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8 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

who would then enforce them.10 The enforcement of the payment
of debts was thus a major feature of the pearl trade, and the
Indian traders were supported by the 1879 agreement.
The gruelling work that the diver had to perform and the terrible
hazards to which it subjected him made his occupation singularly
unpleasant. Owing to their extreme poverty, many divers were
forced into service so as to pay off their debts to the handful
of rich merchants who reaped the benefits of the pearl trade.
Many of the divers were also slaves, for slave-trading existed on
the Trucial Coast well into the twentieth century. The treaties
with Britain bound the rulers of the Coast (as well as those of
Bahrain, Muscat and Qatar) to suppress and abstain from the trade
in their territories, agreeing to the right of the British Government
to search their vessels not only on the high seas, but also in
the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Yet, though the treaties
helped to curtail the slave trade substantially, they did not suppress
it entirely. The British authorities were aware that they could
do no more, and reiterated time and again that slavery was recognised
in the Quran.11 They did, however, reserve the right to issue
manumission certificates at any of their Political Agencies, to slaves
who wished to be freed, and the validity of these certificates was
upheld at all times by the British Government. Even so, slavery
persisted. One way in which it did so was through the owners’
retention of the children of their domestic slaves. Another factor
was the extreme poverty of the area, particularly after the economic
depression of 1929 had drastically reduced the profits of the pearl
trade: rather than seek their freedom and so expose themselves
to the worst, most slaves were content to remain assured of food
and shelter by remaining in bondage. With all this, the slave
trade continued to operate, principally from Nejd, in central Arabia,
and from Persian Baluchistan, and the British authorities could
do no more about it than occasionally to make an effort at enforcing
the ban on the importation of slaves into the area.

ABU DHABI

Just before World War I, by far the most important and influential
of the shaykhdoms of the Trucial Coast was Abu Dhabi, which
had known a period of unprecedented power and prestige during
the long reign (fifty-five years) of Shaykh Zayid bin Khalifah.
Besides consolidating his own position and strengthening the internal
security of Abu Dhabi, Zayid extended his authority over a number
of inland tribes that had hitherto been loyal to his rivals, the
Qawasim; this extension of authority was naturally followed by