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‘Koweit [Kuwait]. A report compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department’ [15] (29/66)
The record is made up of 1 volume (33 folios), with 3 maps. It was created in 1903. 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.
i5
six officers of the Variag i rode out from Koweit to Jehara
(18 miles), where they spent the night as Mubarak's guests, and
/eft some presents behind them on their departure.
The Russian Consuls at Baghdad and Bushire have visited
Koweit during the course of the year, 1902. They both showed
themselves anxious to impress upon Mubarak the advantages of
Russian friendship and protection. The Russian cruiser
Askold and the Russian cruiser Bovarin in company with the
French ship Infernet went there still more recently.
In January 1900, a German mission, composed of the Germany.
German Consul General at Constantinople, the Chief Engineer
of the Baghdad Railway (with certain technical assistants),
visited Koweit in connection with the proposed selection of
Kathama as the terminus of that railway, Mubarak declared
himself unable to grant a concession of any part of his territory
for this purpose.
A word must be said as to the relationship of Koweit with Turk ey«
Turkey. Mubarak asserts his entiie inHependence, and the British
Government have on|many occasions insisted on the unsubstant ial
character of the Sultan's authority and have claimed for the Sheikh
a large measure of practical independence. Still the fact
remains that there have been relations between the two states,
which, however, on the whole do not seem to be entirely incon-
sistent with the present claim to independence. Going back
some thirty years, Mubarak's account is as follows ;—
Feysul, ruler of Nejd, Bahrein, El Hasa, Katr, and Katif,
had four sons— Abdullah, Muhammed, Saood and Abdur Rahman.
After Feysul's death, Abdullah succeeded, but Saood possessed
himself of El Katr, and Katif, and made war against Abdullah.
The latter appealed to the Wali of Baghdad, Midhat
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
for
assistance in 1871. At the same time, Saood had seized certain
Koweit ships at El Hasa, and had returned an evasive answer to
the remonstrances of the then Sheikh of Koweit, Muhammed.
At this juncture, the Wali of Baghdad offered Turkish
troops to operate against El Hasa and Katif. After taking coun
sel, it was decided that Koweit would co-operate with Abdullah
and the Turks against Saood. The Sheikh of Koweit provided
300 ships for transport, and put himself at the head of 7,000
mounted men and 12,000 camels. In six days, he defeated
Saood, and occupied the capital of El Hasa, with the support
of the' Turkish troops. Sheikh Muhammed remained in El
Hasa eleven months, pacifying the country; after which he
returned to Koweit. Midhat
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
, pleased with the way things
had ^one, obtained for Sheikh Muhammed a yearly grant of
150 tons of dates (=perhaps £600), which was pa.d regularly
until 189S since when the payment has not been made.*
•M Siromyatuikoff says that he was shown a copy of the "firimn" under
which this grant was made, in which the Sheikh was described as " Sheikh of
Ko.veit.'' •
About this item
- Content
Intelligence report on Kuwait, compiled for the Intelligence Branch of the Quarter Master General’s Department by Captain Henry Harris Hewitt Dowding of the Essex Regiment, and printed at the Government Central Printing Office in Simla, 1903.
The contents of the volume are as follows:
- Introductory remarks;
- Harbour, anchorages;
- History of Kuwait (of the Wahabis, the Ibn Rashid family, the war between Nejd and Kuwait);
- Political (relations between Kuwait and Great Britain, the situation in 1901-02, foreign relations with Russia, Germany, Turkey, events during 1902);
- Military forces, including their strength, arms and equipment, organisation, standard of efficiency and tactics;
- Towns: Kuwait, its population and defences; Jehara [Al-Jahrah], its importance, population and defences;
- Administration, government, free trade, currency;
- Resources, commercial, not agricultural;
- Climate;
- Communications
Four appendices follow the main text: A. routes; B. the Wahabi family; C. the Ibn Rashid family; D. the Shaikhs of Kuwait. The volume also contains three illustrations: the foreshore at Kuwait (folio 3); Mobarek-bin-Subah [Mubarak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ] and his youngest son Naser (folio 9); the Shaikh’s residence in Kuwait (folio 17). The volume also contains three maps: a map of Kuwait and the surrounding country (folio 30); a map of Kuwait harbour (folio 31); and a rough diagram of Jehara (folio 32).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (33 folios), with 3 maps
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged into a number of sections, with major headings in the text and subheadings indicated alongside the text in the outer margins. A contents page (folio 6) lists these major headings and subheadings, along with the volume’s illustrations and maps, and refers to the volume’s original pagination system. Four appendices follow the main text. An alphabetical index (folios 26-28) also refers to the volume’s original pagination system.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: The booklet contains an original typed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/153
- Title
- ‘Koweit [Kuwait]. A report compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department’
- Pages
- front, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1:6, 1:4, 4a:4b, 5:18, 18a:18b, 19:23, 32, 25:31, 24, 33:34, 1:14, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence