Document Type : .
Author
Associate Professor of History, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
This article, provides a historical study of the position and role of medieval Maghreb governments in establishing and controlling irrigation systems in the agricultural economy. it seems that in the Middle Ages there was a conscious policy for agricultural development through the development of irrigation networks and new water technologies. The main ambiguity and issue we are interested in is what was the position and role of the Maghreb governments in supplying water and establishing irrigation networks for agricultural lands in the historical period we are considering? Our initial claim is that "medieval Maghreb governments as a whole have played a significant role in establishing water supply networks for agricultural land through the construction of massive irrigation structures. What we ultimately achieved is that medieval Maghreb farming seems to have been the result of a conscious policy in the political, social and economic spheres, Who wanted to encourage the development of arable land. growth irrigation and control of surface water by creating earthen and rock structures, increase government control over irrigation systems and their responsibility for the construction and maintenance of these systems and thus the revitalization and development of arable land and a significant increase in agricultural products in particular, Became important moments of our discussion.
Keywords
Extended Abstract
The Role of the Maghreb Governments in Creating Irrigation networks
and Agricultural development in the Middle Ages
Introduction: This article deals with the historical review of the role of the governments of the Middle Ages in the creation and control of the irrigation system in the agricultural economy. In a land such as North Africa, where much of it is identified on maps of annual rainfall with complete drought, permanent agriculture is only possible if humans with a coordinated and calculated mechanism provide abundant and accessible water source from their original location to a potentially fertile soil. Naturally, such planning is out of the power of individuals or small communities due to its extensive dimensions and costs, and it is done when the irrigation system is under the leadership of the government organization, and agricultural life is under special support. In the investigation of the irrigation system of the Maghreb (the lands between the west of Egypt and Morocco) and the way the government works in this field, as well as the characteristics of the economic and social structures of the human society living in the Maghreb during the middle Islamic period (fourth to tenth centuries A.H), less attention has been paid to the issue of water ownership and the government's responsibility in creating water supply networks for agricultural lands.
In this article, an attempt is made to study the issue of the position and role of the government in the relations between the agricultural economy of the Maghreb society in the Middle Ages, relying on the issue of the irrigation system. In this regard, these questions should be answered that what was the status of water ownership as well as the responsibility of water supply and the creation of irrigation networks for agricultural lands in this historical period based on a comparative model and trend analysis? And has there been a conscious policy to develop irrigation networks and new water technologies? Our first answer is that medieval Maghreb governments have played a significant role in establishing water supply networks for agricultural lands through the creation of huge irrigation structures, and by adopting a conscious policy in water management and helping farmers and gardeners, they developed the agricultural system and diversity of crops.
Methodology: This paper is based on a comparative-historical study method using the conceptual framework of Wittfogel. A group of scholars influenced by Marx's theories believe that in the East and the Middle East, the government has played a key role in creating water supply solutions for agricultural lands, and some of these theorists, such as Wittfogel, have gone so far as to see the root of stabilizing systems in eastern countries in the government's dominance of water through the creation of huge irrigation systems. He tried to make the main infrastructure of state and state power in his communities' fever based on the theory of eastern tyranny. Relying on a geographic economic factor, namely the semi-arid geography of the East, he argued that the lack of water and the need to create irrigation systems for artificial irrigation agricultural land has led to the super power of the government and the dominance of the water lord government over the society. following Marx, he considered the geographical determinism the main factor of this situation. The writer's concern in this article is not to prove or reject Wittfogel's views, but it should be emphasized that the conceptual framework is inspired by his views, especially that the climate of North Africa and the Maghreb is not significantly different from the Middle East and naturally falls under the general concept of the East. Whether the creation and domination of the irrigation system in the Middle Ages in the Maghreb was the root of the formation of autocratic and absolute governments in this land is not our problem, but in general, it must be said that the government in the Maghreb in creating water supply networks for the lands Agriculture has played a significant role through the creation of huge irrigation systems.
Conclusion: Agriculture has played the role of the economic backbone of the Maghreb in different historical periods, and the suitable climate, fertile soil and manpower have provided a potential platform for prosperity. But the limitation of annual rainfall along with the dispersion of permanent and seasonal rivers and the difficulty of accessing stable water resources as well as political and social instability could be a serious obstacle to the realization of the aforementioned prosperity. It is clear that the scattered human populations living in villages and suburbs with limited hardware facilities did not have the possibility of providing sustainable water resources and designing huge structures of irrigation networks, so it was the governments that should come to the field with their facilities and solve this need.
Our study showed that the governments of Maghreb in the Middle Ages, from Murabets and Mohads to Bani Zayyan and Bani Marin had a period of prosperity and prosperity of the agricultural economy for the whole of North Africa, from Barqa to Fez and Ceuta and from Tunisia to Sejalmase and Morocco. Their main actions were: designing large irrigation networks and constructing various structures of water storage and distribution, as well as addressing agricultural lands and adjusting taxes, securing and encouraging the lower classes to farm from Through the granting of land and farming facilities. The vastness of cultivated lands and the diversity of crops and horticultural crops in this period is clear evidence of this claim. Increasing irrigation and controlling surface water through the creation of earthen and stone structures, increasing the control of governments over irrigation systems and their responsibility over the construction and maintenance of these systems are the important features of this era.Water supply systems that included damming operations on large rivers, canalization, construction of reservoirs and similar structures, and large aqueducts, and all of them were signs of government mechanisms in water management and agriculture in the Middle Ages.
Keywords: Agricultural economy, Water structures, Irrigation network, Maghreb, Middle Ages.
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