Hamilton Road

Hamilton Road

ROAD THROUGH KURDISTAN (a book by A. M. Hamilton)

describes the work of a New Zealand engineer during the four years he spent in the mountains of Kurdistan in 1928, being in sole charge of large gangs of native workman whom he trained to do technical work.

 

The upshot was the most exciting piece of road making to date, the highway known as the Rawanduz Road, Rawanduz is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, located in the Erbil Governorate, close to the borders with Iran and Turkey. During the war this road was used by the allies in sending supplies to Russia. Many British soldier has driven up the hairpin bends and along the great Rowanduz Gorge and see the tops of the mountains where the young engineer in his spare moments hunted ibex or explored the Treasure Cave of the Ancient Kings, or passed the spot where Ismail Beg, young baron of Kurdistan, met an untimely death.

The road is named Hamilton because when the time was tough and unruly all lands were in a state of violent ferment, when Kurds and Arabs were fighting, When everyone was heavily armed and apart from a fortified camp or village, peace and order thrived along the road that Hamilton was building. His small group of Persians, Kurds, Assyrians, and Arabs wandered freely and unbothered. In addition to earning him the respect without which the work could not have been completed, with his leadership, personal talent, sense of justice, and continuous concern for the wellbeing of his men had also earned him tremendous admiration.