'Arabia. Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office - no 90' [‎22] (37/148)

22 POLITICAL HISTORY
[No. 00
With the settlements of south and north, the self-
governing townships of Kasim do not wish to be appur
tenances oi either Emirate. Whenever dominated by
the forces of one, they obstinately favour the other.
During the past half-century their territories have
seldom been free of both, and have often supplied the
two with a battle-ground.
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States. Little older, and in some
instances younger, than the Emirate of Nejd are the
principal Sultanates and Sheikhdoms along the
Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The elder of the
existing dynasties are those of Koweit and Muscat,
both of which go back to the middle of the eighteenth
century; that of Bahrein dates from 1782; the five
ruling sheikhs of the Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , long under our in-
nuence, have been recognised by us as autonomous since
185d; and the Sheikhdom of El-Katr has been free
from dependence on Bahrein since 1868. All these
chiefs have now fallen under British domination to such
a degree that, although seldom interfered with in the
internal administration of their principalities, they
are controlled in all matters of external relations, and
to a great extent maintain their dynasties and autho
rity only by grace of their alliance with us. None has
ever wielded effective rule over any considerable terri^
t0 ^7j. -^ ven the Sultan of Muscat's authority loses
validity a day's march from the coast-line of Oman,
and becomes null in the long south-western extension
which he claims. The sources of these chiefs' power
m their respective districts are these :—
(a) Koweit owes importance to the possession of a
bay which is the nearest silt-free harbour to
the Shatt el-Arab region, and is favourably
placed in regard to the trans-peninsular route,
via Kasim, mentioned above. Until recently
it was the one important port through which
commodities to and from Central Arabia
could pass without subjection to the exactions
and inconveniences of Ottoman regulations.
It is a principal centre of dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. -building, and