Page 270 - UAE Truncal States
P. 270

A City Slate - Example Dubai

          previous existence—customers in Persia and business connections
          in India; they took up residence in Dubai but arranged for their goods
          to reach markets in Persia despite the new customs posts and high
          import duties. Some also engaged in the pearling business. But the
          activities of these Persian merchants in and from Dubai were still on
          a small scale; the prominent merchants were all Arab or Indian.
            However, a pattern of re-export to Persia was established in that
          first decade, and a large number of inhabitants of southern Persia
          who in 1925 suffered from the economic impact of even more severe
          import and export restrictions followed this pattern.



          Immigration of Arab merchants from the Persian coast
          By the 1920s it had become obvious (hat these restrictions which
          strangled the economy of southern Persian ports in every respect
          were no passing whim, but were there to stay. Therefore most
          merchants who had initially taken up temporary residence in Dubai
          to keep a foot in the business of importing into Persia decided to
          accept Shaikh Sa'Id bin Maktum’s offer to settle in Dubai and
          brought their families over.
            A particularly large number came from the Bastak district, a part
           of the sub-province of Lar in the Fars Province.10 The greater portion
          of the Bastak is at some distance inland, but the district has also
          about 35 miles of coast with the principal port of Khamlr. The
           population of the latter place was about 1,800 at the turn of the
           century. There, and elsewhere in the Bastak district, as indeed
           throughout the south-eastern coast of Persia with the ports of
           Lingah, Bandar ’Abbas and Charak, the inhabitants belonged to
           various Arab tribes11 and were Sunni, not Shi'ah like most of Persia
           beyond the mountain range which cuts off this coast from the rest of
           the Persian Empire. Communication between Dubai and a port such
           as Khamlr had always been frequent, due not least to the fact that
           most of the firewood for the entire lower Gulf was obtained from the
           extensive swamps to the west of Khamlr. The immigrants from
           Bastak and other areas of the Persian coast were given an area
           immediately to the east of al FahTdi Fort in Dubai to build themselves
           houses. This location is close to the creek where boats could be
           offloaded and near to the suq of Dubai, which turned out to be very
           favourable indeed. The new quarter, called BastakTyah, bears
           witness to this day to the prosperity which its inhabitants have
           enjoyed since they became residents of Dubai.
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