Page 304 - UAE Truncal States

The External Influences

death of the Amir 'Abdul 'Aziz and the fall of the capital Dara'iyah in
1018, the Wahhabi forces under the new leader Turki bin 'Abdullah
regained the whole empire, including the Gulf coast. The same
sequence of defeat and victory followed again between 1835 and
1840, when the Egyptian forces once more occupied al Hasa and
Najd.17 The Wahhabi movement then entered a phase of spiritual
consolidation, having lost much of its militant zeal, and direct
Wahhabi influence over the seaboard tribes of the Gulf was also
restricted by the activities of the British.

2 Qawasim, Oman and Great Britain at the
beginning of the 19th Century

Early English trading interests in the Gulf
The English traders were at first interested only in the Persian coast
of the Gulf, in the same way as the Portuguese and the Dutch before
them.
The initial foothold in the Gulf was gained by traders who were
partners of the British East India Company.10 Having obtained the
lease for the establishment of a factory19 at Sural in India in 1613, the
manager found that the market there could not absorb the quantities
of cloth which had been ordered from England. Persia seemed the
most promising alternative market, and eventually Shah 'Abbas,
who was at the time at war with Turkey and was trying to expel the
Portuguese (then under Spanish domination) from the ports of his
empire, sought the help of the highest bidder among the European
nations interested in the trade in silk and other goods. Expecting that
the English would help him to achieve his objective he gave per­
mission to the representative of the company to establish a factory at
the fort of Jashk in 1616.
It was soon realised in London that competition for such privileges
was acute, with the Spanish and the Dutch still waiting in the wings.
If the Government in London was expecting to reap benefits from
English trade in the East it had to give official, royal, and prompt
support to the pioneers who promoted this trade. If the Shah was to
be requested to grant lasting monopolies to the English traders,
correspondence with King James was a prerequisite. The privileges
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