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File 37/1905 Pt 4 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [‎35v] (77/1197)

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The record is made up of 1 file (596 folios). It was created in 1904. It was written in English, Arabic and French. 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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87. Meantime, the British Commission, enable to commence t ^ line
tion ot the Amiri frontier, o'-ng to the im^os^.W^of^pp^^ to ^ t ^ e
to the ground as it was actual y Taffai lyin 0, immediately to the
herder of the Shaibi tribe, a section J a ^ t ly int S the Shaibi country,
east and north-east of Dthala. ^ ^ ^ j i ac |- an( i for some time no
with a small escort, was, however £ th ’ 0 Amir i borderland was
progress was made, except that the su y tho coun t r y on the scale
proceeded with. Besides the more genei • of tl(U zone 0 f demarcation
of 2 miles, or 4 miles, to the inch, a detailed y g . dfi o£ where it was su p.
was carried out, extending to two uo called a “joint” survey,
posed the boundary would actually run. f t h e two Commissions
and it was supposed to be accomplished by the surveyors oi l devolved on
conjointly, but, in fact, the whole of the surveyand rihe Britisll
the British survey party, whose work was, at ti , y despatched on
Commission’s fresh report with maps of the Amin lioraer i
25 th May 1903.
88 . Questions also arose of considerah^intere^ ^y^iTon^T an!
the levy of oustoms y e " . ^ cr0 ssed by a practicable route.
ft e waffLnd 0 IaUhe"at“ imposed by the Turks were Uian were
^ Tot necessary to go
into the details.
89 In August the Resident returned to Dthala, where his presence seemed
to he required In fact, he would have gone there some months earlier b ut
the business connected with the treaties which kept him m Aden The
Boundary Commissioners at once drew his attention to the delay which had taken
in obtaining a survey of the Shaibi border, and asked him if he could make
arrangements' forcarrying it through without further delay. At this time the
• + tfon as regarded the north-eastern part of the frontier was one of no little
difficulty The misfortunes which had befallen Brigadier-General Manning s
expedition against the Somaliland Mullah had been recounted, with oriental exag-
geration among all the Arab tribes, and had come opportunely to assist the
effect of”the intrigues already related. It was believed by many that the British
forces 1 ad been practically annihilated, and that there were no more troops
available in India to continue the contest; in fact, the general belief among the
more ignorant Arabs of the interior was that the British were nearly at the end
S thei? resources. These reports received a sort of confirmation from the fact
that 600 infantry, hastily sent over from Aden, on the demand ot the War Office,
when affairs were at their worst, were retained in Somaliland, and that a cora-
nany of Bombay Sappers and Miners (about 150 men) was now removed from
Dthala and sent to Berbera. The effect of these withdrawals of troops,
following on the Mullah’s successes, was unfortunate, and went far to neu
tralize the impression produced by the evacuation of Jalela, which was a diplo-
matic rather than a military success, and which had been procured, it was said,
by the payment of large sums at Constantinople 1
90. Moreover, the Yaffai-as-Safal, who are a powerful tribe, had suffered
much less from the incursions and exactions of the Turks than the Amiri and
other weak and less warlike clans. Though glad as a whole to he formally
received into the British protectorate, circumstances had imbued them with the
idea that their alliance was of peculiar value to the British, and that the survey
of their border was absolutely essential to the carrying out of the British policy.
Bor this privilege, they, especially the Mausatta, thought they would be able to
make us pay large sums of money.
91 The Sheikhs of the Mausatta claimed the Shaibi as their dependants,
but when appealed to to ensure the peaceful progress of the survey party
through the Shaibi country, they acted in a manner which showed that they
were by no means eager to afford assistance. It was soon evident that any
I

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Content

This file contains correspondence and documents related to the work of the Aden Boundary Commission, the British Government body tasked with the delineation of the borders of the British Protectorate of Aden. Much of the correspondence in the file relates specifically to the Subaihi border region.

The file contains a number of letters from Colonel Robert Alexander Wahab, the Commissioner of the Aden Boundary Commission, sent to the Political and Secret Department of the 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. in London (and the British Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Aden). The file also contains extracts from Wahab's diary related to his work on the commission.

The file contains a detailed report on the demarcation of the frontier entitled: 'Report on the Demarcation of the Frontier between the Tribes in the Protectorate of Aden and the Turkish Province of Yemen; by Major-General P. J. Maitland, C.B., Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Aden' (folios 25-44).

The file contains a number of maps as follows:

  • a printed map of the Sheikh Sa'id Peninsula (folio 94);
  • a printed map of the border region of the British protectorate of Aden (folio 112);
  • a printed map entitled 'Map of Haushabi and Subaihi Border' with list of place names in English and Arabic (folio 237);
  • a printed map of the Sheikh Sa'id Peninsula (folio 239);
  • a hand-drawn entitled 'Map Illustrating Southern Subaihi Frontier Proposals Referred to in Sir N O'Conor's Telegram No. 112' (folio 288);
  • a printed sketch-map entitled 'Aden Boundary Commission Survey Sketch Accompanying No. 19 of 15th March 1904' (folio 291);
  • a printed sketch entitled 'Aden Boundary Commission Survey Sketch Accompanying No. 21 of 15th March 1904' (folio 456);
  • a printed map entitled 'Aden Frontier Survey, Subaihi Boundary in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Ma'din' (folio 457).

The file also contains correspondence related to French claims of ownership over Sheikh Said (Cheikh Said), a peninsula near the island of Perim on the Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. The file contains original copies of articles on this topic that were printed in the French newspaper La Dépêche Coloniale in September and October 1904 .

The majority of the correspondence in the file is in English, but also enclosed is a limited amount of correspondence from the Ottoman Ambassador in London that is in French.

The volume includes a divider which gives the year that the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in it arranged by year. This divider is placed at the front of the volume.

Extent and format
1 file (596 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

The Subject 37 (Aden) contains 5 files, IOR/L/PS/10/63-67.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation commences at the inside front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English, Arabic and French in Latin and Arabic script
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File 37/1905 Pt 4 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [‎35v] (77/1197), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/66, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100027010726.0x00004e> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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