى طبعت على نفقة - مطبعة المساحة العامة Public Surveying Press, printed at the expense of Mohammad Sali Al-Azami, [circa 1960].

North Africa

Middle East

Political

خارطة الدول العربية [Map of the Arab League].

10875.000

دار الخط العربي DAR AL-KHAT AL-ARABY

1960

خارطة الدول العربية [Map of the Arab League].

"An attractive, large format ephemeral propaganda map showcasing the Arab League and the central role of Iraq and its leader, Abd al-Karim Qasim; employing bright off-set printed colours, the map embraces the entire Arab World from Morocco to Oman, and is augmented by a detailed plan of Baghdad bearing a portrait of Qasim, while the flags of the 15 Arab entities adorn the side panels, published in Baghdad – seemingly unrecorded. In Cairo, on March 22, 1945, within the environment of the emerging post-colonial era, the six already sovereign Arab states (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan (later Jordan), Lebanon and Saudi Arabia) formed the Arab League, an organization whose mandate was to “draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries”. Over the coming years other Arab states joined the League, while other entities assumed observer status. While the mandate of the Arab League represented an excellent idea in principle, like everything in the Middle East and North Africa, things didn’t turn out as planned. Despite the best efforts of some very distinguished statemen, the notion of Arab unity was consistently buffeted by unimaginably strong headwinds. First, the ‘Arab world’ was a very loosely defined notion. While most of the countries that would join the League possessed Arabic as a common national language, the reality was that historically many of these lands had very little to do with each other, and when they did, their relations had often been antagonistic. In fact, the so-called ‘Arab’ countries were home to incredible ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, that resulted in dramatically diverging ideologies and world views. Not to mention the innumerable personal conflicts between the leaders of the various Arab states, the League’s operations were overshadowed by the Arab-Israeli conflict (with diehard vs. moderate supporters of the Palestinian cause), the Cold War (with pro-Soviet vs. pro-Western states), petro-politics (some states were vastly wealthy from oil, while others had none and were poor), differences in matters of religion (conservative vs. secular, Sunni Muslim vs. other faiths, etc.), and Pan-Arabists vs. Nationalists. It also did not help that political instability was a constant feature within most of the countries, producing a bewildering succession of regimes in many states, often changing the ideological bent of countries overnight. While the Arab League played a constructive role in resolving the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, by the beginning of the 1960s, when the present map was made, the League, which had grown to include 12 full members, was coming under strain. Overshading the Arab world was Egypt’s ultra-charismatic, Pan-Arabist, Soviet-allied President, Gamal Abdel Nasser. While amity was preserved on a superficial level, Egypt’s traditional role as the kingpin of the Arab world was being challenged by both Saudi Arabia (oil rich and Western allied) and Iraq (also oil rich and culturally important, but with ambiguous global allegiances and internally unstable). It was in this context that the present map comes into view. The map is a powerful propaganda work, showcasing the Arab League and Iraq’s supposedly leading role within it. Published in Baghdad at the beginning of the 1960s, the map was commissioned by individuals partial to Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914 - 1963), the Prime Minister of Iraq, who led the bloody 1958 coup that had overthrown the country’s Hashemite monarchy. A military man, Qasim set the country upon a radical nationalist and populist course. He implemented land reforms; improved education, healthcare and social services; enacted women’s rights; and nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company (which was hitherto controlled by British-led concerns). Qasim set Iraq upon a path of economic growth, producing a large middle class, winning him support in some sectors, although his autocratic style made him many enemies. On the international scene, Qasim tried to set himself up as natural alternative to Nasser as the ‘leader’ of the Arab world. Employing bright off-set colours, and with text entirely in Arabic, the map depicts the entire Arab world, from Morocco to Oman, with each country coloured in its own hue. There is no mention of Israel (which was then not then recognized by any Arab state), with ‘Palestine’ taking up its entire territory. The rest of the national boundaries are conventional, save for the fact that the north of Morocco is shown to still belong to Spain, even though that territory had been ceded to Morocco in 1956. The map labels national capitals, other major