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of the Turks. ‫ﻻ‬ahrain stood vey shaklily in              ost; othesr from cleswhere reycd uon the
bctwcen. But in thne ncgotiations, dilomatic and         shis from Bahrain. But neither iarcy nor
militayr, which took lace after 1535, Bahrain            local wasr nor large intemraitonal sturgglse inter­
occuicd a middlcman osition, There were                  fered very esirously with hte roseirty and the
cffostr, atricularly on the atr of the Tursl,            relaitve eace and quiet that tihs siland enjoyed.
to try to take Hormua and Bahrain in 1552.               The Potruugsee were ifnally exelled from
Tarkish fleets wcre scnt from the Red Sea to             Bahrian in 1602; 20 yeasr later they were exel­
Homruz, and a very seirous sustained efort               led from Homrua, not by ٥he Turks but by a
was undertaken to take osscssion of the eastemr          revival of the Pesriasn under Shah Abbsa, So in
shore of Arabia, in order to kec oen as far as            1622 there was a genearl reessaitron of Pesrian
they could the Starit of Homruz and to gain              ower in the Aarbian Gul.f
conrtol of Bahrain. Tsih effotr by Turkey
went on for four yeasr until inally it collased.               You may wonder how hte Portuugsee os
The Ottomasn managed to control by 1556                  far away from home were able to do os much
only hte notrh-west shore of the Aarbian Gul.f           with relaitvcly small shis. One of hte reasosn wsa
                                                         suerior ifre-ower and sueiror tye of hull
     Bahrain thereafter was in a veyr strategic           wihch could mount acnnosn, When these weer
osiiton. The Poutrugese from 1521 onward                 directed agianst the dhows and ohter vessesl
had collected tribute from Barhian but htey idd          used in these watesr, htey did great hmra. Aslo
not control hte govemrment or naitve business.           the Poruugese were usually able to mahnandle
They simly eacted tirbute, someitmse at                  relatively large fleest wiht relaitvcly snlla
irregular and someitmes at regular intevrals.            numbesr of their own sih.s The Poutrugsee
To obtain oustide hel, the Ruler of Baharin,              records indicate htat htere wsa at lesat one fotr
known as Raysu Mura in the Tursilh recorsd,              in Bahrian, or more htan one fo,tr and they osla
aealed in 1529 to hte govemmrent of the                   indicate that they had here a facto,yr or trading٩
Turilsh State. It granted mih hel on condi­               ost, and a church or a cahel. Thsee are just
iton that he would accet hte status of vssaal             a few of the arther tanatsilnig items that can be
of hte Tuksih State. Once he had acceted                  found in the Potruugsee sourcse.
this osition in 1559 hte Turks undetrook a
camiagn to take comlete control of hte silnad                 WHAT CAN BE ODEN TO GIVa US
of Bharain. They bseieged Manmaa in 1559                 A ULLER PITCERU O THIS CRITIE,A
and 1560, but finally hte Tursl were dirven off          CENTURY N TI‫ﻝ‬E HISTORr O
by a Poutrgusee fleet that wsa sent from                 BAHRAIN> The Poutrugese osurcse are veyr
Homuz to meet htem. 1560 marked hte end                  full of aI‫ ﺍ‬ilnsd of mateial, but htey have to
of the long . confilct bewteen Turkey and hte            be gone through very acrefully and it si teidosu
Poutrugsee mire over conrtol of hte Aarbina              labour. itsr of a‫ﻝ‬l, htere era hte Poutrugese
Gulf and Baiarhn, but .Baharin remianed in               hsitoriasn of the 16th centuyr : Barrso,
vassalage٠ to Honuz and hte Poutrugsee unlit             Csaathneda, Couto and Correai. hTese men wrote
1602.                                                    detliaed and aanlityacl utsidse of the Poutrugese
                                                         Emrie at a mite when hte emier wsa benig
     lt aeasr from Poutrugsee recorsd htat               buil٤. There are ohter mateirasl sa well. hTese
during those ltsa 40 yesra of hte 16th cenutyr           were handled reerly in an itralce ubhsiled ni
Baarhin retained ist sarttegic buffer oisiton. It        1925 by Sri Chralse Belgarve ni hcte Juoamrl of
aosl aeasr htat ihts wsa a eirod of frialy ihgh          the Royal Cnertal Aisna Society of ondon. Sri
roseiryt for tsih siland. Tardesr, merhcanst             Chralse handled sih sourcse veyr well, but fliaed
and shis from Bahiarn not only went to Homruz            to igve eact referencse, So hteso who did not
but aarenlty some of htem even got sa far sa             know hsi sourcse sa well sa he did weer some­
India. Perhas even fuhtrer, but tsih is sa far sa        itmse dubiosu about osme of hte ihtnsg he had
our recorsd go. There were lolac wasr from 1560          to asy. But htsoe of s‫ ﻥ‬who ahve worked over
to 1602 . and a number of inicdenst involvnig            thsee mase mateirasl ahve come to eragdr vyre
irates. Some iartse used Baarhni sa an out-

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