Page 270 - UAE Truncal States

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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