cities, as well as all major roads, railways and oil pipelines. Of note, the map shows the route of the Baghdad Railway, the great ribbon of steel that ran from Istanbul to the Iraqi capital; started in 1903 by the Ottomans and the Germans, it was not completed until 1940, and was subsequently extended to Basra. Also important, the map depicts the a great symbol of pan-League economic cooperation, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline), which ran from Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia to the Sidon, Lebanon, carrying Gulf oil to the Mediterranean. In the lower left of map is an inset featuring a detailed city plan of Baghdad, with a key identifying 117 sites. To the right of the map is portrait of the Iraqi leader, Qassim, while it also featuring the new Iraqi national ‘sun’ emblem and an inset contextualizing the Arab countries upon a world map. The flags of 15 Arab entities adorn the sides of the map. On the left-hand side (top to bottom) are: United Arab Republic (formed by the brief union of Egypt and Syria, 1958-61); Tunis (Tunisia); Sudan; Libya; Morocco (Marrakesh); Yemen (North Yemen); and Algiers. On the right-hand side (top to bottom): Iraqi Republic; Lebanon; The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Jordan; Kuwait; Hadhramaut (the autonomous Kathiri State of Seiyun, in the western part of British South Yemen); Bahrain; Palestine; Oman; ‘Trucial Oman’ (today’s United Arab Emirates and Qatar); and the Aden Protectorate (South Yemen). Notably, many of the entities identified by their flags and labelled on the map were not members of the Arab League (or even observers), let alone independent countries. They are shown as they are here because many of the leaders of Arab League states anticipated the organization’s future expansion to embrace all Arab lands, freeing the last countries from colonial rule (ex. Algeria, Trucial Oman) or succeeding from other entities (ex. Hadhramaut from South Yemen). The present map, being a large format ephemeral work, sold at Baghdad newsstands and displayed in offices and schools, would have been issued in only a very small print run and would have had a very low survival rare due to natural wear and tear. Moreover, many examples would have been intentionally destroyed as the Ba’athist regime that ruled Iraq from 1963 to 2003 would not have looked favourably upon any document that glorified Qasim (please see below). We cannot trace any other examples; the map is assuredly exceedingly rare. While Abd al-Karim Qasim was popular in many constituencies, especially in the major cities and in the south of the country, he never acquired a secure political base amongst Iraq’s main organized factions. He had acrimonious relations with the Sunni Arabs in the country’s north, as well as the Kurds, and both of these communities rebelled against his rule. The country’s big emerging power, the Ba’athist Party, was increasingly opposed to Qasim. A young Saddam Hussein was part of a Ba’athist group that unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Qasim. Further imperiling his position, Qasim was isolated internationally. Despite having a good dialogue with the Soviets, he was on the outs with Nasser, not to mention the CIA which may have been involved in plotting his downfall. He also had very poor relations with Iran, the great power in the region. Qasim’s domestic political rivals, led by the Ba’athist Party, mounted the Ramadan Revolution (February 8-10, 1963), whereupon Qasim was overthrown and executed. The new Ba’athist regime was controlled by a series of transitional figures until Saddam Hussein took over de facto rule of the country in 1968 – the course of Iraqi history since is now quite well known. As for the Arab League, its prestige took a major hit when Israel totally eviscerated an Egyptian-led Arab alliance during the Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967). It was further tested when many of its members led the OPEC embargo on the export of oil to many Western countries, sparking the 1973 Oil Crisis. The Arab League ruptured after the Camp David Peace Accord (1978), signed by Egypt and Israel, causing all of the other members of the League to expel Egypt from the organization (even though it was it most important member) and to move its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Further shocks such as the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90), and Gulf War (1990-1) made it difficult for the Arab League to play a leadership role. Egypt was readmitted to the League in 1989, and while the organization had since established some working authority with regard to diplomatic and economic cooperation, the constant instability of the Middle East has ensured that the its work is always challenging, to say the least." (Alexander Johnson and Dasa Pahor, 2021)

10875.000

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10875000.jp2

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دار الخط العربي DAR AL-KHAT AL-ARABY