'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎67] (210/1782)

67
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East India Company in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , left Isfahan for Bandar
^orfeditj Abbas. He remained at Bandar ""Abbas until the end of June 1688
and then sailed for Batavia, whence he proceeded on his better-known
expedition to Japan. During his stay in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Dr. Kaempfer,
though he suffered much from ill-health, made a careful study of the
natural history of the Bandar ^Abbas district; the results are contained
in his Amoenitatum Exoticarvm Fasciculi and include an elaborate mono
graph on the date-palm.
About 1688, or from the time that Dutch interests began to be
subordinated in Europe to those of England, the two countries being now
in alliance and at war with France, the Hollanders began to lose credit in
Persia. They were at this time endeavouring to compete with the English
in the importation of Indian-made goods, but the English were able to
prevent their obtaining a monopoly of Kirman wool.
In 1690 a Dutch Ambassador visited Isfahan, accompanied by a
magnificent retinue and bringing valuable presents ; he sought to obtain
from the Shah a monopoly for the Dutch of the Kirman wool trade, but
in this he could not succeed. On his return to Bandar J Abbas in 1691,
however, by gaining over the Shahbandar and others, he was able to
obstruct English trade in that neighbourhood to such an extent that the
English Factors found it advisable to send a whole cargo of newly arrived
goods direct to Isfahan.
In ] 695, difficulties between the Persians and the Arabs in the Gulf
having become acute through repeated attacks by the latter upon Persian
I to-t shipping, it was feared that the Dutch might come to the aid of the
jjjjj.: Shah-'s Government and so secure preferential trading rigt ts in Persia,
but this fear was not realised; the Dutch, however, at the time enjoyed
the privilege of importing 20,000 Tumans worth of merchandise free into
Isfahan every year, as against a quantity 5,000 Tumans' worth only
passed free to the English. In 1697 chiefly with a view to forestalling
the Dutch, the Company's representatives in Persia offered the ship
' Charles the Second ,} for the purpose of conveying to India an Ambas
sador whom the Shah had accredited to the Mughal Court.
As mentioned already in another place, the Dutch, who had at some
• ^ time obtained a monopoly for the export of silk from Persia by sea,
,^1 protested strongly in 1699 against part payment by the Persians in that
commodity of the English share of customs at Bandar ; Abbas. ft does
not appear whether this protest was ultimately successful, but the Dutch
found means to attach the Shahbandar to their interest and were suspected
of having instigated him to assert, as he did assert, that he had paid
14 a
; of Bam
at Bandar
'AbVias, 1866
Increasing
competition
of the Eng
lish with the
Dutch, 1688-
89.
Dutch Em
bassy to the
Persian
Court, 1690-
91.
Continued
rivalry of the
English and
the Dutch, to
the increasing
disadvantage
of the latter,
1695-1705.
I
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