Mosul
The Changing Face of Mosul: Iraq’s Northern Capital Reflects Country’s Progress (1956), as reported by the Iraq Petroleum magazine.
Hello there, Noam here.
There are old photos of some cities that evoke feelings of nostalgia. On some occasions, they trigger grief as they remind us of achievements that once defined us but no more. Splendid ones.
For me, some of the photos I share on THE CHOKEPOINT are reminders of potentials, of success – of what those cities could create. I believe that a past should be remembered when it can remind us of a potential we forgot; a past that could resuscitate a present wilting away. When darkness gathers, the act of remembering becomes imperative.
Iraq. I spend time with its distant history over weekends. Given my interest in the energy and industrial sectors, I’ve been learning more about how it used to be managed, and what it was capable of producing during some periods. The politics of past times mumble in the margins.
I examine many faces in old photos, read the captions again and again, and try to look up the names of some individuals who were around during the 1950s, knowing that I won’t find them on the web. Have you ever experienced that?
I share below a few photos from an article about Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, published by the Iraq Petroleum in December 1956 under the title: The Changing Face of Mosul: Iraq’s Northern Capital Reflects Country’s Progress.
At that time, Iraq’s northern city situation on the banks of the Tigris was “rapidly regaining the position it lost after the Islamic period as a great commercial center.” Cattle, rice, wool, cereals, and local textiles were exported from Mosul, and some industries were growing. Based on what was shared by the magazine, around “2,000 industrial plants” in the city offered employment to some 7,000 people. Those included cigarette and tobacco factories, textile mills, metal workshops, furniture factories, bakeries, and tailoring establishments. Women were part of the workforce, according to the magazine.
“The part that women are playing is evidenced by the fact that over 1,000 are employed in tobacco factories and bakeries, yet it is only a matter of comparatively a few years ago that women ventured out of their homes,” wrote Iraq Petroleum.
It was expected that more job opportunities were going to be created with the commissioning of a new cotton spinning and weaving factory in Mosul using locally-grown cotton. The plant was supposed to be equipped with some 25,000 spindles, and 630 looms, as well as facilities for bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing. There were also plans to set up a sugar beet industry at a time when Iraq was importing around 100,000 tons of sugar a year. Meanwhile, a bitumen refinery had been constructed in south of Mosul with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons, according to Iraq Petroleum.
More progress was being made in Mosul in the field of communications with the commissioning of new 5,000-line automatic telephone exchange, while work was ongoing on a new bridge across the Tigris that was supposed to be completed in summer 1957.
The three photos below taken in 1956 by Yusuf Makhai of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) photographic unit, Baghdad, complete the story. The IPC had full control over Iraq’s national oil production. It was a consortium comprising companies like BP, Exxon, Mobil, CFP, Shell, and Partex, and was eventually nationalized in 1972.
Thank you for experiencing this act of remembering with THE CHOKEPOINT. Have a good journey.