"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٠‎٠‎١] (١٧٨٢/١١٥٦)

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Sulaimaii-bin-Ahmad ; and the Al Subali enjoyed some sort of political
predominance over the other divisions o£ the tribe. According to another
authority the chief Shaikh of the Al Subah at the time of the foundation
of Kuwait was one Rahim.
In the first fifty years after its foundation, the town of Kuwait grew
rapidly in wealth and importance ; and the 'Utub, partly by means of
matrimonial alliances with other tribes in the neighbourhood, succeeded
in making their position good against the Bani Khalid, who till shortly
before had dominated the whole north-eastern coast of Arabia. Ihe
chief of Kuwait from about 1756 to about 1762 was Shaikh Subah, who
was succeeded by his son, Shaikh 'Abdullah.
In 1758, when Dr. Ives and his party passed through Kharag on
their way from India to Europe, friendly relations prevailed between
Baron Kniphausen, the head of the Dutch settlement on Kharag, and
the Shaikh of Kuwait, " a man greatly obliged to him, and in some
measure under his influence^; and it occurred to the Baron that
arrangements might be made through the Shaikh for the British travel
lers to accompany a caravan proceeding from Kuwait by the desert to
Aleppo—a route which, though more arduous, was shorter in time than
that by Basrah and Baghdad. A boat was accordingly sent, on the 31st
of March, to fetch the Shaikh from Kuwait to Kharag ; but he did not
make his appearance until the 14th of April 3 and his demands, when he
came, were so extortionate and so firmly maintained as to make the
Baron secretly doubtful of the expediency of the plan which he had
himself proposed. The British party, on becoming aware of this, relieved
him from his embarrassment by suggesting that, for various reasons,
they should continue their journey by the Basrah -Baghdad route.
In 1766, in circumstances of which no explanation except one probably
fanciful is extant, the Al Khalifah division of the 'Utub separated
themselves from the rest of the tribe and removed to Zubarah in Qatar,
where they became an independent colony. They were followed, after a
short interval, by the Jalahimah ; and the Al Subah remained in exclusive
possession of Kuwait.
Friendly relations between the 'Utub of Kuwait and those .of
Zubarah must, if ever interrupted, have shortly been resumed, for in
1776 one of the Shaikhs and a number of the chief inhabitants of
Kuwait took refuge at Zubarah in consequence of the capture of Basrah
by the Persians. The fall of Basrah did not, however, injure Kuwait;
on the contrary, a considerable part of the trade of Basrah was
diverted, during the Persian occupation of that place, to Kuwait.
Rapid growth
of the
settlement,
1716-fiG.
Relations of
tho Dutch at
Kharag with
the Shaikh
of Kuwait,
1758.
Emigvation
of the Al
Khalifah and
Jalahimah
from Kuwait
to Zubarah
in Qatar,
1766.
Effect on
Kuwait of
the capture
of Basrah by
the Persians,
1776-79.