Sawad
Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, it was an official political term for a province encompassing most of modern Iraq except for the Syrian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia in the north.
[6]: 210 The Batihah (plural: Bata'ih) or great swamp was the medieval name for the vast marshlands of southern Iraq, along the lower courses of the Tigris and Euphrates.
[2] Below the Hawr al-Muhammadiyah, the channel called the Nahr Abi'l-As'ad finally carried the waters of the Batihah to the head of the Dijlah al-`Awra', or "one-eyed Tigris".
[2] Ibn Rustah described the Bata'ih as covered by reed beds crossed by water channels, where enormous amounts of fish where caught, then salted and exported to neighboring provinces.
[2] According to Husam Qawam El-Samarraie, the climate of Iraq during the Abbasid era was probably similar to today, although the greater abundance of date palm orchards then "may have mitigated the violence of the winter winds and prevented the occurrence of the sandstorms that now sweep all over the country.
Additionally, the Tigris's banks were so deep that canals had to be extended far down the backslope of the protective levees built along the river in order to keep a high enough water level.
However, from the mid-800s onward, political instability in the Abbasid Caliphate led to a neglect of the rural economy and more corrupt exploitation of the peasantry in search of short-term profits.
[7]: 72–3 During this period, both large cities and small villages increased in number and in size, while medium-sized towns decreased in percentage of all settlements compared to the Parthian era.
[6]: 215–6 The single greatest precipitating event was the Abbasid civil war and siege of Baghdad in 865, which "wiped out any notion that the government's reciprocal function of protection could be honoured".
[9][note 2] The Zanj rebellion lasted for 15 years before finally being quelled in 883, and the Qaramita movement that followed it was even larger and longer-lasting, leading to the area under state control shrinking dramatically and "prospects for any constructive, long-term approach to the agrarian economy diminished to the vanishing point.
"[6]: 216 Contemporary sources report this as a time of administrative and economic collapse, with many villages destroyed, communications disrupted, robbery and brigandry were rampant, and cultivation was made practically impossible.
Even as actual conditions were deteriorating intolerably, exhaustively detailed compendiums were appearing with elaborate botanical nomenclature and careful specifications of all the procedures and requirements of good husbandry.
[3] At its apex under the late Sasanian period, the irrigation system of the Sawad must have diverted virtually the entire flow of both the Tigris and Euphrates to agricultural purposes.
[2] Both regulators have vertical lines of holes, which were designed so that wooden beams could be inserted into them to hold the structures' planks in place when the sluice needed to be partially or fully closed.
[2]: 156 At the maximum extent under the late Sasanian dynasty, the Iraqi countryside would have been under "virtually continuous cultivation", supporting a much larger population than in previous periods.
[2]: 121–2 Breads made from wheat and barley formed the main food for most Iraqis, especially in major urban areas such as Baghdad, Wasit, Basra, and Kufa.
[2]: 125 The most important wheat-growing areas were located around Kashkar and Anbar, although both districts experienced a steep decline in wheat production by the end of the 3rd century AH.
The rice plantations around Jamida, as described by Qadi Tanukhi, constituted some of the richest rice-producing areas in the Sawad, which enticed government officials to compete for the control of the region.
Rice-based pastries were also eaten, and a type of rice wine called nabīdh was produced in many districts, including Abdasi, Badaraya, Bakusaya, and Junhula.
Ibn Wahshiyya recorded the nahiyahs of Saqī dijla, Asfal iqlīm Bābil, Jūkhī, and al-Jarāmiqa as producing these crops in large quantities.
[2]: 131 Flax (kattān) was especially grown in the central part of the Sawad, where, besides being used for textiles, it also formed a dietary staple; flaxseed flour was used to make bread.
Ibn Wahshiyya praises the myriad uses of the date palm, remarking that every part of the tree was useful – it provided timber for construction, its fronds could be used to make furniture as well as boats, and it produced a sweet syrup that was highly valued.
[2]: 142 In order to protect against excessive salt or water buildup in the soil, farmers would leave fields uncultivated for a while, allowing deep-rooted weeds like shuk and aqul to grow there naturally.
Where the raw materials serving this industry came from is unknown, but Robert M. Adams provided one possible explanation: by late Sasanian times, the area to the south of this canal was increasingly becoming part of the great swamp.
The punishments for defaulters were even more severe: tax collectors would hang heavy stones or buckets filled with water around their necks, or tie them up with ropes and left to starve.
In 847, Muhammad ibn Abdul-Malik al-Zayiyat, the vizier for the caliph al-Mutawakkil, introduced a "furnace of iron which had protruding nails inside it" to be used to punish tax evaders.
A key reason he and other officials supported this new system of taxation was that, this way, landlords would share the risk with the government in case of a bad harvest, thus reducing conflict between the state and the landed elite.
These agents were responsible for overseeing daily work, providing necessities like seed and farm tools, and potentially hiring additional workers if needed.
"[12]: 251 The government frequently consulted them on matters concerning land and irrigation, as well as for help with collecting taxes; the dihqans' local knowledge made them essential for this purpose.
[2]: 79–80 However, their importance began to decrease with the rise of new Arab landowners,[2]: 79–80 including Sasanian urban and military converts to Islam and their descendants; this process happened gradually, over the course of 60 or 70 years.
