Page 51 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Two

pearling, or he sows and harvests his millet high up in the mountains
and spends the hot months of the summer fishing at the coast, or he
leads a caravan or steers a ship and then returns to engage in some
quite different activity. In short, there have been at all times in this
area not a few tribesmen, every one of whom knew all there was to
know about camel-breeding, pearling, farming, fishing or sailmaking.
A more detailed account of these economic activities will be given
below in Chapters Five and Six.
The remarkable phenomenon that every group or even every
individual usually participated in several economic activities points
to the extreme scarcity of resources. Nature limited the expansion of
every one of the economic options which the inhabitants of the area
had. Agriculture and husbandry were limited by the lack of soil,
water and verdure: trade and maritime carrying services were limited
by the competition from ports with easier access such as Bahrain and
Muscat or from more efficient vessels such as steam ships: pearling
depended on a receptive foreign market: only fishing has always
been consistent, but it was never a source of great wealth.
Until the advent of completely new economic opportunities with
the discovery of oil, the limited resources also discouraged immig­
ration. The obvious need for diversification of economic activities
rendered the tribal basis of society indispensable. Before the advent
of oil, the population could generally not afford to segregate as settled
inhabitants, into merchants, fishermen and pearlers on the coast,
agriculturists in the fertile oases and wadis, and other groups
exclusively tending their animals. Because such specialisation was
for most families throughout the ages impracticable, social separ­
ation into occupational groups did not take place either.
The society remained tribal throughout the country, until the time
when changed economic circumstances made it possible for an ever-
increasing number of families to find a livelihood entirely from one
economic activity. This was the case even in the shaikhdoms which
were strongly orientated towards maritime trade, such as Ra’s al
Khaimah, or Sharjah.
For an investigation of the changes in society after that crucial
moment, it is relevant to give a picture of the distribution and
respective weight of the various tribal groups living in the area at
about the time of the Second World War. The tribal basis of the
whole society is illustrated in the following enumeration of the tribes,
their share in the various economic activities, and their general
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