Page 95 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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Company as a ready market for traditional goods. Thus, tribal groups struggled to
control trade in the gulf, and, in particular, the pearl fishery. The region erupted
into a series of wars and sea battles between competing groups.
Rather than controlling Gulf trade, the various tribes hindered commerce
by creating a chaotic atmosphere in the region. During the early nineteenth
century British authorities intervened to protect their own markets. Treaties were
negotiated with the various tribes to ensure their cooperation as trading partners,
as well as to quell piracy. British treaties provided a legitimization of the land
claims of many tribes. This factor aided in the definition of tribal territories
which form the bases for the modern Arab states in the Arabian Gulf region.
It was against this background that the al-Khalifah family entered the
western gulf seeking to capitalize on the pearl fishery. They established a trading
port on the Qatar Peninsula after being prevented from settling on Bahrain. TTie
commercial success of the al-Khalifah family strained tribal alliances and caused
fragmentation into competing tribal groups.
Persian control of Bahrain ended in 1780, when the al-Khalifah displaced
the sheikhs of Bushire. TTieir hold was alternately challenged by Omani Arabs and
the Wahabis of eastern Arabia. Wahabi encroachment into Qatar caused the al-
Khalifah to abandon their trading center on the mainland in 1796 and to withdraw
to the islands. The next several years were filled with alternate attacks and
occupations of Bahrain by Omanis, who were finally beaten back with Wahabi help
between 1803 and 1809. The Omanis continued in their attempts to retake the
islands until 1828 when they were repulsed by the al-Khalifah. This was the last
serious foreign threat to al-Khalifah rule. External threats were replaced by
internal strife. In this respect, al-Khalifah control of Bahrain provided little
change from the political chaos of the preceding century.
Political stability followed British efforts to contain piracy in the gulf.
The General Treaty of Peace of 1861 and subsequent treaties in 1880 and 1892
ensured the choice of Bahrain’s rulers and generally provided a more stable
framework. British involvement in the political affairs of Bahrain reached a
climax in 1919 when protective accords were established which remained in effect
until Bahrain’s independence in 1971.