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The External Influences

          was able to wrest Bahrain from the Persians in 1717 or 1718 and take
          a number of islands near the Persian coast, including Qishim; but the
          Omanis soon lost most of these places again to Nadir Shah, who
          overran and occupied Oman until 1744. Yet the claim of the
          Omanis—under an Imam or a Sultan—to a dominant position in the
          area including the Gulf proper during the 18th century had thus been
          established.
          The Qawasim
          Many of the Arab tribes inhabiting the Musandam Peninsula and
          Sahil Oman were so closely linked with the affairs of Oman5 that the
          Omani attempt to dominate the Gulf proper by occupying parts of the
          Persian shores, islands and trading places, had it been more lastingly
          successful, would have meant almost complete encirclement for the
          independent tribes and probably total integration of the whole area
          into the Omani Stale. However, the Omani successes were followed
          by setbacks and defeats at the hands not only of the Persians but of
          the new Arab power which had emerged at the head of the Gulf
          during the period of general confusion in the Gulf in the 1720s. The
          Qawasim,0 the shaikhs who ruled from their stronghold Ra’s al
          Khaimah over much of the northern coast of the Arab littoral of the
          Gulf, took possession of BasTdu on Qishim Island and established
          there a centre for trade which seriously affected the customs receipts
          of Bandar 'Abbas, where the British East India Company had
          already established rights granted by Persia. The Qawasim had a
          considerable influence on the course of the history of the Gulf during
          the 19th century. Their frequent clashes with the Omanis and the
          subsequent involvement of the East India Company had con­
          sequences which shaped events even in the 20th century.


          The polarisation of Eastern Arabian tribes into
          Hinawi and Ghafiri factions

          The Civil War in Oman
          The Ya'aribah dynasty, which had successfully combined the tribes
          of Oman to expel the Portuguese and which had built the Omani
          maritime empire, collapsed less than a hundred years after its
          founder, Nasir bin Murshid from Rustaq, had been elected Imam in
          1624 ad. When the Ya'aribah Imam Sultan II bin Saif died in 1718 ad,
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