Coll 6/67(2) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.' [‎342r] (688/734)

SECRET.
Revised to 5th March 1934.
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. , P.Z. 614/34.
Memo. B. 430.
Tlie Southern Boundary of Qatar and the Connected .Problems.
The question for settlement is that of the boundaries of the Sheikhdom of Qatar
wheie it is not bounded by the sea. In the pre-war period the boundary to the south
m as to some extent indeterminate, but broadly speaking was regarded at the time of
the compilation of Lorimer s Grazetteer m 19()5 — 0/ as running across the base of the ^ jl0r '
Qatar Peninsula more or less south-east from Dohat-as-Salwa to a point north of 15 ° 6 '
Khor-al-’Odeid. There is reason to believe that the Sheikh of Qatar still regards it
as following approximately this line (see paragraph 8 below), but conditions have not
been propitious for raising the question specifically with him, and the present note
aims at reaching a provisional conclusion on the material available as to—
(а) the southern boundary of Qatar ;
(б) if the boundaries of Qatar on the south and west do not extend to the blue
line agreed as the eastern frontier of Nejd in the unratified Anglo-Turkish
Convention of July 1913, the position of the intervening area.
The history of the question is as follows :—
The Boundary on the South-East.
2. To the east, the boundary between Qatar and the adjoining Trucial Sheikhdom
of Abu Dhabi has been' the subject of frequent dispute in the past. The Sheikh of
Abu Dhabi has claimed sovereignty over a stretch of Qatar territory running so far Lor. II, 405.
north as the Bay of Umm-al-Hul, south of Wakra on the map attached.* The Sheikh
of Qatar, for his part, has claimed sovereignty over areas in the Abu Dhabi
Sheikhdom running as far east as the Sabakhat Matti. His Majesty’s Government Lor. II, 88-
have consistently refused to recognise claims so exaggerated by either party, but they 89 -
have repeatedly intimated that they regard the Khor-al-’Odeid, which lies about mid
way between the extreme points referred to, as appertaining to Abu Dhabi. They have Lor. II, 89.
also recognised the Abu Dhabi claim to the district of ’Aqal, geographical details of
which are given in I (iii) of the Appendix to this note, and which contains both the
Khor-al-’Odeid and the Khor-adh-Dhuwaihin. We have thus a fixed point for the
south-eastern boundary of Qatar.
The Boundary on the South-West.
3. On the south-western extremity of the Qatar boundary there has been no
corresponding dispute, nor is there a fixed point equally definitely established which
can with confidence be regarded as marking the western limit of the territories of
Qatar.
The Position prior to the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913.
4. The southern boundary of Qatar was closely investigated locally between 1904
and 1907 by experienced political officers in connection with the compilation of
Mr. Lorimer’s “Persian Oulf Gazetteer.” The result of their investigation is given
in the extract from the Gazetteer reproduced as item I (i) in the Appendix to this
note. Broadly speaking, it went to show that the southern boundary of the State
ran south-east from Dohat-as-Salwa to a point to the north of the Khor-al-Odeid.
Over the first section, running from Dohat-as-Salwa to the Wells of Sakak, there was
no dispute. The boundary between the Wells of Sakak and the sea on the eastern
side of the Qatar Peninsula was, however, indeterminate. Two alternatives (the
difference at its widest point being some 20 miles) were reported by Lorimer. For
the reasons given by him (and substantially based on the historical considerations
referred to in paragraph 2 above) he regarded the second alternative as preferable.
The effect of its acceptance would be that the eastern sector of the southern Qatar
boundary would run south-east from the Wells of Sakak to the sea north of the
Khor-al-’Odeid.
* Not reproduced.
2560 75 9.34