Page 238 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

I The recent history of Abu Dhabi dates from 1761 when the
discovery of fresh water on the small island of the same name led to
the settlement there of members of the Al bu Falah tribe of the Bani
Yas. The Al-Nuhayyan was already the leading family, and the present
ruler, Shaikh Zaid bin Sultan, is the fifteenth of his line.
Throughout the 19th century Abu Dhabi increased in importance
mainly on account of the pearl fisheries which, by 1833, already
employed 300 assorted craft and 2,500 men. The Slate subscribed
to the General Treaty of 1820, the Maritime Truce of 1835 and the
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity in 1853; and the accession of Shaikh
Zaid bin Khalifah in 1855 marked Abu Dhabi’s emergence as the most
influential of the Trucial Stales. In 1900 Shaikh Z’aid was accorded a
salute of five guns, putting him on a par with the Rulers of Bahrain and
Kuwait, whereas the remaining Trucial States only ranked three-gun
salutes.
Shaikh Zaid ruled for 54 years and, unlike many of his prede­
cessors and successors, died a natural death: but his death in 1909
marked the end of an era, and Abu Dhabi declined once again into
obscurity, reaching its lowest level in the 1930s with the decreasing
demand for natural pearls.

The State’s salvation, however, had lain beneath its sands since
the days of its earlier greatness; and it was oil which, in the 1960s,
brought wealth far greater than in those earlier times. Following the
Oil Concession Treaty with Britain in 1922, an English Muslim, Hajji
Abdullah Williamson, obtained in 1935 a 2-year option for oil con­
cessions in Abu Dhabi and other Trucial States. Two subsequent
concessions granted by the Ruler have proved abundantly fruitful;
that granted to the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company (A.D.P.C.) on the
mainland, and the off-shore rights of Abu Dhabi Marine Areas (A.D.M.A.)
which operates submarine fields based on Das Island.
Although the A.D.P.C. concession was granted in 1939, it was not
until 1960 that the mainland Murban Field was discovered; and exports
1 began in 1963. The A.D.M.A. concession was only granted in 1953,
and there followed a period of intensive survey, much of which was
done by Commander Cousteau and his diving team from his ship
Calypso. By May 1956 a promising structure had been found 60 miles
off-shore in what eventually proved to be the prolific Umm Shaif Field.

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