Page 298 - UAE Truncal States

The External Influences

was able to wrest Bahrain from the Persians in 1717 or 1718 and take
a number of islands near the Persian coast, including Qishim; but the
Omanis soon lost most of these places again to Nadir Shah, who
overran and occupied Oman until 1744. Yet the claim of the
Omanis—under an Imam or a Sultan—to a dominant position in the
area including the Gulf proper during the 18th century had thus been
established.
The Qawasim
Many of the Arab tribes inhabiting the Musandam Peninsula and
Sahil Oman were so closely linked with the affairs of Oman5 that the
Omani attempt to dominate the Gulf proper by occupying parts of the
Persian shores, islands and trading places, had it been more lastingly
successful, would have meant almost complete encirclement for the
independent tribes and probably total integration of the whole area
into the Omani Stale. However, the Omani successes were followed
by setbacks and defeats at the hands not only of the Persians but of
the new Arab power which had emerged at the head of the Gulf
during the period of general confusion in the Gulf in the 1720s. The
Qawasim,0 the shaikhs who ruled from their stronghold Ra’s al
Khaimah over much of the northern coast of the Arab littoral of the
Gulf, took possession of BasTdu on Qishim Island and established
there a centre for trade which seriously affected the customs receipts
of Bandar 'Abbas, where the British East India Company had
already established rights granted by Persia. The Qawasim had a
considerable influence on the course of the history of the Gulf during
the 19th century. Their frequent clashes with the Omanis and the
subsequent involvement of the East India Company had con­
sequences which shaped events even in the 20th century.

The polarisation of Eastern Arabian tribes into
Hinawi and Ghafiri factions

The Civil War in Oman
The Ya'aribah dynasty, which had successfully combined the tribes
of Oman to expel the Portuguese and which had built the Omani
maritime empire, collapsed less than a hundred years after its
founder, Nasir bin Murshid from Rustaq, had been elected Imam in
1624 ad. When the Ya'aribah Imam Sultan II bin Saif died in 1718 ad,
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