Negotiated Oman

With the strengthening of British colonial positions in India , Britain grew interested in asserting its dominance over the shortest waterways from India to Europe, which ran, in particular, through the Persian Gulf . Napoleon's expedition to Egypt intensified the efforts of the British East India Company in the Arabian region, which led to the conclusion of agreements between Britain and the Sultan of Muscat .

In 1804-1819, the fleet of the East India Company, together with the Muscat fleet, waged a naval war against the Wahhabis under the pretext of fighting pirates, concluding temporary agreements with the sheikhs of the Pirate Coast . Nevertheless, the Wahhabi Dirian emirate remained the master of the situation on land. When the Wahhabi state was destroyed by the Egyptians in 1811-1818, this did not reassure the British, since Ibrahim Pasha, the commander of the Egyptian troops, did not want to sign agreements.

In 1819, the British squadron defeated the fleet of the sheikhs of the Pirate coast at Ras al-Khaimah , destroyed their fortresses and cities, and in January 1820 the sheikhs of Ras al-Khaimah, Abu Dhabi , Dubai , Ajman , Sharjah and Umm al-Qaiwain signed the General Peace Treaty, to which the ruler of Bahrain joined. Formally directed against piracy, slavery, and the slave trade (but not addressing the issue of internecine naval wars), this treaty legitimized the British presence in the waters and on the Gulf coast. Breaking the contract, "unfriendly tribes" were punished by the British fleet.

Playing on the contradictions between the Egyptians and the non-Wahhabi , British diplomacy pushed the Arab rulers of the Pirate coast to sign the annual renewal of the First Armistice in 1835, according to which sheikhs were obliged to refrain from internecine sea wars during the collection of pearl shells in the sea . Since that time, the coast has been renamed the Armistice Coast, or Treaty of Oman. In 1843, the agreement was extended for 10 years, and in 1853 it was turned into an agreement on “eternal peace”.

In the years 1838-1839, during the offensive of Khurshid Pasha on the Second Saudi State , Great Britain achieved the conclusion of new agreements with the Sheikhs and Bahrain on the prohibition of the slave trade, which further expanded its functions of arbiter and controller in the Persian Gulf.

If in the more northern state formations there was a struggle for influence between Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire and Persia , then no one disputed British domination in the sheikhs of Treaty Oman. In 1892, Great Britain entered into exclusive agreements with local rulers forbidding them and their successors to enter into agreements and enter into relations, assign, sell, lease or give permission for the occupation of any part of their territory by a third power without British consent.

In 1911, the Exclusive Agreements were supplemented by obligations to no one but the UK to grant the right to mine pearl shells and sponges .

In 1968, Great Britain announced its intention to terminate the protectorate’s relations with the states of Treaty Oman. The sheikhs tried to organize a federation with the participation of Qatar and Bahrain , but the last two refused. On December 1, 1971, Great Britain announced the termination of treaties with the sheikhs, and the next day Abu Dhabi , Ajman , Dubai , Al Fujairah , Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain merged into the United Arab Emirates . On February 11, 1972, Ras al-Khaimah joined them.

• History of the East. In 6 vols. T. IV. East in modern times (late XVIII - early XX centuries). Prince 1 and 2. - M .: Oriental literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences , 2004-2005. - ISBN 5-02-018387-3