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Chapter Two

4 The multitribal Qasimi Empire

General Appraisal
In contrast to Abu Dhabi, where the ruling family’s position evolved
within the already coherent and numerically dominant tribe of the
Bani Yas, the Qawasim were a clan which had succeeded in imposing
its authority over a large number of diverse tribes. The name
Qawasim or “Joasmees” was often applied by the British admini­
strators in distant Bombay to all Arabs living on the shores of the
Gulf.109 The reason was that this section of the Huwalah tribe, who
occupied many ports on both sides of the Gulf including Qishim,
Lingah, Laft, Shinas and Ra's al Khaimah, had attained prominence.
Most Huwalah sections who engaged in maritime activities were
directly or indirectly ruled by the Qawasim shaikhs. Their capital
during the 18th century was the port of Ra's al Khaimah, in the
vicinity of the old Julfar. They had a sizeable share of the profitable
trade centering on Qishim and Lingah,110 but such a prominent
position antagonised other major powers in the area, notably the
Persians, Omanis and later on the British.111
On the Arab shore of the Gulf the Qawasim shaikhs ensured that
their authority was not confined to the ports, but included all creeks
and coves from which a rival power might otherwise present a
challenge, and extended into the hinterland. It cannot have been an
easy enterprise to bring under their domination the many tribes, and
even some subsections of Omani tribes, living along both coasts of
the Musandam Peninsula and in the forbidding mountains of the
Hajar range.
In the absence of reliable records of this internal alliance it is
probably not too far-fetched to assume that most tribes were not
subdued by force, but that in particular those who lived on the coast
could see the opportunities open to them if they joined in the
successful maritime enterprises of the Qawasim. This assumption is
borne out by the fact that the consolidation of the Qasimi sovereignty
over most of the Arab coast north and east of Dubai was completed
before the Qasimi prominence on the waters of the Gulf was
dramatically reduced by British intervention, and before the subjects
of the Qawasim Rulers, in common with the inhabitants of other
ports on this coast, made pearling their most important source of
income. Soon after the beginning of the 19th century the Qawasim
shaikhs confined themselves to administering the area under their

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