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‘Administration report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1887-88.’ [13v] (24/72)
The record is made up of 1 volume (34 folios). It was created in 1888. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
22
APPENDIX A TO PART II.
SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF SEYYllTsULTAN BIN AHMED OP MUSCAT.
B y COLONEL S. B. MILES.
j-i, ai "Rnrv Sn'ppdv—succ66dGd tliatoftbG arebeh about
parnotis^XVand courage rescued his country from the hnmiliatiou of fore.gn eooquest,
and restored it to its dignity as an independent State. , , . , , .
It was in 1741 or 1742 that the Imam Sai£ bin Sultan, the Ya'arebeh, having een epose
by his relative Sultau bia Marshid. sent to Persia to beseech aid in dispossess,ng h,s nva a
recovering his throne. , „ , . ,r^ i
Nadir Shah, who had long entertained the notion of annexing El Bahrain and Oman, and
of extend ng his power over the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, and who, with this design in view bad already
comrnenced 0 the creation of a navy by the purchase of ships from the Dutch and by causing
others to be constructed at Surat, eagerly embraced the opportunity now afforded him of in e -
ference in the affairs of 'Oman, and he lost no time in making preparations for the invasion of
Eastern Arabia.
The Governor of Shiraz, Mirza Taki Khan, was entrusted with the command of the
Persian fleet, and he at first pretended to loyally assist the ex-Imam, Saif bin Sultan. Having
gained possession of Muscat however, he attempted to conceal his object no longer, and
commenced operations for the reduction of 'Oman to obedience.
He succeeded in over -running the country, and fought a great, but indecisive, battle under
the walls of Sohar, in which Sultan bin Murshid was slain; but his efforts to reduce that
fortress failed.
After spending the greater part of the year 1743 in contesting the supremacy with the
Wali of Sohar, Ahmed bin Saeed, whose conspicuous skill and ability had given him the general
lead of affairs, Mirza Taki Khan, becoming hopeless of the final success of his enterprise, and
disappointed in his expectation of enriching himself, made a truce with Ahmed and returned to
Persia early in the year 1744.
The garrison left in Muscat soon after surrendered and was treacherously massacred, and
the liberation of 'Oman from the Persian yoke was then complete.
The result seemed to be due solely to the genius of Ahmed, and for the service he had
rendered no reward appeared to be too great; the former dynasty was ignominiously thrust
aside, and Ahmed bin Saeed was elected Imam by general acclamation.
Some time previous to his death, the Imam Ahmed had nominated his eldest surviving son,
Saeed, to succeed him, but as Saeed was known to be of a soft and retiring disposition, the
selection was not universally approved of, and some of the younger sons were emboldened by
their father's increasing feebleness in his later years to rebel against him.
In the month of February 1781, Saif and Sultan, who were uterine brothers, having
gathered a small following, succeeded, by seducing the commandants, in getting possession of
the forts Merani and Jelali, at Muscat, the guns of which they turned on the town, and soon
laid in ruins the houses of the Governor and principal inhabitants.
The Imam marched down from Rostak to restore order, and began by removing the tra
ders and their goods to Muttrah for safety. He then invested the forts, but his sons, being
well supplied with provisions, and in expectation of aid from the pirate Chief of Ras-el-Khyma,
Shaikh Rashid, continued to hold out. In this assistance the brothers were disappointed,
although Rashid appears to have been sincere in his promise of help, and after a siege of three
months, during which the Hindoo and other traders sustained a loss of nearly three
lakhs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
of
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
, the forts were surrendered to the Imam, on his granting an amnesty to the garrisons.
On the 26th December of the same year Saif and Sultan rose again in rebellion. They
proceeded to Burka with a few adherents and slaves, surprised and captured their brother
Saeed, brought him down in fetters by boat to Muscat, and threw him into a dungeon in Fort
Jelali.
About this item
- Content
Administration Report on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 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 Muscat Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. (no 245, Foreign Department serial no 20) for the year 1887-88, published by Authority and printed by the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta [Kolkata]. A copy of a letter from Colonel Edward Charles Ross, 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General for Fars, to Henry Mortimer Durand, Secretary to the Government of India (Foreign Department), dated 14 June 1888, is included in the report (folio 4), the original of which submitted the report to Government, under the following headings:
Part 1 (General Summary), submitted by Ross (folios 5-11), containing numbered summaries of local political affairs, and incidents or events of particular note for: 1) Muscat state; 2) Oman pirate coast; 3) El-Bahrain (referred to as Bahrain in the text); 4) El-Katr [Qatar]; 5) Nejd, El-Hasa [Al-Hasa]; 6) Fars and the Persian Coast, including Shiraz, Bushire and its districts, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh] and Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; 7) Persian Arabistan; and 8) Persian Baluchistan. The report also includes summaries for: 9) Climatic observations, recorded by the observatory at Bushire, and 10) British actions against the slave trade. Appendix A contains tabulated meteorological data for the year, supplied by the Bushire observatory.
Part 2 ( Administration Report of the Muscat Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. for the year 1887-88 ), submitted by A. S. Jayakar, Surgeon Major in Charge of the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. (folios 12-18), containing a summary of affairs at Muscat, under the headings: political affairs, official changes, and slave trade. Appendix A to Part 2 is a sketch of the career of Seyyid Sultan bin Ahmed, the Imam Muscat, written by Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles.
Part 3 ( Report on the trade of South Persia for the year 1887-88 ), submitted by Ross and dated 15 April 1888 (folios 18-30). The report comprises a short summary of the year’s trade, with notes on: exports (opium, tobacco, cereals); imports (Manchester [cotton] goods, sugar, metals and rice); shipping; exchange; custom; and notes supplied by Lieutenant Vaughan on the economic state at Yezd [Yazd], where Ross advocates the establishment of a British agent. Appendix A comprises tabulated data on import, exports and revenue, in the Gulf ports of Bushire, Bandar-e Lengeh, Bandar-e ʻAbbās, Bahrain and the Arab (Oman) coast. An index to the trade tables can be found at folio 20.
Part 4 ( Muscat trade report for the year 1887-88 ), submitted by Jayakar (folios 30-36), comprising a brief summary of the year’s trade at Muscat, and also containing tabulated data on imports and exports at Muscat (listed by commodity), and the nationality and average tonnage of vessels visiting Muscat.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (34 folios)
- Arrangement
The report is arranged into four numbered parts, with lettered appendices containing further reports and statistical data coming after each part. The General Summary is further organised into numbered sections, and further divided into paragraphs which are also numbered, from 1 to 99.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the first folio, on number 3, and ends on the last folio, on number 36.
Pagination: The volume contains an original typed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/V/23/53, No 245
- Title
- ‘Administration report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1887-88.’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 3r:36v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence