Page 31 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

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continue to excrciso these powers ? The history
of your States and of your families, and the
present condition of the Gulf, arc the answer.
We wero here before any other Power in modern
times had shown its face in these waters. We
found strife, and we have created order. It was
our commorce as well as your security that was
threatened and called for protection. At every
port along these coasts the subjects of the King
of England still reside and trade. The great
Empire of India, which it is our duty to defend,
lies almost at your gates. We saved you from
extinction at the hands of your neighbours. We
opened these seas to the ships of all nations, and
enabled their flags to fly in peace. Wo have not
seized or held your territory. We have not
destroyed your independence, but have preserved
it. We are not now going to throw away this
century of costly and triumphant enterprise ; we
shall not. wipe out the most unselfish page in
history. The pence of these waters must still be
maintained ; your independence will continue to
be upheld; and the influence of the British
Government must remain supreme.”
(c.) Bahrein.

Government of Prom the eleventh century to the beginning
Febru&ry^^iSTO ^le sixteenth century the inhabitants of
(Abstract), and Bahrein, to whom a Persian and Arab descent
Bombay Records,
vol. xxiv. has been variously assigned, appear to have been
subject to Chiefs of their own race, though iD t.lie
time of Alphonso de Albuquerque the island fell
into the possession of tho Portuguese, who were
eventually deprived of it by a dependent Sheikh
of Nejd. During part of the seventeenth
contury, and for twenty-fivo years in the latter
half of tho eighteenth, Bahrein paid tribute to
the Shah of Persia. With the death of
Karim Khan in 177d the influence of
Persia began to wane, and the petty Chiefs of
the Gulf, whose lawlessness had been controlled
by the strong hand of Nadir Shah and his
immediate successors, were soon involved in
contests for superiority.
A section of the Arab tribe of Uttoobees, which
had already boon settled at Zobara for some years,
and had increased so rapidly in wealth and power
as to he virtually independent, took advantage of
the disturbed state of affairs to attack Bahrein in
1782. 1782. In tho following year thoy accomplished
[1098] H