'Field notes. Mesopotamia' [‎8v] (21/230)

6
The family of the present Shaikh, Mubarak bin Subah,
originally dwelt in a small fort called Umm Qasr, at the head of
the Khor ’Abdullah, whence, on account of acts of piracy, they
were expelled by the authorities at Basrah at the end of the
seventeenth century, with the result that they moved down to
Kuwait Bay.
For the succeeding two centuries, the history of Kuwait is
mainly concerned with tribal alliances or feuds, into which the
influence of the Wahabi* rulers from Riyadh or Hail entered from
time to time, and it was not until 1871 that any direct contact
with the Ottoman Empire first commenced.
In that year ’'Abdullah bin Faisal, the ruler of Xajd/appea’cd
to Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the Wali of Baghdad, for assistance against
’Abdullah’s brother Sa’ud, who had possessed himself of A1 Qatar
and Qatif, then under the rule of the Amirs of Xajd. 8a’ud had
also, in the harbours of these localities, seized certain Kuwait
ships, and had returned an evasive answer to the remonstrances
of the then Shaikh of Kuwait. As a result of a conference
between the Wali and the Shaikh, it was decided that they would
co-operate with ’Abd dlah against Sa’ud. The latter was de
feated and according to the Turkish account, the Shaikh placed
himself under Turkish control, assumed the Ottoman flag and,
by accepting the title of Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , acknowledged henceforth a
certain subjection to Turkey. According to the Kuwait con
tention, however, the Shaikh was merely granted the title of
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in return for services rendered, at the same time receiving
grants of land in the neighbourhood of Fao, and a grant of
money which was paid regularly until 1898.
Kuwait now (1915) flies a flag of its own.
From 1871 onwards to 1897, the question of the sovereignty
of Kuwait arose in various forms, mainly on the general point
of the repression of piracy on the Gulf Coast by British ships.
In April 1897, Shaikh Mubarak failed in an endeavour to
obtain from Turkey a recognition of independence, upon which
he preferred a definite request for British protection. The
British Government were at first not disposed to interfere, but in
*A puritanical Moslem sect started by ’Abdul Wahab of Basrah, which,
spread over the Arabian desert of Najd and the Nafud, and embraced the Jabat
Shammar country to the north-east.