Page 107 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Three

always a sure safeguard against secessionist movements, either led
by the wali or perpetrated by the inhabitants themselves.
In the following paragraphs the history of decentralisation, direct
rule, secession and annexation of the population centres of the
Trucial Stales will be sketched. Local history is examined to show
the working of the modest but adequate institutions for the
administration of ports, dale groves, and markets throughout the
country. An occasional spotlight is turned on to detail, to illuminate
the extent or the deficiency of administration within the tribal
organisation.
Because of their relatively small hinterland, Dubai, 'Ajman and
Umm al Qaiwain do not furnish much information in this respect.4
Abu Dhabi, the territorial power which derived most of its strength
from its interests in the desert hinterland and the remote oases,
needed a minimum of institutional administration carried out by
walis because the all-important factor which held the shaikhdom
together was good management of the tribal relationships. At the
other end of the spectrum there were the Qasimi Rulers, who at times
merely claimed and at other limes really exerted full control over a
geographically disjointed and economically unequal territory. An
account of the administration of the important population centres by
walis can therefore not be given by neatly examining each of the
Emirates in turn, but rather by describing the position of walis in the
important population centres while their political affiliation changed
over the decades.

The Qasimi Empire

Rise and disintegration
The Qawasim, not as a tribe but as a ruling clan5 with its centre at
Sharjah or Ra’s al Khaimah, gained domination over most of the
tribes of the Musandam promontory with the exception of the Shihuh
and their allies. Before 1760 Qawasim shaikhs had also established a
foothold on the economically important island of Qishim off the
Persian Coast. After a compromise had been reached in 1850
between Sayyid SaTd of Muscat and Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr
(1803-66), Qasimi rule was undisputed in the area north of the line
connecting Sharjah town on the west coast with Khaur Kalba on the
east coast, but excluding the almost inaccessible territory north of
82