Page 215 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 215

Chapter Five

                 trade at all levels, as jnwdw/sh, as lu/cirand as exporters, but in each
                 section they were nevertheless out-numbered by the local Arabs in
                 the trade by about 4 to 3. For Abu Dhabi, for instance, the Gazetteer
                 states that there were about 70 shops in the sue/, of which 40  were
                 kept by Persians, 19 by Hindus and 10 by Arabs;40 assuming that all
                 the 19 Hindus participated in the local pearl trade at one level or
                 another, there were then at least another 30 Arab pearl traders in the
                 town. Some time during the first decade of this century seven Khojah
                 traders also became residents in the town. Most of the Indian traders,
                 in particular the Hindus, had established permanent residence only
                 shortly before the turn of the century, a move which came in the wake
                 of the boom in the pearling trade. Most of them had families with
                 them, but they still used to take an annual leave in India and did not
                 consider their place of residence and work to be their home. During
                 the pearling season the number of Hindus in all the coastal towns of
                 the Trucial Stales more than doubled.

                 General trade
                 The volume of imports into the Trucial States was a reflection of the
                 growth of the proceeds obtained from the export of pearls, and the
                 bulk of the goods was bought by the pearling community and the
                 many people who depended on this industry for their livelihood.
                 Comparatively few of the imports were used by the population of the
                 hinterland, and some of their requirements came to them by way of
                 Suhar. As already mentioned, the sue/ of the village of Buraimi, which
                 was supplied with imported goods from Sharjah, Dubai and Abu
                 Dhabi, or Suhar, was the most important place upon which the
                 settled and nomadic communities of the hinterland of the Trucial
                 Coast converged to buy commodities such as rice, coffee, sugar, and
                 cotton cloth. There were also a few shops at Dibah, Khaur Fakkan
                and Kalba which primarily served the population in the surrounding
                countryside.
                  The total value of the goods imported through the ports of the
                Trucial Coast was worth an average 2.5 million Rupees per year at
                the turn of the century, the biggest items being grain and pulse from
                India.47 With the exception of dates from Iraq and some piece-goods
                such as pottery for cooking in and for storing water, rugs to decorate
                the walls and floors of homes, wood and a few other items, the bulk of
                the imports came from India or via India, as did for instance coffee
                from Yemen. During the 19th century most imports were carried on

                190
   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220