A history of Omani-British relations, with special reference to the period 1888-1920

Contenu

Titre

A history of Omani-British relations, with special reference to the period 1888-1920

Type

PhD

Créateur

Mousawi, Hussa al- Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Date

1990

Résumé

This thesis has concentrated on one period of the historical relations which began
over three centuries ago. Great Britain, or rather Englan~ during the 1620s when
the Portuguese were still the lords of Muscat, was trying to explore the eastern
coast of Oman. They made friends in the Masseera Island, but their relationship
with the Portuguese was not a friendly one. They were welcome, indeed, by the
local powers as rivals to the Portuguese in India and in Persia as well as in Oman.
But despite the generosity of their help, they tried to strike a balance between the
ambitions of the local powers and those of the Europeans. The English, for
example, were reluctant to assist the Persian projects in Muscat against the
Portuguese. In fact, if the Portuguese were expelled from there by the Persians,
then it would be too difficult for the Omanis to occupy it. At the same time they
offered evacuation for the wounded and the surrendered Portuguese garrison with
their women and children. The English observed that, after all the people of South
Persia and of Hunnuz, Arabs or Persians alike, revolted. against Shah Abbas and
wanted. the Portuguese back, having discovered. them to be the lesser evil.
English interest in Oman and the Persian Gulf during the seventeenth century
seems to have been purely commercial. For example, during the sixteen thirties
and forties stable relations with the Portuguese were maintained., partly no doubt
a reflection of the marriage between their two royal families, but also because the
English saw commercial value in establishing good relations with both the
Omanis and the Portuguese. After the expulsion of the Portuguese, the English
witnessed the establishment of the first known Omani sovereign in the modem
world, and the establishment of an Omani Afro-Asian Empire. They established
good relations with the Ya,aarribeh family; but for some reason they were
reluctant to establish themselves in Muscat. Probably the Dutch were seen to be
in a better position while the English were ~stracted. by civil war. But during the
first half of the eighteenth century English policy seems to have changed,
probably due to the struggle between various local and European powers which
took the form of piratical activities on the seas, in which the Omani Ya,aaribeh
took part. By the second half of the eighteenth century the English had witnessed
the downfall of the Ya,aaribeh and Greater Oman, and the establishment of
another dynasty in the interior of Oman under Albu Sa,eed with the Omani Coast
in the Gulf ruled by EI-Qawaasem, highlighting the division of Oman. The
English found it in their interest to support Ahmed bin Sa,eed in East Africa,
against El-Mazaree,a, and to keep East Africa under the Yal-bu-Sa,eed rule. They
found a mutual interest in challenging the Qawaasem of Rasel-khaymeh in the
Gulf, and their allies the EI-Wahabyeen in Arabia., during the first half of the
nineteenth century.

Editeur

University of Glasgow Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Place

Glasgow

Langue

eng

nombre de pages

325

uri

http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4350/

Mousawi, Hussa al-, “A history of Omani-British relations, with special reference to the period 1888-1920”, University of Glasgow, 1990, bibliographie, consulté le 7 septembre 2024, https://ibadica.org/s/bibliographie/item/7903