"Power Struggles and Trade in the Gulf 1620 – 1820'' is another book for the Ruler of the Sharjah, Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi. The book corrects the history written by foreign authors about the Gulf in the two centuries related to the subject of the book.

The references and margins of the book filled 33 pages, which reflect the great effort made by Sheikh Dr. Sultan to collect the information. The book talks about the many reasons that led to the deterioration of the trade including piracy especially from Banu Ka'b and later Al Qawasem, dismissal of the Dutch settlement from Kharg Island, the outbreak of disease in the Arab Turkish region in 1775 Ad,  the siege  and conquest of Basra and lack of currency. 

There was a competition in trade between the Netherlands and Britain. Each country had local allies helping each other. The war broke out between the two countries in 1653 AD and they reached a peace treaty in the next year. But the British trade stopped by the year 1656 AD, when the Persian Empire's trade of East India Company fell down. I read entertaining pages as much as useful about the types of used currency in this period such as toman, shahi, mahmodi, Rupee, Maria Theresa dollar and British Pound.

The author speaks about the foreign presence in Bandar Abbas, Bandar Rig and Bushehr, etc. The reference to Kharg Island made me remember something from the past years, whereas Iran tried to make it  compete Dubai in trade by using rich Shiite businessmen  and sending a ruler but it failed miserably, so the project ended.

Today there is a dispute over naming the Gulf, whereas it is the Persian Gulf in Iran and the West and the Arabian Gulf for us. Sheikh Dr. Sultan  Al Qasimi reviews the names of the Gulf including Al Qatif sea, Faris Sea, Basra Gulf, Al Qatif Gulf and sometimes the Arabian Guf, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

Source: Jihad-El-Khazen, Al-Hayat