Page 176 - Arabian Studies (II)

168 Arabian Studies //

who wished to encourage the industry along traditional lines, pearl
fishing remained an Arab monopoly during this period, and the
introduction of modern equipment was prohibited. One of the
immediately noticeable results of this situation was the influential
position which the pearl merchants came to occupy in internal
politics as the wealthiest members of society.
On the other hand, the Rulers’ revenues were comparatively small,
being almost entirely dependent on customs, fishing licences and
levies on date groves; they also profited from the booming economy.
Their income at that time came mainly from the levies they collected
from every pearling boat according to its size. As a result of this
affluence, the Rulers were able to strengthen their control over the
Bedouins, by giving their chiefs regular annual presents. However,
misgovernment by any Ruler generally resulted in a migration of
families to another state, a practice common in the Trucial States,
and adversely affecting the Ruler’s revenue. For all these reasons the
pearl merchants’ opinions had to be respected by the Ruler and so
his real position was one of ‘primus inter pares'.
Between 1873 and 1902 the bulk of trade with India came to the
Coast through the port of Lingah. After 1903, when the steam
navigation companies began to call at Dubai, and the Mesopotamia
Persia Corporation Ltd. established a maritime agency there, the port
underwent an unprecedented development, and soon replaced Lingah
as the chief pearl port of the Gulf after Bahrain. Owing to Persia’s
policy towards the Arabs on the Persian Coast, which resulted in the
migration of the wealthy merchants to Dubai, this port also
supplanted Lingah as the distributing centre for imported goods on
the Arabian Coast between Ras al-Khaimah and Qatar. Other factors
also contributed to the prosperity of the port of Dubai during this
period. Burdhardt, the German traveller, who visited Dubai in
February 1904 during a voyage in the Gulf, reported that the Shaykh
of Dubai had abolished the 5 per cent customs duty and declared
Dubai a free port. Burdhardt was not therefore surprised to find
German and British merchandise abundant in the markets of the city.
He explained that the influx of immigrants from Lingah, who were
attracted by this forward-looking policy of the Ruler, was causing
the rents of houses and shops to increase, and the Shaykh and the
inhabitants profited greatly. The unrest prevailing in the Sultanate of
i Muscat between 1894 and 1920, which blocked the roads between
the ports of Muscat and Matrah and the interior, enabled Dubai to
supply inner Oman with provisions.
The composition of the inhabitants in the main towns of the Coast
provides an indication of the different economic activities there.
There were the pure tribal Arabs, who can be regarded as the