'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎189v] (383/862)

268
HISTORY
was to create a tribal chaos in this region which still persisted in the
Mandatory period.
In Kurdistan the Kurdish tribes were more closely attached
to particular localities, but the Tapu office did much to stabilize
land tenure in the Assyrian plains. Turkish control remained ever
feeble outside the towns and did not exist in the remoter valleys.
The recently arrived Hamawand (p. 263) were never mastered but
dominated at will Sulaimaniya and even Kirkuk. The period is
remarkable for the ruin of hitherto prosperous Sulaimaniya by the
misgovernment of the local notable, Shaikh Said, a priestly fanatic in
league with the Hamawand (1881-1909). There were outbursts of
religious persecution and massacres of Nestorian and other Chris
tians in the Amadia region (1843-1846), and later in Sulaimaniya.
Foreign Relations and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
The main theme of this period was the consolidation of British
power in the Gulf and southern Iraq with the object of checking first
Russian and later German plans for the control of the Mesopotamian
route to the Indian Ocean. The risk of war in Kurdistan between
Turkey and Persia, which was rapidly becoming a second-class Power,
declined with the abolition of the Baban dynasty (p. 263). But friction
over the exact line or zone of the frontier continued throughout the
century, despite the efforts of a frontier commission including English
and Russian representatives to map and determine the frontiers
(1850-1869). Their labours ended with another reversion to the
status quo. J^w difficulties arose from the founding of Mohammerah
(1812) by the Muhaisin tribe. This was claimed by both countries and
eventually assigned to Persia (1847)) though the Shaikh in fact main
tained his independence. Agreement over the frontier was reached
by another commission in 1913-1914, but final ratification was
prevented by the war. The partition of Persia into spheres of Russian
and British influence (1907) had excluded Turkish interference, and
satisfied Russian ambitions for the time being.
British trade increased throughout the century, as did the
political prestige of 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 the interest taken by the
Government of India in the control of the Gulf and of the Basra
vilayet. Close ties already existed with the Sultan of Muscat and
Oman, outside the strait of Hormuz, and with the Trucial Shaikhs
and the ruler of the Bahrein islands within the Gulf. But in 1869
the grip was tightened by an ‘exclusive agreement’ between the
Trucial Shaikhs and Great Britain by which the Shaikhs undertook