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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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