Page 182 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between india and the Gulf ٩‫ﺇ‬

The British dealt similarly with Kuwait and Qatar. Historical records show that
the British india Company transferred its commercial vessels from Basra to
Kuwait in ٦775 in the wake of the Persian occupation of Basra, turning Kuwait
into a strategic transit port for lndia's overland trade to lraq, Syria, and
Turkey. 46

ln 1794 the Company established an agency in Kuwait which according to
Brydges 47, was protected by many armed lndians who were brought in for
this purpose as well as for assisting the Kuwaiti ruler against the Wahhabi
raids. The Kuwaiti ruler, in a latter period, became convinced that escaping
Ottoman overlordship needed him to enter into a special relationship with the
British lndian Authorities. With the growing Russo-German activities in the
Gulf region, the British, who had showed some hesitation due to their
preference for avoiding clashes with the Ottoman Turks, soon responded
positively. 48 As a result, Kuwait and the British lndian Authorities signed in
1899 a treaty very similar to those conducted between the latter and other
Gulf principalities. 49

As for Qatar, whose rulers had been for years swinging between the British
and Ottoman Turks, it joined the treayt system in 1916 and became officially
a British protectorate. The British, therefore, enjoyed by the early 20th
centuyr a position of dominance over the entire Arabian Gulf except Saudi
Arabia. It must be explained here that in the early dealings of the British with
Gulf affairs, responsibility had been undertaken first by the East lndia
Company and then by the British Government of Bombay, After 1873, this
responsibility "was transferred to the British Government of lndia. The region
was administered locally through a political resident who was stationed at
Bushire in Southern lran until 1946, when his headquarters were moved to
Bahrain. Subordinated to him were Political Agents who at different times
were stationed in Kuwait, Bahrain, Sharjah, and Muscat. After lndia became
independent in 1947, the British Government of lndia was dissolved.
Thereatter, responsibility for Gulf aftairs was assumed by hte Foreign Office
in London." 50