Page 80 - UAE Truncal States

The Tribal Structure of Society

was a blessing in disguise as far as the historiography of the tribes in
the disputed area is concerned. The last concerted effort at collecting
material on the tribes had been some on-the-spot investigations
during 1904-7 to update the archival material available to the
Government of India for the compilation of the Gazetteer."9 The
dispute over large parts of Dhafrah and over the oasis of Buraimi,
which came to a head in the early 1950s, made it essential for all the
concerned parlies to collect as much evidence as possible on the
wandering habits and the allegiances of the beduin tribes of the
areas, and on the number, habitat, occupation, tax payments,
seasonal movements and other questions regarding the settled or
semi-nomadic population. Such research brought much of the
information contained in the Gazetteer up to date. The changes
which look place during five decades in the life pattern of the tribes
were recorded. Some of the initial reports of these meticulous
investigations carried out by government officials as well as oil
company employees on both sides in the dispute are still confidential.
Material which stood up to repeated probing and historical corre­
lation was eventually used in the memoranda submitted by each side
to an arbitration tribunal which was convened for the first time in
Nice on 23 January 1955. These memoranda became known as the
"UK Memorial” and the "Saudi Memorial”.90 Both have been used
and quoted extensively by scholars who adopted the history of this
dispute as the subject of specialised research.
Thus the shaikhdom of Abu Dhabi became a well-studied model
which illustrated the different types of tribal claims to a particular
area and the relationships between a Ruler and the various tribal
groups, which could take any form from unconditional submission to
traditionally-established loyalty, to alliance or just temporary re­
spect. The expansion of the influence of the A1 Bu Falah Rulers went
hand in hand with the appropriation by the Bani Yas sub-tribes, first
of all of Dhafrah and the Llwa, then of the coast and islands,
especially of Abu Dhabi and later Dubai. In all these areas the Bani
Yas did not have to compete with the established rights of previously
settled people, but they shared these rights with the Manasfr and
some sections of migrating beduin tribes. Extending A1 Bu Falah
influence into the area bordering Oman meant competing not only
with the incumbent owners of the settlements, mainly Dhawahir and
Na'im, but also with the nomadic and settled tribes of the neighbour­
hood, who had to be kept sufficiently well under control so that they

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