The Gulf and South Arabia (1798 - 1899)

02The Gulf and South Arabia (1798 - 1899)

Britain after the French Campaign

• The French Campaign on Egypt and the Levant drew England's attention to the importance of Egypt and the lands of the Eastern Arab world.
• It made a treaty with the Sultan of Oman (October 1798): he undertook not to allow a French or Dutch agency on his soil and to expel all French subjects, while a British garrison was stationed there.
• Britain occupied the island of Perim (Brim) at the entrance of the Red Sea by Bab el-Mandeb (May 1799), to cut the road to the French should they think of passing through the Red Sea to India — then the most important British colony.
• After the French left Egypt (1801) England withdrew from this island and made an agreement with the Sultan of Lahej and Aden in 1802 providing for a British garrison to secure the road to India.

Britain and Muhammad Ali

• England watched navigation in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, and was surprised by the appearance of Muhammad Ali, wali of Egypt, at the head of the Gulf from the north after he destroyed the First Saudi State in 1818.
• It began to suspect that he had plans of expansion in the Gulf that threatened its interests.
• So it supported its influence over every emirate of the Gulf and imposed (January 1820) agreements on all the sheikhs of the emirates under the name of the General Treaty of Peace (the Perpetual Maritime Truce), which forbade piracy and forbade the slave trade carried on by the Sultanate of Oman.
• The treaty was renewed over the following years, which in the end allowed Britain to act as arbiter in disputes between the sheikhs.
• The agreements took the form of a British protectorate over the region, the most important being the protection agreement with the Sultan of Muscat (1891) and with the Ruler of Kuwait (1899).
• In 1837 Muhammad Ali reached Yemen in the name of the Ottoman Sultan; fearing his presence, Britain hurried to occupy Aden (January 1839) and made an agreement in which the Sultan of Lahej undertook to secure the roads, watch his followers and prevent them from resisting the English.