Initial Contacts with the British :

Oman had fallen under the sway of the Portugese in the year 1507. Superior naval tactics and technology helped secure control of the coast from the local leaders. The Portugese turned Oman into a crucial landing stage as part of their highly profitable Indies spice trade. The wealth and success of this trade attracted the interest of other European powers, most notably the British and Dutch, and it also spurred a local tribe to rise up and take control of their own destiny and resources. Oman's initial contacts with the British was part of an plan to undermine the commercial and political power of the Portugese in the area. In 1646, the Al-Ya'ribi clan made overtures to the British East India Company which resulted in a treaty guaranteeing trading, religious and legal rights for British merchants operating in the Oman. The object was clearly to weaken Portugal's control of the area. And sure enough, in 1650, Imam Sultan Bin Saif rose up against the Portugese and successfully expelled them from Muscat and Oman.


Establishment of Formal Relations

Having established favourable trading, legal and religious rights, the British East India Company didn't think that it was necessary to establish any more formal relations with the Omanis. There was no need to do so, the Omani's were happy to trade with the British and afford them many commercial advantages without the necessity of administrative cost or burden. This state of affairs was to remain in place until the end of the eighteenth century, when new strategic realities altered the balance of power in the region. The French had become the new competitors as Napoleon landed troops in Egypt and sought to challenge British commercial and political activities in the Indian sub-continent. This new threat meant that the British government (not the British East India Company) felt that it was necessary to firm up their relationship to Oman and its leaders. Two treaties were signed, one in 1798 and one in 1800. What marks these treaties apart from many similar Imperial era agreements is the amount of equality afforded by the British towards the Omani leaders. The treaties established more of a special relationship than any kind of unequal protectorate. Indeed, so successful was Oman that it had colonies of its own stretching from current day Pakistan down to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba on the East African Coast. This gave Oman a commercial and financial freedom that other Gulf leaders could not hope to match. However, the special relationship with Britain did provide the Al Bu Sa'id leaders with concrete commercial and political advantages. The Royal Navy provided a peace that allowed trade to thrive, whilst the British Army could and did help the coastally based leaders from being overthrown by tribes from the interior. Britain augmented their formal relationship with the Omani leaders by further treaties of 'peace, friendship and navigation' signed in 1891, 1939 and 1951.

To be continued.....

Administration :

Not being a formal colony or protectorate, Britain's involvement with Oman was a very subtle one, but nonetheless powerful for all that. A combination of a political consul at the Omani court in Muscat and the presence of the Royal Navy based in Bushire and ships constantly to-ing and fro-ing between Europe and India, meant that effective political control was never seriously doubted. To illustrate the power the British could exert over the Al-Bu Sa'id leaders, you only have to look at how Britain effectively enforced its own anti-slavery policy on the Omani leaders and traders. From the second half of the nineteenth century, this helped the Omani economy into an economic slump that was further compounded by political events after the death of Sa'id Ibn Sultan in 1856. In the subsequent succession crisis the British effectively split the Omani empire into two; one based on Muscat and the other on Zanzibar. This further weakened the Omani economy and ruling family. Perversely, this weakening of the country, actually made the ruling family more dependent upon the British for their existence. The British, therefore, provided successive Sultans with political and military support to keep them in position. From the middle of the eighteenth century, the regular British army provided most of the officers and training for the Omani armed forces.
The first occasion that the British were required to maintain the regime was after the death of Sultan Faisal Bin Turki in 1913. With no clear line of succession in Arab families, succession crises became a common occurence throughout the Middle East. On this occasion, tribes from the interior went so far as to attempt to sack Muscat. It was only the presence of British troops and officers that prevented the regime from being overthrown. An uneasy truce was called into existence between the Sultan, whose powerbase lay on the coast, and the Imam, who claimed to rule the interior tribes.

The British would also be called upon to prevent Ibn Saud from exerting too much influence and power in the Omani realms as he swept victoriously through the remains of the Ottoman Empire at the end of The Great War. As the principle financial backers of Ibn Saud, they could make sure that he did not get too carried away with his successes and try to take control of large areas of Oman. However, borders in the desert were difficult to police and agree upon, a fact that would come back to haunt the British and the Omani leaders when oil raised the political stakes in the region in the 1950's.

The Buraimi crisis in the 1950's was a complex series of political loyalties and strategic imperatives that pitted the Omani regime and the British against the Saudis and tribes from the interior. It demonstrated how, even in a period as late as the 1950's, the British could still exert decisive political and military action in the area. In return for oil concessions, the British provided Sultan Said Ibn Taimur with the necessary political and military support to eject the Saudis and to destroy the powerbase of the interior tribes once and for all. Yet again, the ability of a weak regime to call upon British support allowed it to continue in existence when many lesser regimes would have fallen by the wayside. Oman was never a formal British colony, but the extent of its dependence upon the British certainly made it seem as if it was. Indeed, Sultan Said was such an anglophile that he came to depend on the British (and a few local trading families) to what was perhaps a dangerously unhealthy degree and one that resulted in political and economic stagnation for the country. So much so, that even the British were concerned for the political future of this country and it is possible that they were instrumental in securing a bloodless coup that allowed Sultan Qaboos (Said's son) to come to power in 1970. Britain has always denied any involvement, but this seems unlikely given that the army was mostly commanded by British officers at the time.

To be continued......

Role within the Empire

Oman was primarily a commercial staging post between Europe and the Indian sub-continent. It was also at the center of a dynamic regional trading hub that connected India, the Middle East and East Africa. Shipping companies and businesses were content to work in the relatively peaceful framework of the Omani empire of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Ships from the British Indian Navy would regularly call on the ports of Oman on their way to and from Europe or as part of anti-piracy or slavery drives. As European ships improved in technology and as the British developed alternative naval facilities in Aden and at Suez, the importance of Oman began to wane. This was further compounded by the curtailment of the slave trade and the stripping of the Zanzibari possessions from Muscat. Oman slipped in economic and strategic importance until the discovery of oil in the region in the 1940's and 50's. This reinvigorated Britain's interest in the area and ensured that the British would try to maintain strong diplomatic, military and political relations with the regime.


Withdrawal from Empire
In 1968, the British announced that they would formally withdraw from the Gulf region by the year 1971. However, the strong, and technically informal, relationship that Britain held with Oman meant that the abondonment was not as sudden or as precipitate as it was with the other Gulf countries. This is perhaps best illustrated by the extent that they helped establish Sultan Qaboos as the leader of the country. They also provided troops to help suppress the Dhofar rebellion in the years 1973 to 1976. Britain's relative decline in international terms has meant that its power has been reduced somewhat, but perhaps more than with any other country the British have maintained an uncommonly strong relationship with the country of Oman so far.


*this information referred to THE BRITISH EMPIRE

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/index/index.html

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