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Chapter Two
                    lo the Polilical Resident in Bushire in 1839, “you are aware that the
                    country of Zuweir (Dhawahir) belongs to my father Shakbool, and
                    that the dale groves are common lo them and us.”71 But for the period
                    from 1800 until 1869, the political conditions in Buraimi were
                    anything but inviting for such ventures. The reason was the five
                    successive invasions of Wahhabi troops into parts of Oman, which
                    affected Buraimi first and foremost.72 During the interim periods
                    when the Wahhabis were forced to withdraw their garrison and
                    while the Sultan was hard put to reassert his authority over this
                    distant part of his large territory, other powers in the area tried to
                    gain influence in the oasis and over its inhabitants. Thus, for
                    instance, the Ruler of Sharjah, Sultan bin Saqr, the traditional rival
                    of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi for influence over the beduin of all of
                    Trucial Oman, broke an agreement which he had concluded with the
                    Sultan regarding the neutrality of the forts at the oasis. Another
                    agreement was, however, forced upon him in 1824, of which the Ruler
                    of Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Tahnun bin Shakhbut, was a signatory.
                    Furthermore, Shaikh Tahnun’s rightful interests in Buraimi were
                    implicitly recognised in the conditions of this agreement. The Ruler
                    of Sharjah was obliged to destroy the forts he had occupied in the
                    Imam’s territory in Buraimi in exchange for the destruction of a fort
                    which the Ruler of Abu Dhabi had built on the fringe of Sharjah’s
                    territory in Dairah with the intent of counteracting Sharjah’s
                    expansion in the direction of al Jau.73
                      Meanwhile the town of Abu Dhabi had continued to grow, and
                    attracted an increasing number of tribesmen from the hinterland
                    including the oasis of Buraimi and its vicinity. They flocked in large
                    numbers before the beginning of the pearling season, but at other
                    times of the year there was also an increasing amount of coming and
                    going between Buraimi and Abu Dhabi. Caravans brought dates74
                    and other goods from the interior of Oman to the growing coastal
                    market and took dried fish and imported goods back to the
                    hinterland. This increasingly close contact and the fact that some
                    Bani Yas already owned gardens in the oasis made it necessary for
                    the Rulers of Abu Dhabi to involve themselves in the affairs of the
                    oasis; over and above that, successive Rulers of Abu Dhabi from the
                    1820s onwards deliberately worked at increasing their influence in
                   the oasis. Thus, by 1829 the Ruler of Abu Dhabi had effected peace
                   between the Na'Tm of the oasis who had been in alliance with their
                   relative, the Ruler of 'Ajman, and the breakaway Al Bu Shamis
                   section.75

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