Local economies and international power struggles

Throughout the 19th century the pearling industry and trade with India and East Africa lay at the heart of Qawasim prosperity and provided the most crucial focus for all economic activity in the Gulf. Local rulers exerted great skill in maintaining a delicate economic and political equilibrium in the face of determined British policies aimed at consolidating their hegemony and keeping competing European powers from gaining a foothold in the Gulf. In 1892, the leading sheikhs of the Gulf were enjoined to sign an “Agreement of exclusivity” in return for continuing British protection. It effectively prevented any local ruler from establishing economic or political links with any foreign entity other than Britain. This ensured Britain’s ultimate control over all affairs relating to the Gulf coast. By 1914, British hegemony had transformed the indigenous structures of the Gulf and laid the foundation for the realities with which we are familiar today.