Page 101 - UAE Truncal States
P. 101

Chapter Two

                     Kunud, 'Abadilah, Baluchis and Persians, but they became the
                     principal “power behind the throne” in Kalba's successful bid for
                     independence in 1937.121 There were no nomadic Naqbiyln; the entire
                     tribe was engaged in the settled occupations of fishing and
                     agriculture.


                     Ghafalah
                     In 1960 only 197 Ghafalah were counted in the five northern Slates.
                     At the time when the Gazetteer was compiled, this entirely beduin
                     tribe was described as follows: “A nomadic tribe, inhabiting the
                     plain country inland of Ras-al-Khaimah and Umm-al-Qaiwain but
                     not extending into the hills; the Jiri plain and its immediate
                     neighbourhood are their favourite habitat. They are a small tribe and
                     probably do not number more than 500 souls. In politics they are
                     Ghafiriyah and they are generally well disposed to the Shaikh of Abu
                     Dhabi, whom they have frequently assisted in warfare, but at the
                     present time their closest relations are with Umm-al-Qaiwain;
                     . . . they own camels and live by selling firewood and charcoal in the
                     coast towns. They are credited with the possession of 700 camels, 40
                     donkeys, 100 cattle, and 1,000 sheep and goats.”122

                     Other tribes
                     All the tribes which have been described above lived almost
                     exclusively within the territory of the former Qasimi Empire.123 Only
                     a few members of these tribes had even by 1968 left that area to settle
                     in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Some of the tribes of the northern
                     shaikhdoms, such as the Za'ab, have close links with another branch
                     of the same tribe living in the Sultanate of Oman. Others, such as the
                     A1 'Ali, are related to Arab tribes living on the Persian side of the
                     Gulf.
                       An enumeration of tribes in the Trucial States has always met with
                    the hazard of omitting some tribe or faction which considers itself
                    independent or of citing names which according to some local people
                    represent only a subsection of a tribe. Therefore the alphabetical lists
                    of tribes of Trucial Oman in the Gazetteer and in Table (d) of the
                    census  published by the Development Office in 1968 are not
                    identical.124 The minor tribes and splinter-groups whose names have
                    not been mentioned in this chapter are of little importance, and to list
                    them all would not add to the understanding of the tribal system of
                    the Trucial States.

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