Page 65 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

INTRODUCTION 3
polling the Persians from the coast of Batinah, was elected by the
Omanis as the first Imam of the dynasty of A1 Bu Sa'id. He was
succeeded by Sa'id ibn Sultan, the second genuinely elected Imam of
Al Bu Sa'id. In 1797, Sultan ibn Ahmad, who succeeded in ‘usurping
the authority of his elder brother’, established himself as an indepen­
dent secular ruler in Muscat on the coast, under the new title of
Sayyid Sultan. Consequently, Muscat has ever since continued to be
governed by the hereditary rule of the dynasty of Al Bu Sa'id, instead
of the old traditional rule of the elected Imams. British dealings with
the rulers of Muscat, who later came to be addressed as Sultans, date
back to 1798. In that year, the British Government, through the East
India Company, concluded with Sayyid Sultan ibn Ahmad the first
treaty of commerce and navigation.1
Kuwait
The modern history of Kuwait (formerly known as al-Qurain) dates
back to 1716, when a combination of three Najdi tribes known as
al-'Utub, or Bani 'Utbah, migrated to that place. The three tribes were
Al-Sabah, Al-Khalifah and Al-Jalahimah. The family of Al-Sabah
took the first step towards consolidating their position as the heredi­
tary rulers of Kuwait in 1756, when they moved, under their tribal
head, Shaikh Sabah, from a place called Umm Qasr and settled
permanently in Kuwait. The dynasty of Al-Sabah still rules Kuwait
today.
Although the recorded history of British commercial relations with
Kuwaiti Shaikhs goes back to 1775, British political contacts with
them were not made before the turn of the nineteenth century. And
it was in 1899 that the British Government concluded, secretly, the
first political agreement with the Ruler of Kuwait, then Shaikh
Mubarak Al-Sabah, while still openly acknowledging Turkish suzer­
ainty over Kuwait.2
Bahrain
The Al-Khalifah branch of 'Utub, who originally settled Kuwait,
moved in 1766, under their leader Shaikh Khalifah ibn Muhammad,
to a place called Zubarah, on the western shore of the Qatar peninsula,
1 For the general history of Muscat and Oman, sec Bombay Selections, pp.
122-3; Lorimer, pp. 397-430; Aitchison, Part III; Wilson, op. cit., pp. 231-44;
Great Britain, Foreign Office, Historical Section, Peace Handbook, No. 76 (1920),
pp. 40-2.
2 For the history of al-'Utub, or Bani 'Utbah, and their original settlement in
Kuwait, sec F.O. 60/118 (1945): Chronological table of events connected with
Bahrain from 1716 to IS 14, extracted from records of the Presidency of the Persian
Gulf by Lieutenant A. B. Hennel, Asst. Political Resident. On the history of Kuwait,
in general, sec Lorimer, pp. 1002 ct scq.; Bombay Selections, pp. 140 2; Aitchison,
pp. 202 ct scq.; Wilson, op. cit., pp. 249 53; Dickson, II. R. P., Kuwait and Her
Neighbours (1956), pp. 26 8, and Chapter VI.