It was not because of a lack of natural resources that Turkey was a “backward nation.” The Sultan’s Asiatic dominions were rich in raw materials, in fuel, and in agricultural possibilities. Anatolia, for example, is a great storehouse of important metals. A fine quality of chrome ore is to be found in the region directly south of the Sea of Marmora and in Cilicia, constituting sources of supply which were sufficient to assure Turkey first position among the chrome-producing nations until 1900, when exports from Russia and Rhodesia offered serious competition. There are valuable deposits of antimony in the vilayets of Brusa and Smyrna, as well as commercially profitable lead and zinc mines near Brusa, Ismid, and Konia. These metals, particularly chrome and antimony, are not only valuable for peace-time industry, but are almost indispensable in the manufacture of armor-plate, shells and shrapnel, guns, and armor-piercing projectiles.[6] In the vicinity of Diarbekr there are mines, which, although not entirely surveyed, promise to yield large supplies of copper. Southern Anatolia is the world’s greatest source of emery and other similar abrasives. The famous meerschaum mines near Eski Shehr enjoy practically a universal monopoly. Boracite, mercury, nickel, iron, manganese, sulphur, and other minerals are to be found in Anatolia, although there is some question of the commercial possibilities of the deposits.[7] Although Anatolia is not ranked among the principal fuel-producing countries of the world, its coal deposits are not inconsiderable. Operation of the chief of the coalfields, in the vicinity of Heraclea, was begun in 1896 by a French corporation, _La Société française d’Héraclée_, which invested in the enterprise during the succeeding seven years more than a million francs. The venture proved to be profitable, for by 1910 the mines were producing in excess of half a million tons of coal annually. In addition to coal, Anatolia possesses large deposits of lignite which, mixed with coal, is suitable fuel for ships, locomotives, gasworks, and factories.[8] Oil exists in large quantities in Mesopotamia and in smaller quantities in Syria. The deposits are said to be part of a vast petroliferous area stretching from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the coast of Burma. As early as 1871 a commission of experts visited the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates for the purpose of studying the possibility of immediate exploitation of the petroleum wells in that region. They reported that although there was a plentiful supply of petroleum of good quality, difficulties of transportation made it extremely doubtful if the Mesopotamian fields could compete with the Russian and American at that time. The oil supply was then being exploited on a small scale by the Arabs and proved to be of sufficient local importance, as well as of sufficient profit, to warrant its being taken over by the Ottoman Civil List, in 1888, as a government monopoly.[9]