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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [38] (47/748)
The record is made up of 1 volume (371 folios). It was created in 1916. It was written in English and Arabic. 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
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38
SOCIAL SURVEY
In name, however, the Sultan claims and, if strong enough with
British support, exercises territorial authority over a very long
coast and hinterland, beginning on the south of the pemnsula west
of Rakhyut (on about long. 53° E.), and running round to Khor
Kalba, just south of Fujeirah (on about lat. 25 N.), a stretch
not far short of 1,000 miles. The western half of this to about
50 miles from Ras el-Hadd, is the narrowest of strips, backed by
uninhabited desert, and itself at intervals desert down to the wave-
line The rest, Oman Proper, broadens out between sea and desert
to a maximum of about 80 miles, and tapers again as it runs up into
the Ras el-Jebel promontory. Except in the latter region, halt
of which is recognized territory of the Jasimi Chief of oharjan
and the other Trucial Chiefs, the Sultan of Oman claims all the
habitable hinterland up to the central desert. The former African
possessions of the house have been detached under an allied
dynasty since the recognition of Majid, the great-uncle of the present
Sultan, in 1860, as independent ruler of Zanzibar.
The direct relations of the Oman Sultanate with tne iintisn
Government in India began in 1798. A treaty was then framed to
exclude the influence of France, with which Great Britain was at war.
Since that date a state of semi-dependence has gradually been forced
on the dynasty by circumstances, no Sultan haying been able to con
solidate and maintain his position without British help and support.
In return for a considerable subsidy, a British Resident's advice is
to be treated as paramount; and in 1891 the predecessor of the
actual Sultan entered into a binding agreement which subjected
the external relations of the dynasty to exclusive British control.
French and German efforts to obtain a footing, and restrictions
which we have been compelled to impose on the transit of arms
and munitions through Oman ports to both the interior and the
opposite shore of the Gulf, have raised constant difficulties; but
our position has been maintained.
The Sultan keeps a force of regulars, sufficient to hold and preserve
order on the coast, but rarely adequate when operations on any
scale are necessary inland. On such occasions the help of the
Indian Government is usually required. But in all other attributes
of sovereignty the Sultan acts for and by himself. There is no
British occupying force, and there are no British officials in the
administration.
4. Sultanate of Koweit (British Sphere).—The Sheikhs of the
Pirate Coast, of El-Qatar, and of Bahrein are all mediatized inde
pendent rulers ; but their respective ranges are so restricted that
they can be treated adequately in the subsidiary sections of the
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Arabia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: May, 1916) and contains geographical and political information of a general character concerning the Arabian Peninsula. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, from sources, including native information obtained for the purpose of compiling the volume, since the outbreak of the First World War. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the districts or provinces of the Arabian Peninsula and include information on the physical character, as well as social and political surveys.
The volume includes a note on official use, title page, and a 'Note' on the compilation of the volume. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following sections:
- Chapter 1: Physical Survey;
- Chapter 2: Social Survey;
- Chapter 3: The Bedouin Tribes: A. Northern Tribes, B. Tribes of the Central West, C. Tribes of the Central South, D. Tribes of the Central East, Supplement: Non-Bedouin Nomads;
- Chapter 4: Hejaz;
- Chapter 5: Asir;
- Chapter 6: Yemen;
- Chapter 7: Aden and Hadhramaut: A. Aden and the Interior, B. Hadhramaut;
- Chapter 8: Oman: A. The sultanate of Oman, B. Independent Oman;
- Chapter 9: The Gulf Coast: A. The Sultanate of Koweit [Kuwait], B. Hasa, C. Bahrain, D. El-Qatar, E. Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ;
- Chapter 10: Nejd;
- Chapter 11: Jebel Shammar;
- Chapter 12: The Northern Nefūd and Dahanah Belts;
- Chapter 13: Settled Tribes of the North-West;
- Chapter 14: Settled Tribes of the West;
- Chapter 15: Settled Tribes of the South;
- Chapter 16: Settled Tribes of the Centre;
- Appendix: Note of Topographical and Common Terms;
- Index;
- Plates.
The front of the volume includes a 'List of Maps' and a 'Note on the Spelling of Proper Names'. Maps contained in this volume are:
- Map 1: Arabia: Districts and Towns;
- Map 2: Orographical Features of Arabia;
- Map 3: Land Surface Features of Arabia;
- Map 4: Tribal Map of Arabia.
The volume also contains fifteen plates of photographs and sketches by Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Douglas Carruthers, Captain Gerard Leachman, Dr Julius Euting, George Wyman Bury, and Samuel Barrett Miles.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (371 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in chapters. There is a contents page, list of maps, alphabetical index, and list of plates.
- 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 front cover, on number 1, and ends on the last of various maps which are inserted at the back of the volume, on number 371.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [38] (47/748), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037114035.0x000030> [accessed 9 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/E84/1
- Title
- 'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:381, 384:726, ii-r:ii-v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence