Page 76 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

56 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

conceived the imposition of customs duties as the extension of the cus-
tomary rights acquired through the military control of harbours at the time
of the establishment of new commercial outposts. Yet pearl exports were
generally not subject to taxation, while entrepôt and long-distance traders
often paid duty on imports and on goods in transit as a form of ground rent
which allowed them to maintain their businesses in Gulf ports. The
structure of the pearl industry also accentuated the privileged position of
tribal entrepreneurs. As was the case in Bahrain, pearl production was
managed independently by tribal groups which had the usufruct of pearl
banks and exercised jurisdiction over the labour force through their
own councils. With the expansion of the pearling industry and the con-
comitant growth of the urban labour force, however, the influence of non-
tribal entrepreneurs, particularly of Persian and Indian merchants who
imported textiles and foodstuffs, increased. The mercantile communities
of Manama, including Persians, Banyan (a Hindu subcaste specialising in
commerce), Hawala and Jews, produced a class which competed with
Bahrain’s pearling entrepreneurs in wealth and lifestyle. Exceptionally,
some foreign traders were also able to gain a share in the pearling industry
by capitalising on British protection and on closer commercial links with
India. In Dubai, a syndicate of Indian entrepreneurs started to control the
production and marketing of pearls as part of their import–export trade.
After 1865, they were able to finance expeditions to the pearl banks and
used revenue from the sale of pearls in Bombay to pay for the transport of
Indian imports back to the Gulf. 38
Despite the enhanced position of merchants with no tribal credentials,
their ability to diversify their portfolios was limited, particularly with
regard to income from agricultural rent or to the establishment of trade
monopolies. In other words, unlike their counterparts in Ottoman or
Qajar provincial centres, they could not make inroads into the hinterland
of Gulf ports as landlords, tax-farmers or collectors of tribute. Tribal
considerations and military alliances guided the distribution of tax-
farms, pearl-fishing rights and rural estate on the part of rulers, as exem-
plified by the case of Bahrain. Import–export merchants were integrated
into the tribal administration of port towns such as Manama and Abu
Dhabi only as customs collectors and tax-farmers in the urban markets. 39
The scarcity of economic choices at their disposal contrasts with the more
fluid picture of southern Iraq. Here, Baghdadi and Basrawi merchants

38
F. al-Sayegh, ‘Merchants’ Role in a Changing Society: The Case of Dubai, 1900–90’,
Middle Eastern Studies 34 (1998), 87–102 (87–8, 189–90).
39
Heard-Bey, From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates, p. 249. For Manama see
Chapter 3, pp. 88–9.