War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

128 Lawrence G. PotterBu Sa‘id family came to power in 1749 in the wake of the Iranian invasion. 14In Najd, in eastern Arabia, there was the rise of the Wahhabis and establishmentof the Al Saud dynasty. Khuzistan, the south-west province of Iran,witnessed a large-scale introduction of Arab tribes from Najd, especially theBanu Ka‘b (Chaub), who wielded considerable power in the latter eighteenthcentury. 15While not well documented, the continuous exchange of peoples betweenthe two shores likely increased in this period and gave many Arabs afoothold on the Iranian coast. Why did they come? Nadjmabadi’s researchsuggests that many did so because of more favourable environmental conditions.There was ample space and water for their animals and for date plantations.16 She describes a process whereby Arab settlement took place withthe blessing of the Iranian government, which could not otherwise protectthe coastal inhabitants. The relationship between the Iranian authoritiesand the shaikhs of the coast was contractual, with the shaikhs paying regulartaxes (maliyat) to the state in return for the right to levy taxes on importedgoods and collect taxes from the coastal residents. 17 According to Ricks, therewere about 30 port towns (bandar) divided into 5 sections from north tosouth. These ports were allied on the basis of tribal origin and marriage, andusually engaged in warfare only in conjunction with others. He notes thatclose ties between the bandaris made them a significant force should warfarebreak out. 18 When it did, often a coalition of Arab and Persian forcesengaged in the fighting. In the opinion of Landen, “in a real sense the Persianinterest in Gulf affairs in the eighteenth century was an expression of thedesire of Iranian-coast Arabs to realize their own leadership in the Gulf.” 19Two major Arab groups centred in the lower Gulf were the Qawasim confederationand the Hawla (Huwala). The Qawasim rose to power along theso-called Trucial Coast, centred in the towns of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah,and later gained a foothold on the Iranian side. 20 Karim Khan Zand supportedQawasim settlement on the Iranian coast. 21 Following the death ofNader Shah, the Qawasim seized Bandar Langeh and held it until 1765, thenretook the city after the death of Karim Khan in 1779. They held it, alongwith the islands of Abu Musa, Sirri, and the Tunbs, until 1887. TheQawasim also contested with the Ma‘in Arabs and Oman for control overQeshm, which was taken over by the Al Bu Said ruler in 1794–1795. 22 Alliedto the Wabbabis in central Arabia, the Qawasim were regarded by theBritish as pirates and the target of major British raids on Julfar (now Rasal-Khaimah) in 1809 and 1819. 23 They were rivals of the sultan of Oman andchallenged the Omanis for supremacy in the Gulf.The Hawla or Huwala (sing. Holi) were groups of Sunni Arabs that migratedfrom Oman and the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula to the Iranianside of the Gulf in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many Hawlalived on the coast between Bushehr and Bandar Abbas. 24 They laterreturned to the Arab side as individuals or groups, but many were unsurewhat tribe they belonged to and they freely intermarried. About 1900 they