'File 38/17 Delimitation of Trucial state boundaries and Petroleum Concession Limited's Concession Areas on the Trucial Coast' [‎38r] (76/225)

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There is no strong evidence to suggest $hat
prior to the arrival of Oil Companies in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
either Dubai or Abu Dhabi saw any reason for claiming
exclusively the empty desert lying between their capitals,
which for years, has remained a no-mans-land. Only the
recently suspected presence of oil has lent this empty
desert an intrinsic value and has imposed upon the Shaikhs,
the European conception of sovereignty over soil e There is
reason to believe that in the past^the fact that both Dubai
and Abu Dhabi Shaikhs belong to the Beni Yas tribe has been
a unifying factor. Titus, evidence, particularly of the
written sort, regarding the past boundaries of the two States,
is limited in the extreme, whilst maps shewing all the
features such as the permanent sand-masses and wells now
claimed by each party, do not exist and the greater part of
my work so far has consisted of identifying and placing
upon a map points claimed. None of the evidence so far
produced by the Shaikhs has been conclusive and I am
convinced that any solution which I can put forward is bound
to be to a large extent, arbitrary. In the following
paragraphs I shall firstly endeavour to examine the historical
background to the dispute, secondly the claims themselves,
and lastly to submit some possible solutions.
8. The history of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Sheikhdoms
as given on page 763 ff of Volume I of Lorimer^ Gazetteer
of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. shows that the independence of Dubai
from Abu Dhabi dates from 1833 when the A1 bu Falasah
seceders left the latter city and took charge of the already
existing city of Dubai which they have ruled ever since.
From the outset, the new Sheikhdom seems to have served as
a buffer State between the then powerful Jawasim in the
North-East and the A1 bu Falah of Abu Dhabi in the South-
West. Both the al bu Falah and the al Bu Falasah, however,
seem to regard themselves as traditional allies.(being both
Beni Yas originally)rather than as enemies and to this day ^
their/-