Coll 28/99 ‘Persia. Anglo-Persian Relations. Treaty negotiations, 1937– (Perso-Baluch Frontier Demarcation)’ [‎45v] (90/275)

Khaima on the Trucial ("oast (hereafter referred to as the Jovvasimi) had
been active on the Persian littoral of the Gulf, on which before 1727 they
seized Basidu. In 1737 they were attacked in their own territory by Persia
* Lor. i, *j3i-2. an( j appear to have made submission, ,t: but it does not seem that Persia
retained any hold on Ras-al-Khaima.
6. About 1750 a portion of the Jowasimi tribe crossed the Gulf to aid the
Persian Governor of Bander Abbas and Ormuz against the then Shah, when
they took possession of Lingah, opposite the island of Kishm, and other places
on the Persian Coast. Lingah they continued to hold until the deposition
by Persia of the last Arab Sheikh of Lingah in 1887. But for a number of
years before that date, while Lingali up to about 1882 remained a tribally
administered Arab principality, the ruling Sheikhs had gradually come
under the power of the Persian Government, having finally acknowledged
Lor. i, 2063 - 4 . themselves Persian subjects, paying to the Persian Governor-General of Fars
such tribute as he could exact from them, and governing Lingah as Persian
officials.
7. It is not clear whether any effective dominion had been exercised by
Persia in the islands of Tamb, Abu Musa and Sirri prior to 1750. It seems
entirely clear that no effective dominion was exercised in any of them by her
between that date and the seizure of Sirri in 1887. In the intervening
period, if not from a much earlier date, the islands were apparently part of
the hereditary estates of the Jowasimi Arab Sheikhs, the Sheikhs on the
Arab shore having an equal interest with those on the Persian littoral.
Their management, administration, and jurisdiction had, however, for many
years prior to 1887 by common consent been vested in the chief Jowasimi
Sheikh of the Persian coast, viz. the Sheikh of Lingah, but in his capacity of
t Pol. Res. to Jowasimi Sheikh and not of Persian officialf—a state of things which would
appear to have arisen from the fact that Tamb was for a period used by
« Tei. from Pol. Res. Lingah Jowasimi more than by other Jowasimi.No recognition of Persian
to s. of s. for i. suzereignty in respect of any of the islands had been made by the Jowasimi
p. 4558. Arabs ol Oman.
8. Up to about 1873, owing to the close connection existing between
Tamb and Lingah, the 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. authorities at Bush ire took the view that
Tamb was Persian, and in the period ending with 1879 several enquiries
regarding it are stated to exist in the 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. records. In 1882, however,
in reply to an enquiry, the 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. Agent stationed at Shargah, on the
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , furnished the Resident with translations of letters to the
Sheikh of Shargah which established the rights of the Trucial Chiefs.
Copies of these letters were produced in another connection in 1900 by the
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. Agent, who stated that he had himself seen the originals.
t©i. from Pol. Res. Eiideavours are now being made to see if the originals can be produced.
to S. of S. for I.,
1 . 234 , Aug. 221928 . g. The Persian claim was first asserted in 1877, and has been repeated
in 1904, 1923, 1926 and 1928. The history of these incidents is as follows.
I G. of I. Pro-
ceedings, Sept. 1888.
§ Tel. to Res.,
Sept. 26 1887.
III.—Occupation of Sirri by Persia, 18874
10. In the year 1877 an armed Persian party, with two small cannon,
was sent to erect a flagstaff and hoist the Persian flag on Sirri. The
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. , the Minister at Teheran, having enquired§ whether the
islands were under British protection, and whether any action at Teheran
ivas necessary, replied that Sirri and Tamb were beyond the zone of Persian
interference, and that the islands belonged to Arab Chiefs under British
protection in common with Arabs of the Persian littoral. The Resident
separately reported to the Government of India that the islands formed part
of the hereditary estates of the Jowasimi Arab Sheikhs; that for many years,
however, their management, administration and jurisdiction had by common
consent been vested in the chief Jowasimi Sheikh on the Persian coast,
viz., the Sheikh of Lingali for the time being ; that the Jowasimi Sheikhs
domiciled on the Persian coast had acquired the status of subjects of
Persia, and those who governed Lingah had been, in fact, Persian officials
qua Lingah ; that the Persian claim was doubtless based on these grounds ;
and that, ivere it not for the fact that the Arab Sheikhs of the Oman coast
jointly owned the islands, the Persian position could not be disputed. The