Page 38 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

>4 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

»'-S
Europeans came to know the Coast as the Pirate Coast*—that
made them the terror of the rich merchant ships that sailed the
Cuir waters. The ships of the East India Company were not spared
any more than any others, and in the first two decades of the
nineteenth century the attacks grew in frequency. Thus it was
that in 1819 ihc Government of Bombay dispatched a punitive
expedition to put an end to the insecurity of Gulf waters. The
force mercilessly bombed the principal towns from which the Qawa-
sim ordinarily sailed, and before long the leading men of the Coast
tendered their submission and offered their friendship to the British
naval force. I he next year, the first in a scries of treaties bclwccr
the Government of Bombay (and later, the Government of India)
and the principal chiefs of the Coast was signed; known as the
General 1 reaty of Peace, it bound the signatories not to engage
in piracy or pillage, cither on land or at sea.27 In 1835 the chiefs
bound themselves to a maritime truce, and in 1853 this was extended
into a Perpetual Maritime Truce, whereby the rulers agreed to
a complete end to hostilities at sea. The effect of these treaties
was disadvantageous to the development of the Qawasim, who
were predominantly a maritime power. In order to maintain their
supremacy on the Coast they had to contend with the rivalry
of the Bani Yas, a land power, whose position was strengthened
by the maritime truce. On land, the Qawasim relied on the force
of their allies, the Bani Qitab bedouin, and from 1820 until 1866,
when he died, Sultan bin Saqr, the paramount shaykh of the
Qawasim, ably made use of their strength and consolidated the
internal position of Sharjah; in 1850, for example, he extended
his rule to the Shimayliyyah tract on the Gulf of Oman, by wresting
control of the towns of Kalba, Dibba, Fujairah and Khawr Fakkan
from the sultan of Muscat.
After Sultan’s death, however, his brothers and sons were involved
in endless intrigues to seize control of the shaykhdom, or of parts
of it In 1883, Saqr bin Khalid, a grandson of Sultan bin Saqr,
overthrew his uncle Salim bin Sultan; he went on to rule over
Sharjah until his death in 1914. It was during his reign that
the prestige of the Qawasim suffered its greatest decline. Much
z1—rxrsf&s! h~;“

the weakening of the Qawasim, the Ban. Yas were gaming m
strength, and Abu Dhabi and Duba. began to exercise a strong
presence in Trucial affairs. . , ... .
In ,914, when Saqr bin Khalid died Sharjah was still a large
shaykhdom, with a population of around 45,000, and outlets on