POWER STRUGGLES AND TRADE IN THE GULF 1620-1820
SULTAN BIN MUHAMMAD AL-QASIMI POWER STRUGGLES AND TRADE IN THE GULF 1620-1820 AlQasimi Publications, 2013
First Published in 1999 By: Forest Row © Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi 1999 No Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. ISBN: 978-9948-20-285-1 Publisher: AlQasimi Publications P.O.Box: 43344, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Tel: 00971 6 5585855 Fax: 00971 6 5589995 E-mail: alqasimi.publs@gmail.com
PREFACE Between the death of Nadir Shah, in 1747, and the establishment of the Qajar dynasty in 1795 there were 48 years of the Zand dynasty’s rule in Persia, during which time Gulf trade declined and European factories closed down in several ports. Historians have offered varied and insubstantial reasons for this decline. This book makes an attempt, through the detailed use of primary sources, to offer a more logical and more reasoned interpretation of these developments in place of the older, ill-founded arguments. In this book I argue that the prime cause of the decline in trade and the withdrawal of trading settlements from Bandar Abbas was the ‘commotions’, or power struggles in the region. On one hand was the struggle for overall control of Persia whose consequence was the ruin of trade. On the other, the disturbances in the area of Bandar Abbas, brought about by Mulla ‘Ali Shah, the Bana Ma`in Shaikh, Shaikh Rashid and the Charak Arabs, which were the main cause of the withdrawal from that port. The cessation of trading at Bandar Rig and Khark Island was caused by upheavals fomented by the local chieftain, Mir Muhanna. According to the English, the main cause of the withdrawal of their settlement from Bandar Rig was the conflict between Mir Muhanna and Karim Kh5n about Bandar Mg. But it was Mir Muhanna’s suspicion that the English were his enemies and that they were the allies of Karim Khan, the Persian ruler, which caused their expulsion. The Dutch, for their part, were expelled from Khark Island after they had joined forces with Bushire in attacking Mir Muhanna on the orders of Karim Khan. In Bushire the case was different. Although the English acted neutrally in the conflicts they could not evade the dangers. They had suffered losses at ivlir Muhanna’s hands but Karim Khan believed that the English were refusing to help him against the Mir. The anger of Karim Khan, his determin-ation not to receive the English in audience, and the fear that his brother, ZaId Khan, would detain the English Agent in Bushire all motivated the withdrawal of the English settlement from there. At last, when the Qajar dynasty took control of all the Persian provinces at the beginning of the 19th century, the value of English trade with Persia increased enormously. The correlation between political unrest and poor trading results is demonstrated step by step, and in detail.
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION A conventional, simplified but consistent system of transliteration has been used in this book for Arabic and Persian words or proper names. The `ain is represented by and the hamzah by [1: the harrizah is omitted at the beginning of words. The td’ marbfitah appears as [h] except in idafah, when it is [t]. The usual exceptions have been made where authors use a preferred spelling for their names, and for words which are well known to non-specialist readers: thus, Afghanistan but Dashtistan; Bandar Abbas but Shah ‘Abbas. The mainly primary sources used in the study used wildly inaccurate ways of writing Arab or Persian names: for the sake of other researchers it therefore seemed particularly necessary to be precise about the names of the main actors and places. Reference is made in the Introduction to the variations of English language and spelling found in the original documents, and foreign names were obviously the most distorted elements, especially after two or three cycles of copying. Some names still defy absolute certainty about their spelling and these have been left as found .
LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Employment of men and boats in pearling, early 19th century ....49 2.1 Dutch trade with Persia, 1680-1682..............................................66 2.2 Expenses of the English settlement at Bandar Abbas, 1755-1760 ….................................................................................95 4.1 The watering party on Kharku: casualty list ……………………168 4.2 Balance sheet for Bushire trading, July 1767—December 1768..177 5.1 Property found on Khark..............................................................185 5.2 Bushire trade in 1776....................................................................204 5.3 Imports of broadcloth to Basrah and Bushire, 1777......................205 5.4 Summary of goods exported from Bombay to Bushire, 1787-1792 ….................................................................................208 5.5 Kirman wool exported from Bushire to Bombay, 1790-1795 …..209 5.6 Summary of goods exported from Bombay to Basrah, 1787-1792 ….................................................................................209 5.7 Costing of European copper, 1791-1796 ………………………..211 5.8 European copper imported and sold, 1791-1796 ………………..212 5.9 Pricing of Basrah copper, 1791-1796............................................212 5.10 East India Company trade between Surat and the Gulf, 1794-1799......................................................................................213 5.11 Native merchant trade between Surat and the Gulf, 1794-1799…213 5.12 Cloth ordered by Bushire, 1800 …………………………………217 5.13 Estimate of goods required in Bushire, 1801-1804……………...217 5.14 Bushire factory accounts—Debits ………………………………217 5.15 Bushire factory accounts—Credits ………………………….......218 5.16 Prices of goods on the market at Bushire, 1812 ………………...219 5.17 Prices of goods saleable at Bushire, 1812 ……………………….219 5.18 Value of EIC exports to the Gulf, 1801-1811 …………………. 220
1 Location map of the Gulf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Gulf and chief maritime trade routes to Europe and India . 3 Entrance to the Gulf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Persia under Zand rule, 1751-1795. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Persian coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The mid-Gulf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The northern Gulf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . POWER STRUGGLES AND TRADE IN THE GULF MA P S
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257 05 06 07 08 17 25 25 26 29 30 30 31 33 33 34 35 35 36 38 38 39 40 41 41 Preface . . . . . . . . . Note on Transliteration List of Tables . . . . . . Maps . . . . . . . . . . Glossary . . . . . . . .
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