Hejaz 1916-1925


Administration . From 1517 to 1918, the Hejaz was a province of the Ottoman Empire. Control of the Hejaz entitled the Ottoman Sultans to add the title Caliph to their collection of titles.
In 1916 Sharif Husain bin Ali began what is generally known as the Arab Revolt. While the Ottoman forces, until the end of the war, held on to Medina, most of the Hejaz was under the control of the rebels. From June 1916 Sharif Husain was addressed as King of the Hejaz. In 1924-1925 the Hejaz was conquered by the troops of Ibn Saud, Sultan of Nejd.

Foreign Policy . In June 1916, Sharif Husain bin Ali of Mecca and his followers began the Arab Revolt, and entered into an alliance with Britain. From the taking of Aqaba (July 1917) onward, the Arab Revolt was supplied with British arms. During the remainder of the war, there was a competition between British and Arab forces for the liberation of Syria.
At the Paris Peace Conference, the Hejaz was represented by Prince Faisal, son of Sharif Husain; Faisal was assisted by T.E. Lawrence. Here British and Hejazi interests collided, and even more so, Hejazi and French interests.
The French ousted Prince Faisal from Damascus in 1920; in 1921 he was installed by the British as King of Iraq. His brother Abdallah was installed by the British as King of Jordan, also in 1921. The Paris Peace Conference left the Hejaz in the possession of Sharif Husain bin Ali.
Hejaz was a founder-member of the League of Nations (StYB 1925 p.667).

The Economy . The Hejaz produced primarily dates, also wheat, corn, barley, millet, lentils, coffee and tobacco. The tribes of the Hejaz lived of pastoral nomadism (horses, sheep, goats, camels). Main exports included hides, wool and gum (NIYB 1925 p.46). Ancient caravan routes pass through the Hejaz; the construction of the Hejaz railway (completed in 1908, when it reached Medina) altered trade patterns. From 1916 to 1918 it was of solely military importance; from 1918 on the Hejaz Government took on the management of the section from Amman to Medina (StYB 1932 p.651).

Social History . The population estimate for the Hejaz in 1925 is 800,000 to 900,000. (NIYB 1925 p.46). The Hejaz government has signed the anti-slavery convention; but by 1925 no defnite measures had been taken to discourage slavery within the Hejaz (StYB 1925 p.667).






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Wars of Saudi Arabia, 1800-1999, from ACED
Global Currency History : Saudi Arabia
Articles Arab Revolt, Hejaz, Sherif Husain bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, from Wikipedia
History, from Saudi Arabia Information Resource
Regions of Saudi Arabia, from www.statoids.com
DOCUMENTS World Statesmen : Hejaz, by Ben Cahoon; Rulers : Saudi Arabia, by B. Schemmel, scroll down for Hejaz; Regnal Chronologies : Mesopotamia and Arabia
Other Arab Polities, from World Statesmen
Historical Statistical data : Saudi Arabia, Provinces, from Population Statistics (J. Lahmeyer)
Article Arabia, from EB 1911; from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907 edition
Article Arabia, from EB 1902
Historic Picture Postcards, from Postcardman, commercial site
Banknotes of Hejaz, from Numismondo
The Letters of T.E. Lawrence
Gertrude Bell Letter Archive, Univ. of Newcastle
British Intelligence Reports on the Creation of Saudi Arabia, published by IDC Publishers
A Collection of First World War Military Handbooks of Arabia, 1913-1917, from Archive Editions
REFERENCE Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol.13, pp.833-841 Article Arabia : Saudi Arabia KMLA Lib.Sign. R 032 B862h v.13
Madawi al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, Cambridge : UP 2002, KMLA Lib.Sign. 953.805 A459h
H.-J. Kornrumpf, Die osmanische Herrschaft auf der Arabischen Halbinsel im 19. Jahrhundert (1980), (Ottoman rule on the Arabian Peninsula in the 19th Century), in : Analecta Isisiana LV, Istanbul : Isis 2001 pp.39-50, in German [G]
H.-J. Kornrumpf, Die Hedschasbahn und Alois Musil (1995) (The Hejaz Railrod and Alois Musil), in : Analecta Isisiana LV, Istanbul : Isis 2001 pp.291-298, in German [G]
J.E. Peterson, Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia, Metuchen N.J. : Scarecrow 1993 [G]
Article : Turkey : Hejaz, in : Statesman's Year Book 1918 p.xlvii, 1919 pp.1319-1320 [G]
Article : Arabia Kingdom of Nejd, Kingdom of Hejaz, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1924 p.658, 1925 pp.662-667 [G]
Article : Arabia : Hejaz, in : New International Year Book 1919 p.50, 1920 p.48, 1921 p.49, 1922 p.49, 1923 p.50, 1925 p.46 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 14th 2007, last revised on September 15th 2008

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