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Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1883/84 - 1904/05 [‎15r] (34/602)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (299 folios). It was created in 1884-1906. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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EESIDENGT AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR 1883-84,
27
to Mecca and Medina he was accompanied by a large escort and entertained witli great
sumptuonsness. He created everywhere an immense sensation, and his popularity among the
people was not lessened by the generosity of his gifts. Notwithstanding his being Akharejite
or dissenter, Sa^eed was received with the greatest respect and honour by the Shereef, and on
his departure was presented with splendid gifts by Mohammed Ali, Sauced was received on
his return to Muscat with loud acclamations) and the rejoicings lasted several days.
In July 1826 Sa'eed sent a fleet to blockade Bushire in the absence of the Governor,
Shaikh Abdul Russool, though, at the request of the Resident, he refrained, from attacking
the town. The Shaikh himself was captured at sea on his way home shortly after and
detained a prisoner until the following year, when he paid a ransom of 80,000 dollars and
agreed to surrender a Persian princess, a sister of Reza Kolee Mirza, who had been promised
to Sa'eed, but had been delayed at Bushire by the Governor, who was desirous of marrying her
himself. In November of the same year Sa^eed, having been unable to prevail on the Govern
ment of Busra to pay the stipulated subsidy, the arrears of which had amounted to 104,000
dollars, equipped a fleet to enforce his demand. In an engagement that ensued the Turks
were defeated and the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. carried prisoner to Muscat. Busra was blockaded until the
Turks made terms.
The following year was spent by Sa'eed in a fruitless war with Bahrein, for which he had
made long and expensive preparations. With the object of taking the Uttoobees by surprise,
Sa'eed contradicted the rumours prevalent of his intentions, and assured the Shaikh of his
pacific feelings until about a month before he arrived there with his fleet, which was in Novem
ber 1828. In his attack on the island, however, his force was completely routed and many
slain while he himself was slightly wounded. Being thus discouraged in his enterprise, he
abandoned its further prosecution and returned to Muscat. A peace was concluded between
the belligerents on terms not unfavourable to Sauced in December the following year.
In 182-9 the Chief of Dhofar, Mohammed Akil, was murdered at Morbah, and Sa^eed imme
diately despatched a force to take possession of that district. This force only remained a few
months, for Sa^eed, having done with Bahrein, prepared to visit his East African possessions in
order to conquer the district and island of Mombasa, and with this object withdrew the troops
from Dhofar. Having appointed his nephew, Mohammed-bin-Salim, Regent, and treacherously
seized and imprisoned his cousin Hilal, with a view to keep him out of mischief, he sailed for Mom
basa accordingly on the 15th December. The importance of this part of Sa'eed's dominions,
which was to occupy his chief attention for the next 15 years, and was to be selected shortly as
his permanent residence, will be our apology for taking a short retrospect of the state of
affairs there. East Africa had been occupied by the Omani Arabs for many centuries.; they
had succeeded the Persians in the domination of the salient points of trade on that coast, and
had been in their turn supplanted by the Portuguese. Without going back to those times
to observe the wave of history, it will suffice to commence our retrospect from the period
at which the decadence of the Portuguese led to the re-assumption by the Arabs of their
supremacy at Mombasa.
About the year 1655 A.D. the Imam Sultan-bin-Seif, at the solicitation of a deputation
of tbe inhabitants, who were tired of the tyrannical rule of the Portuguese, sent a fleet to
besiege the place.
After a siege of five years he succeeded in expelling the Portuguese and appointed a
Governor. The Portuguese, however- soon recovered possession of Mombasa and retained
it until 1696 or 1698 A.D., when an Arab fleet, despatched by the Imam Seyf-bin-Sultan,
again expelled the Portuguese from Mombasa; the success of the Arabs being followed
by a general attack on, and massacre of, the Portuguese along the Coast at Kilwa, Pemba, Patta,
Zanzibar, and other places. Affairs at home, however, precluded the Imam and his successors
from interfering with East Africa, and Mombasa was left to take care of itself until the year
1728, when the Portuguese Admiral, Luis de Sampaio, appeared with his fleet and again
brought the whole coast under subjection to his sovereign. Finding the tyranny of the
Portuguese insupportable, the inhabitants soon renewed their solicitations to ■'Oman for deliver
ance, and a small fleet was accordingly despatched to their aid. But in the meantime, having
found an opportunity, the inhabitants rose and massacred their oppressors, so that the
Arab deputed by the Imam to assist in expelling the Portuguese > had nothing to do but
to quietly assume the position of Governor. This man was Mohammed-bin Sa'eed El Maamire,
For the first time an Arab garrison was placed at Zanzibar by this W all, who appears to have
remitted a small annual tribute to 'Oman. In 1739 the then di of Mombasa, Saleh-
bin-Sa'eed El Hadrami, was succeeded by Mohammed-bin-'OtLmaii EI Mezrni. Mohammed is
4 A

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Content

The volume contains printed copies of Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Administration Reports. The Reports are incomplete (according to the introductory letters and lists of contents). Some of the Reports bear manuscript corrections. The following Reports are represented :

The Reports include a general summary by 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. (covering the constituent agencies and consulates that made up 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. , and topics such as the slave trade, piracy, the movements of Royal Navy ships, official appointments, and the weather); meteorological tables; separate reports on Muscat (also referred to as Maskat); reports on trade and commerce; and a number of appendices on special topics, such as supplementary notes on the care and culture of date trees and fruit (Report, 1883-84), historical sketch of the Portuguese in eastern Arabia (Report, 1884-85), notes on a tour through Oman and El-Dhahireh [Al Dhahirah] by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles (Report, 1885-86), notes on cholera in Persia (Report, 1889-90), report on the cholera epidemic in Maskat, Matrah, and Oman (Report, 1899-1900), and information on individuals and tribes.

Extent and format
1 volume (299 folios)
Arrangement

The Reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume. There is an introductory letter/table of contents at the front of each Report, but these show that the Reports are not complete.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at 3 on the second folio after the front cover, and continues through to 299 on the back cover. The sequence is written in pencil, enclosed in a circle, and appears in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1883/84 - 1904/05 [‎15r] (34/602), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/709, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023373225.0x000023> [accessed 1 December 2024]

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