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'Status of certain Groups of Islands in the Persian Gulf' [‎38v] (2/4)

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The record is made up of 1 file (2 folios). It was created in 27 Aug 1928. 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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9
were recognised as belonging to the Jowasim Tribe of Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .” No
reference to the incident of 1875 could be traced by the India Olfice ; but
i' 9 -VVs 39 /*r' 26 the Secretary of State for India agreed with the Government of India that it
would be undesirable to start the erection of a lighthouse on the island
without prior intimation to Persia, and the matter was not pursued.
It would appear therefore that there is little question that the island
must be regarded as Persian, though a slight element of doubt as to a
Jowasimi claim exists.
C.—The Bahrein Archipelago.
The archipelago consists of the islands of Bahrein, Muharraq, Umm
Na’assan, Sitrah, and Nabi Salih, and a number of lesser islets and rocks
forming part of the same compact geographical group.
The archipelago is under the rule of the Sheikh of Bahrein, and the
status of Bahrein governs the status of all the other islands composing it.
D.—Farsi, Arabi, Harqus; Halul, Dalmah, Shura-awah, Sir Beni Yas,
Sir Abu Nair, Qran, Jinnah, Kharag, Khargu.
The status of these islands is important, not merely because of the claims
which may be urged to them by the Trucial Chiefs, to whom His Majesty’s
Government are under treaty obligations, but because their control is in
many cases of importance in connection with the policing of the pearl
banks, for which responsibility has been assumed by ^flis Majesty’s
Government, and because of the possible value of certain of them in
connection with an air route along the north Arabian coast.
Farsi, Arabi and Harqus.
Lor. ii. 115, 553, (142.
* 1.0. to F.O., Oct. 20
1914, P. 3940.
t Tel. from S. of S.
for I. to Viceroy,
Dec. 15 1914 , P.
4600.
Farsi is an uninhabited island about a quarter mile across, in the middle
of the Gulf, about halfway between Musallamiyah Bay in Hasa and the
Tangistan district in south Persia. Arabi is 15 miles south of Farsi* and
Harqus, “a mere sandbank,” 30 miles west of it. Oil seepages were alleged
in 1914 (Engler’s “ Petroleum ”) to exist in the sea near all three islands, and
Arabi carries a deposit of guano.
^ 1 he owneiship of all thiee islands was stated m the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Gazetteer to be undetermined, Mr. Lorimer adding in the cases of Arabi
and Harqus that the question had never arisen. The India Ollice in 1914
expressed the view, 0 which the Foreign Office did not contest, that His
Majesty’s Government should eventually claim the right to deal with all
three islands (as with Halul); and beacons were at the same time erected
on them with the concurrence of Admiralty and Foreign Office.! No steps
were, however, in fact ever taken to regularise the status of the islands
which geographically would most easily have been assigned to Koweit.
Halul.
J Lor. ii, (i 1 7.
§ Lor. ii, 618.
|| I.O. to F.O., Dec. 2
1908, V. 2111.
rp A . n island 1 mile in diameter, some 61 miles E.N.E. of Dohak in the
Irucial Principality of El Katr, surrounded by pearl banks, and having in
its neighbourhood, under the sea, an intermittent spring of bitumen.!
In 1906 there were rumours, which proved unfounded, of German
designs to acquire the island from the Porte lor use as a coaling station, for
which purpose the Government of India stated that it was not unsuitable
Lorimer s I ohtical Gazetteer (1906) described the status of the island as
indeterminate; the pearl divers and fishermen both of El Katr and of
1 racial Oman are in the habit of resorting to it; and, so far as can be
learnt, no exclusive or preferential rights are claimed by any of the classes
who use it, or by any territorial Chief.Ӥ In 1908 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. , after
consultation with the \ iceroy, suggested to the Foreign Office that it was
preferable to take no action which might lead to discussion of the status of
the island, as “ any assertion of rights beyond the present customary usao*e
• ■, *. Arabs from Bahrein, the Tracial Coast and El Katr, might lead
to claims being raised by the El Katr Sheikhs to which the Turkish
Government [suzerain of Katr till 1916, since when the Sheikh has been
recognised as an independent Trucial Chief] might lend their support.”]!

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In response to Persian claims of authority over the islands, the document outlines the status of the following groups of Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. islands:

  • Warba, Bubiyan, Maskan, Failakah [Jazīrat Faylakā], Auhah [Jazīrat ‘Awhah], Kubbar, Qaru, and Umm-el-Maradin, which lie off the coast of Koweit [Kuwait] and the mouth of the Shatt-el-Arab;
  • Kishm, Henjam, Ormuz [Jazīreh-ye Hormoz], Laruk, Sheikh Shuaib [Jazīreh-ye Lāvān], Haiderabi, Kais, and Farur (and Little or Nabiyu Farur), which lie off the south Persian coast;
  • the Bahrein [Bahrain] Archipelago;
  • Halul, Dalmah, Sir Beni Yas, Sir Abu Nair, Qran [Jazīrat Karān ], Jinnah [Jazīrat Qannah], Kharag, and Khargu.

Written by John Gilbert Laithwaite 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. .

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1 file (2 folios)
Arrangement

This file consists of a single document.

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Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 38, and terminates at f 39, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, 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. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Status of certain Groups of Islands in the Persian Gulf' [‎38v] (2/4), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B399, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100029521410.0x000003> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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