Page 105 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

Foreign Interventions and Occupations of Kamaran /. 95
remained in a state of constant revolt. In 1598 Imam Qasim began
a full scale war against the Ottomans fighting throughout Yemen
but Kamaran remained without interruption in Ottoman hands. In
1625-6 the Yemeni campaign was so successful that the Ottoman
governors of al-Hudaydah and al-Luhayyah fled to Kamaran.38
Ottoman forces faced defeat everywhere and in desperation an
attack was launched from Kamaran against Jlzan in 1633-4,39 but
in 1636 the Ottomans were obliged to evacuate Yemen which
reverted to independence under the ZaydT Imams.
At the end of the seventeenth century Kamaran was still
garrisoned by the Imam's men who were stationed in a castle. The
civilian population were, according to one European report,
robbers and bandittoes, but this did not prevent Kamaran from
continuing to supply European vessels in the Red Sea with good
water, goats and fish.40 In 1727 Hamilton reported that there was
plenty of commerce for strangers.41 Bruce however, noted in 1769
that the island was famous only for its good water,42 a situation
Rooke confirmed in 1781.43
Around 1728 the ZaydT Imam of $an‘a’ had lost control of much
of his territory. His governor of Abu ‘Arish, Sharif Ahmad,
declared his independence, thereby making the Tihamah and
Kamaran independent of $an‘a’. Although the Imam threw the
IJashid and Bakll tribes against the Sharif he failed to regain either
Kamaran or the Tihamah.44 Conditions in the Yemen continued to
be disturbed after this time.

French interest in Kamaran, 1805-6
One of Napoleon’s objectives in occupying Egypt in 1798 was to
cut the British route to India through the Red Sea. Yemeni troops
were mobilized but failed to sail to Egypt’s assistance. The
Wahhabis also manifested an interest in the Red Sea which their
forces reached at Hall in 1803, at that time Hall being regarded as
the frontier between Yemen and the Hejaz.45 The Wahhabi Amir,
Sa‘ud II, had appointed ‘Abd al-Wahhab Abu Nuqtah as governor
of the Tihamah where Hamud Abu Mismar, Sharif of Abu ‘Arish,
had given a grudging aliegiance to the Sa'udls.46 Taxes collected as
far south as Jlzan were despatched to the Sa‘udl capital of
Dir‘iyyah47 and Yemen became the scene of continual raids by the
Wahhabis during the years 1804-5.
France, although forced to withdraw from Egypt in 1801,
maintained her pretensions to the Red Sea. Attempts followed to
occupy Kamaran from which France hoped to command the Red
Sea shipping. France, if successful in clinching an alliance with the