Articles From Our Experts

From East India Company intelligence to news of the discovery of oil, the India Office Records demonstrate the exchanges that took place between Britain and Qatar over the last three centuries.

The people of the upper Gulf coast have created a rich and multifaceted musical culture. Unfortunately, these musical genres are hardly known outside this region and there is a risk that some of this heritage will be lost forever.

The British Empire used new technologies to counter the problem of cross-border raiding in the newly formed Kingdom of Iraq.

Qatar’s exploratory wells were drilled relatively late, although Major Frank Holmes sought an exploratory lease in 1922.

At the time of Sheikh Jāsim bin Muḥammad Āl Thānī’s death in 1913, his great wealth was revealed to the British in intelligence reports sent by Yūsuf bin Aḥmad Kanoo.

Thanks to the recording sessions at the first Arabic Music Congress in 1932 in Cairo, we can still listen to a selection of early Arabic music recordings. Additionally, several documents and reports are available, allowing us to learn about the formation of ‘Arabic music’ and musicological discussions in the first part of the twentieth century.

There is still so much we do not know about the history of independent Arab recording companies in the ‘shellac era’ (1897-1960s). A handful of record sleeves, that would have once been thrown away, tell us about how some of them were connected.

By offering military protection to Qatar, the British tried to ensure access to Qatari oil in the run-up to the Second World War. But why did Qatar need weapons and armoured cars in 1935?

The uneasy union between British and Kurdish allies during the First World War gave way to hostilities in the war’s aftermath, as Britain failed to deliver on Kurdish hopes for independence.

The subject of railways appears time and again in the India Office Records. What was Britain’s obsession with them and how did they transform how Britain thought about, protected, and ran its empire?

From its foundation at the end of the eighteenth century, the British Residency in Baghdad occupied a strategically important position, linking together various strands of British imperial engagement in the region.

The sources of the British Library’s Arabic scientific manuscripts are many and various. Here we discover an individual who contributed to the collection and lived an adventurous life in London and the Middle East.

As the oil industry developed in the late 1940s, Britain was keen to place a Political Agent in Qatar. To do this the British had to come to an understanding with the Shaikh of Qatar on matters of slavery without being seen to interfere.

An overview of India Office Military Department records relating to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Anglo-Qatar Treaty of 1916 strengthened existing ties between the two parties. What were the terms of the treaty, and what were the circumstances that led to it?

Known variously as the Iraqi Revolt, the 1920 Rebellion, or the Great Iraqi Revolution, this uprising swept across Mesopotamia, threatening Britain’s wartime gains and challenging its imperialist authority.

Signed in 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne is sometimes seen as a great victory for modern Turkey, but it left a troubling legacy.

The marriage of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and Fawziyyah Fu’ad in 1939 sparked excitement and interest well beyond their two countries. British records shed light on the commemoration and significance of this ultimately ill-fated union.

An overview of the key moments from the history of interaction between the British and Iraq, as illustrated through the India Office Records.

The music of the upper Gulf region is well known for its intricate rhythms, hand-clapping and sung poetry. In addition to this, its musical instruments have evolved or been incorporated into various genres.

The road to Egyptian independence was not straightforward. It involved a long, delicate, and often conflicting balance between British strategic interests and Egyptian nationalist aspirations.