Page 6 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf - Vol II) 1907-1953

CONFIDENTIAL

HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN THE PERSIAN GULF
SHAIKHDOMS AND THE SULTANATE OF MUSCAT
AND OMAN. 1928-1953

FOREWORD
This compilation is intended to bring up to date the Historical
Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and
Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928, which
was printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence and is usually known
from its number as “ P.G. 13,” so far as it concerns the Persian Gulf
Shaikhdoms and the Sultanate of Muscat. The history of the area prior
to 1907 will be found in Lorimer’s “Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf.”
Separate compilations have been prepared of the Treaties and
Agreements between Her Majesty’s Government and the Gulf Rulers
and of the oil concession agreements entered into by the Rulers. The
preparation of a compilation of the Civil Air Agreements between Her
Majesty’s Government and the Rulers has been postponed until
negotiations which are pending in three of the States have been
completed.
The present compilation opens with a brief General chapter followed
by chapters on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the Trucial States and Muscat.
Each of these five chapters is divided into a number of sections dealing
with the general situation, internal affairs, boundary questions and
cognate matters, oil and relations with other States, and at the end of
each chapter there is a “ Miscellaneous ” section covering a variety of
special subjects. The Appendices referred to in the narrative and
genealogical tables are contained in a separate volume. A map will be
found at the end of this volume.
The narrative has been brought down to the end of 1953 and
subsequent developments of importance have been briefly indicated in
the footnotes. The object of the compilation is to provide the
background of current problems in the Gulf States, and precedents which,
it is hoped, may be of use in dealing with future problems. On this
account it has been necessary to deal at length with some matters, which
although at first sight of minor importance, are liable to prove troublesome
to those who have to handle them.
For the most part Lorimer’s spelling of Arabic names has been
adopted. The ’ain however has only been shown by an apostrophe
where otherwise in English two vowels might be pronounced as a
diphthong, e.g., Sa’id.

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