Abstract
AN IRRIGATION PROJECT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: KASIMIYE RIVER PROJECT
The 19th century was the century that the Ottoman State experienced changes and transformations in every area. While the Ottoman Empire carried out reforms in military and administration fields in the first half of the 19th century, it gave weight to the infrastructure investments starting from the second half of the 19th century. These investments were not only limited to the center of the State and the Anatolia region, they were also performed in the whole lands that the Ottoman Empire had been ruling. Roads, railroads and ports were the uppermost ones among the investments. In addition to these investments, Ottoman Empire planned to rehabilitate the lakes and rivers and build irrigation systems in order to provide the public a wealthy living environment.
In this study, the Kasımiye Project, in which water was planned to be carried from the Kasımiye River, also known as Litani, via canals in order for the irrigation of the lands between the cities of Sidon and Tyre, which are now within the boundaries of Republic of Lebanon. The water that was to be brought from the Kasımiye River via 25 km long canals would provide irrigated agriculture in the fields located on the south of Sidon and north of Tyre. The basic purpose within the project was providing the public to harvest three times a year and raise their level of wealth with the new irrigation fields. The Ottoman Empire tried to realize the project as providing concessions in build, operate and transfer method, due to the economical difficulties that the state experienced. Although the project was given to different persons with concessions for two times, the project couldn’t be completed because of the concession owner’s not being able to project within the due time in the first time, and the start of the World War I in the second time.
Keywords
Lebanon, Litani River, Ottoman Empire, Sidon
