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11 The British Mesopotamian El Dorado

The restoration of the Garden of Eden

Abstract

This chapter seeks to trace the construction of the myth and its perpetuation as a justification for British imperialism in Mesopotamia. In 1918, reservations expressed by authorities on the spot signalled the beginning of the end of the promise of an agricultural El Dorado in Mesopotamia. The El Dorado trope was employed in response to the question of war aims in the Ottoman Empire. Restoration and redemption was the task that Sir William Willcocks set himself when he was employed by the Ottoman government to develop an irrigation scheme to restore the Garden of Eden for Lower Mesopotamia. Re-evaluations of Edward Said's Orientalism opened a new field of scholarship concerning 'spiritual', or, more broadly, cultural imperialism, which feeds into the relatively neglected Mesopotamian utopia trope.

Abstract

This chapter seeks to trace the construction of the myth and its perpetuation as a justification for British imperialism in Mesopotamia. In 1918, reservations expressed by authorities on the spot signalled the beginning of the end of the promise of an agricultural El Dorado in Mesopotamia. The El Dorado trope was employed in response to the question of war aims in the Ottoman Empire. Restoration and redemption was the task that Sir William Willcocks set himself when he was employed by the Ottoman government to develop an irrigation scheme to restore the Garden of Eden for Lower Mesopotamia. Re-evaluations of Edward Said's Orientalism opened a new field of scholarship concerning 'spiritual', or, more broadly, cultural imperialism, which feeds into the relatively neglected Mesopotamian utopia trope.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Founding editor’s introduction ix
  5. Contributors xi
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. 1 El Dorados, utopias and dystopias in imperialism and colonial settlement 1
  8. 2 Darién and the psychology of Scottish adventurism in the 1690s 26
  9. 3 Greek expectations 47
  10. 4 Bambuk gold 66
  11. 5 Salubrity and the survival of the Swan River Colony 89
  12. 6 Germany’s El Dorado in the Pacific 105
  13. 7 A place to speak the ‘language of heaven’? 125
  14. 8 Between heaven and earth 144
  15. 9 Italy’s sexual El Dorado in Africa 166
  16. 10 Dreaming in the desert 191
  17. 11 The British Mesopotamian El Dorado 210
  18. 12 Shattered images 228
  19. A tribute to Eric Richards 248
  20. Selected bibliography 258
  21. Index 264
Imperial expectations and realities
This chapter is in the book Imperial expectations and realities
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781784997090.00017

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Founding editor’s introduction ix
  5. Contributors xi
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. 1 El Dorados, utopias and dystopias in imperialism and colonial settlement 1
  8. 2 Darién and the psychology of Scottish adventurism in the 1690s 26
  9. 3 Greek expectations 47
  10. 4 Bambuk gold 66
  11. 5 Salubrity and the survival of the Swan River Colony 89
  12. 6 Germany’s El Dorado in the Pacific 105
  13. 7 A place to speak the ‘language of heaven’? 125
  14. 8 Between heaven and earth 144
  15. 9 Italy’s sexual El Dorado in Africa 166
  16. 10 Dreaming in the desert 191
  17. 11 The British Mesopotamian El Dorado 210
  18. 12 Shattered images 228
  19. A tribute to Eric Richards 248
  20. Selected bibliography 258
  21. Index 264
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