"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٨] (١٧٨٢/٢٩١)

r-J-
Internal state
of Persia
Turkish 'Iraq
and 'Oman.
148
The next dependency lost to Persia was Bahrain, which -was first
attached by Arabs from the mainland in 1782. Reprisals on the
adjacent Arab settlement of Zubarah were then attempted by the Shaikh
of Bushehr, who was governor under Persia of Bahrain ; but they failed;
and the victorious 'Utub at once crossed over into Bahrain, followed hy a
horde of other Arabs, obliged the Shaikh's garrison to surrender, and took
poi session themselves.
The lease of Bandar 'Abbas and its dependencies was transferred in
17t»4 from a Persian vassal to the Sultanate of 'Oman; and the districts
and islands which it comprised thus came, for practical purposes, under
the jurisdiction of a foreign power.
In Persia disorders and civil war broke out on the death of the Vakil
and were as rife in the Gulf districts as in other parts of the country.
Bushehr was seized and partially plundered in 1779 by the Khan of
Tangistan, who was quickly destroyed in his turn by a combination of
the maritime chiefs between Rig and 'Asalu. In 1780 there was fighting
between the chiefs of Hormuz and Charak, and also between those of
'Asalu and Tahiri. In 1791-92 the Mir of Rig and the Kaan of
Khisht espoused the cause of Lutf 'Ali Khan, the rightful rulei of
Shiraz, and the Shaikh of Bushehr that of his enemies, with the result
that the districts between them became a scene of raids and couutei-
raids.
In Turkish 'Iraq there were one or two rebellions against the Pasha
of Baghdad, and in 1787 the town of Basrah was for some months
usurped and governed by the Shaikh of the Muntafik; but the power of
iSulaiman Pa^ha, the governor, gradually became consolidated ; aud political
conditions were on the whole more stable than in Persia. Some annoyance
was caused by the Ka'ab, from the direction of Persia, in 17S4 and
1791; but a more disquieting feature was the aggressiveness of the
Wahhabis upon the western frontier. In 1784, after about a geneiation
of growth and expansion in Najd, these fanatics first began to maU
themselves felt upon the borders of the Baghdad Pashaliq; and between
1793 and 1795 their raids against Kuwait caused some alarm. By ^
they had conquered a part of Hasa from its Bani Khalid rulers.
The Imamate of 'Oman was broken up in 1793 into three separate
principalities ; but the chief of these, becoming a Sultanate with it s
capital at Masqat, carried on the naval traditions of the Imamate vath
undiminished prestige. The ruler, Saiyid Sultan, was even able to add
the Makran ports of Gwadar and Chahbar to his dominions proper, an-