Page 23 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

The power of Muscat further increased with the accession as
ruler, in 1807, of Sayyid Sa’id, a remarkable man who controlled his
dominions for almost half a century. The second decade of the century
saw his co-operation with the Government of Bombay in suppressing
the pirates of the Trucial Coast and in measures against the slave trade.
Commercial and Customs Treaties with Britain followed and in 1854
the Kuria Muria Islands, off the South Arabian coast, were presented
to the British Crown.

Sayyid Sa’id died in 1856 and, after some dispute, his
territories were divided, through British mediation, between his two
sons. By the Canning Award, Thuwaini became ruler of Muscat and
Majid ruler of Zanzibar; and Zanzibar becoming independent, agreed
to pay an annual subsidy of Rs86,400 to Muscat (still paid - but by the
British Government!); and, henceforth, both rulers bore the title of
Sultan.
In the closing years of the 19th and early years of the 20th
centuries, during the Sultanate of Feisal (1888—1913), France, having
come to an agreement with Russia to reduce British influence in the
Gulf, attempted to establish herself in Muscat, and also caused con­
siderable embarrassment by encouraging slave ships to fly the French
colours. The decision of the Hague Tribunal in August 1905 was in
favour of the British claim, since when there has been no further
attempt by a European power to dispute Britain’s particular interests
in Muscat.

Sultan Feisal was succeeded by his son Taimur who ruled for
19 years and abdicated in 1932. Taimur’s son, the recently deposed
Sultan Said bin Taimur, succeeded him; and, although, by the Treaty
of Sib (1920), his suzerainty extended over the whole of Oman, it was
generally only exercised in the coastal regions. This inadequate control,
coupled with the belief that oil might be found at Buraimi, encouraged
Saudi Arabia in 1952 to occupy the two of the eight villages in the
oasis that belonged to Muscat. And on the death of the Imam of
Omam, who had subscribed to the Treaty of Sib, his successor, Ghalib
bin Ali, proclaimed independence from Muscat.

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