The Qawasim and British control of the Arabian Gulf

Al-Otabi, M

Abstract

For 150 years after 1820, Oman and the littoral sheikhdoms
of the Arabian Gulf were known respectively as Trucial Oman
and the Trucial States. This reflected the series of
agreements beginning in 1820 progressively extending
British control of the external policies of the area, leaving
domestic and internal affairs in the hands of the traditional
rulers. The trucial system was imposed initially to put
down piracy by the Qawasim whose depredations on British
trade with India reached a climax at the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
For many years an accepted version, the allegations of
piracy have recently been challenged; this thesis seeks
to investigate the issue using archive material from the
Bombay Presidency and from the Cairo Citadel, material
not previously investigated. It is the writer's
contention that the traditional justification for British
intervention and control of the Gulf, namely piracy, does
not take into account the influence of Wahhabism or
Anglo-French rivalry dating from the Egyptian campaigns
of Napoleon. Thus, the trucial system rested on a more
varied and complex origin than has generally been
accepted and reflects more pervasive British interests
than a simple humanitarian motive.

Citation

Al-Otabi, M. The Qawasim and British control of the Arabian Gulf. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 23, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1989