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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1085] (122/688)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (341 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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KUWAIT PKINCIPALITY
1085
large part of its trade is a transit trade taking place in one direction only ; second, that
theTbalance of trade is partly adjusted in specie, while the earnings abroad of the mariners
and pearl fishers of Kuwait must also be taken into account in this connection. The value
of the specie exported from Kuwait in 1904-05 was Rs. 4,32,223 and in 1905-06
—^ Rs. 2,87,535 ; in both years this specie went chiefly to India and was considerably in
, excess of the amount of specie imported.
In 1905-06 of the total sea-borne trade of Kuwait in both directions, about 30-75 per
^ liii cent, was with India, 28*77 percent, with Arabia, 14*66 with the United Kingdom
and 9 * 21 per cent, with Persia ; the remainder was divided among various countries
^ in less considerable amounts. With regard to trade by land, it is stated that before the
war in Central Arabia about 20 caravans from Southern Najd and two from Jabal
'ei)]!*. Shammar used to come in annually at Kuwait; on the other hand, while the course
of events was unfavourable to the Shaikh of Kuwait and his allies and Hafar was in
fell ill the hinds of Ibn Rashid, the Central Arabian trade was in a large measure diverted to
iffltsj. Basrah and Najaf ; and at the present timodirect commercial relations between Kuwait
*i eveiil and Jabal Sham mar are still in abeyance. Batches of 300 to 500 camels are occasionally
com ® exported to Syria by land.
The slow steamer of the British India Steam Navigation Company has called regularly
once a fortnight at Kuwait since 8th of July 1903, and on the 9th of December 1904 the
last steamer began to call in the intermediate weeks. In 1905-06 no less than 50 steamers
mi (all British) with a total tonnage of 51,893 entered the port of Kuwait.
Administration. —Kuwait is despotically and personally governed by the Shaikh.
There is no delegation of authority. The town is divided into many quarters, but in
none of them is there any recognised headman : all the inhabitants must deal direct
with the Shaikh, who generally gives audience at the market place for an hour or two
every morning. The nature of the Shaikh's general administration is explained in the
;iiV ,, article on the Kuwait Principality. Bedouins are not now forbidden to enter the town
eS (j, k . armed, but they generally leave their weapons in their tents outside. The town
[ ^ guard consists of about 20 watchmen indifferently armed and equipped.
KUWAIT PRINCIPALITY.
Strategical and commercial advantages, close political relations with the British
Government, and an intimate connection with Central Arabian affairs combine to
render the position of the Kuwait Shaikhdom remarkable. It might almost be regarded
as an independent state under virtual British protection.
Extent. —The boundaries of the Kuwait Principality are for the most part fluctuating
and undefined ; they are, at any given time, the limits of the tribes which then, either
voluntarily or under compulsion, own allegiance to the Shaikh of Kuwait. The
northern and southern frontiers in the neighbourhood of the sea may however be
regarded as fixed. On the north the influence of the Sha kh of Kuwait is unquestioned
up to the very walls of Umm Qasr and Safwan; we may accordingly consider the frontier
on this side to be a line running from Khor-as-Sabiyah so as to pass immediately south
of Umm Qasr and Safwan to Jabal Sanam and thence to the Batin. On the south
the Shaikh does not claim to exercise any real control over the Radaif tract; his
boundary on this side may accordingly be considered to run westwards from Jabal
jj Manifah on the coast to the Na 'airryah hill at the north-western corner of Radaif.
It is a task of great difficulty to circumscribe the Shaikh's territories on the remain
ing sides with even approximate accuracy. Shaikh Mubarak stated (1904) that on
the north-west his influence reached to the Batin and somewhat beyond it, and that
on the west the inhabitants of Summan, but not those of Dahanah, acknowledged
—him ; and his assertion was to some extent borne out by known facts in regard to the
Bagii^ occupation of Hafar which Ibn Rashld, though at one time he seized it, was unable
ia for long to retain. We may therefore consider that the Shaikhdom is bounded between
A Jabal Sanam and Hafar by the Batin, and that south of Hafar the border is the
gleyesr, line dividing Summan from Dahanah as far south as the point where that line is
obserw intersected by the route from Wabrah to Riyadh. These being the limits of the
[lii?fact Kuwait Principality its length form north-north-west to south-south-east is about
(serves 190, and its breadth from east-north-east to west-south-west about 100 miles. The
nly tke islands belonging to Kuwait are mentioned in the next paragraph.

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Content

Volume II of III of the Gazetteer of Arabia. The Gazetteer is alphabetically-arranged and this volume contains entries K through to R.

The Gazetteer is an alphabetically-arranged compendium of the tribes, clans and geographical features (including towns, villages, lakes, mountains and wells) of Arabia that is contained within three seperate bound volumes. The entries range from short descriptions of one or two sentences to longer entries of several pages for places such as Iraq and Yemen.

A brief introduction states that the gazetteer was originally intended to deal with the whole of Arabia, "south of a line drawn from the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, through Ma'an, to Abu Kamal on the Euphrates, and to include Baghdad and Basrah Wilayats" and notes that before the gazetteer could be completed its publication was postponed and that therefore the three volumes that now form this file simply contain "as much of the MSS. [manuscript] as was ready at the time". It further notes that the contents have not been checked.

Extent and format
1 volume (341 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: This volume's foliation system is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1085] (122/688), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/2/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023727632.0x00007b> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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