Page 16 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

The next step in Britain’s involvement with the Gulf itself
followed the expulsion of the Portuguese from Bahrain in 1602,
from Hormuz in 1622 and, finally, from Muscat in 1650. There was
some ensuing rivalry with the Dutch, but by the second half of the
18th century Britain’s trade position was supreme, and in 1763 the
Bast India Company established a Residency at Bushire.
However, it was the expulsion of the Portuguese that had
left the Gulf without any maritime authority; and by the end of the
18th century the Wahhabi from Central Arabia had extended their
influence to the Western shores of the Gulf. Their dominance over
the sea-board inhabitants of what was to become known as the Pirate
Coast (later, under British influence, to be re-named the Trucial
Coast) resulted in piracy on a massive scale. By the early years of
the 19th century the pirate fleets had become so powerful and well
organised as to be able to attack with impunity all shipping passing
through these waters.
The British were loath to become directly involved; they
had come to trade with Persia, not to rule the Gulf. But, as so often
happened elsewhere, the maintenance of their commercial interests i
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and the protection of their communications inevitably led them to
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acquire political influence and responsibility. By 1798 they were
already in alliance with the Sultan of Muscat, and in 1820 the state
of affairs within the Gulf had become so bad that the East India
Company was forced to abate the nuisance of the Pirate Coast once
and for all.

It was from this date that the British became politically and
administratively involved in the affairs of the Gulf; but it is important
to remember that the subsequent General Treaty of Peace (1820), the
later supplementary agreements banning piracy, gun-running and the
slave-trade, and the final Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity (1853) were
all between the States of the Trucial Coast and the East India Company
- and not the British Government. Bahrain subscribed to the 1853
Treaty in 1861, by which time the Government of India had taken
over the responsibilities of the E.I.C. The later Treaties by which
Kuwait (in 1899) and Qatar (in 1916) came under British protection
were also between these States and the Government of India.

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