Historical Geography. 1900. Iraq. Good accomodation for pilgrims in a caravanserai in the city of...

Historical Geography. 1900. Kerbela, some sixty miles south-west of Bagdad, where Hussein, son of Ali the fourth Caliph, was slain in A. D. 680, almost ranks with Mecca as Moslem holy city. Something like a quarter of a million Shiah Moslems annually make pilgrimage to the great shrine with golden dome and gilded minarets that contains the martyr's remains. Like Mecca, Kerbela's materrial prosperity depends largely on the pilgrims, for whom caravanserais like this provide accomodation. They are built round the four sides of an open courtyard, with stables for animals on the ground floor and bare rooms for the travellers above.