Talk:Paulet–Newcombe Agreement

1920 Paulet–Newcombe map?

Hi Zero, I’ve been looking around for the original map used to reach the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement. The map is described on page 15 of this document (chapter III section 2). It’s a British War Office map of 1916, 1:1,000,000 scale. The description is clear but I haven’t been able to locate the map they are referring to. Given the way the Paulet-Newcombe agreement was worded, it must show the vilayet boundaries as the British understood them. Any ideas? Onceinawhile (talk) 19:36, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

@Onceinawhile: This is good question. I have only ever seen one map that displays a line that accurately matches the boundary description in the 1920 agreement. It is Map 11 in Volume 4 of this compilation. It is very hard to read because it is reproduced in b/w despite the original consisting of colored pencil lines on a colored map (shabby indeed for a work costing $1800). The Golan portion is the basis of this map. I don't have this work now but years ago I got it on interlibrary load and copied a portion of that map. I'll email it. Also (and this is perhaps your real question) I did identify a 1917 map on paper in a library that matches Map 11 (apart from the pencil lines, of course). I can't find the specs just now but I'll look more. I think I only copied the Golan part, which I'll also send. Zero^talk 03:29, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

@Onceinawhile: Here is the UK-NA copy of the map, ref MR 1/2014/4. It is extremely large, about 2 square meters, so getting a copy would be a problem. Next thing to look for copies of the parts. Zero^talk 06:16, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

The map designation GSGS 2555 shown there applies to the whole series of 1:1,000,000 maps. Zero^talk 06:24, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

The National Archives page says there are “six joined sheets: I 36 'Beirut', I 37 'Esh Sham (Damascus)', I 38 'Baghdad', [H 36 'Cairo'], [H 37 'El Djauf' (i.e. Al Jawf)], and [H 38 'Basra'], together covering the area between Cyprus in the north-west, Basra (now in Iraq) in the east, and El Minya in the south-west.” Some appear to be available online:

• This appears to be northern Arabia (Al Jawf). I am continuing to look. Onceinawhile (talk) 06:52, 9 March 2019 (UTC)
• Baghdad sheet

Onceinawhile (talk) 06:58, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

Here you can see 1:250K maps made by the same organization at the same time (1915-8 period). They are the same as the base map for Map 11 mentioned above. One thing to note: the 1920 agreement says "the frontier will pass from Semakh across the Lake of Tiberias to the mouth of the Wadi Massadyie. It will then follow the course of this river upstream, and then the Wadi Jeraba to its source. From that point it will reach the track from El Kuneitra to Banias at the point marked Skek". So there are three uncommon names that must appear: Wadi Massadyie, Wadi Jeraba and Skek. I did not yet see a 1:1M map with all those names. The 1:250K maps have all three, except the first is spelled W. el Mesadiye. What this means, I don't know. Also, these 1:250K maps name the Vilayets, Sanjaks, etc and even show their seats of government with a visual code, but unless I'm blind they don't show boundaries. Zero^talk 07:37, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

These are great maps, thank you. On your point of the different spellings, the 1932 document in my post at the top of this thread states: "At a first glance, however, one peculiar point will be noted : the orthography of all the place-names quoted in the Convention differs from that employed in the map, whereas, throughout the rest of the text, greater accuracy is observed. True, the original text of the Convention was doubtless prepared by some French authority, since the points of the compass (East, South-East and South) are always quoted in their relation to Syria. It is therefore probable that, in this first draft, the English orthography employed in the map was more or less gallicised, whereas the map was no longer consulted when the French text came to be translated into English." Onceinawhile (talk) 11:29, 9 March 2019 (UTC)