Final ku his

1775 Persian Siege and Occupation of Basra

• Caused the English Company to route its dispatches through Kuwait.

• 1779: Ottomans regained control over Basra.

• Kuwait developed into a major boat-building center.

Sabah I

• Abdallah I is said to have been the youngest of Sabah I's five sons

Abdallah I (c. 1756-1814)

• Participated in the government before becoming ruler.

• Governed in consultation with relatives and Kuwaiti notables.

• 1760s: The Al-Khalifa family, ancestors of Bahrain's ruling family, left Kuwait for Zubara, causing an economic setback.

• 1775-1776: Prosperity returned when the Persian siege and capture of Basra led the English East India Company to route trade through Kuwait.

• 1779: Ottomans regained control of Basra, but Kuwait's harbor and reliability became better known.

• Kuwait invested profits in larger ships and became a boat-building center.

• Kuwaitis owned one of the finest fleets in the Arabian Gulf.

• Early victory over the Bani Ka'b, a maritime tribe.

• 1782: Battle of Riga - Kuwait defeated Bani Kab.

• Kuwaiti ships helped the Al-Khalifa extend authority from Zubara to Bahrain.

• Abdallah I refused to marry Maryana Bani kay.

• 1789: Abdallah I gave shelter to fugitives at Atamany.

• 1793-1795: Britain transferred their base to Kuwait.

• The Wahhabis, followers of Muhammad ibn Abdal-Wahhab, aimed to spread their version of Islam and extend power.

• Initially, the Wahhabis weakened both Kuwait and the Bani Khalid.

• By the 1790s, the Wahhabis broke the power of the Bani Khalid and became masters of Arabia's heartlands.

• 1797: Abdallah I sent contingents to join Turkish troops and Iraqi tribesmen at Jahra.

• 1798: Assisted the Ottoman force sent south by sea and desert.

• The Wahhabis acquired influence, forcing Abdallah I to ally with them temporarily.

• 1803: Kuwaitis and Bahrainis, allied with Wahhabis, attacked and killed Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmad of Oman.

• The Wahhabis realized Abdallah I's lack of commitment and continued to menace Kuwait.

• People feared land attacks by Wahhabi zealots and sea attacks by their allies.

• The Al-Jalahima, an Uthi family, raided along the Arabian Gulf.

• British honored a truce with their leader, Rahma bin Jabir and focused on the Qawasim.

• Al-Sabah and Al-Khalifa fought the Al-Jalahima with anti-Wahhabi elements.

• 1809: The Al-Jalahima killed a son of Abdallah I; they continued preying on Kuwaiti shipping.

• Abdallah I preserved Kuwait's independence and established its reputation as a stable state.

• Migration of Iraqis and Persians added diverse features to Kuwaiti society.

• Original founding families formed an aristocracy alongside the ahl al-shimal.

• Abdallah I died in 1814 and was succeeded by his son, Jabir.

Jabir I (1814-1859)

• Known as "Al Aish" (Jabir the Rice) for generously feeding the poor.

• Tradition says that Jabir lived in Bahrain due to disagreements with his father.

• Muhammad Salman Sabah I briefly assumed power, but the Kuwaitis preferred Jabir.

• Jabir I maintained friendly relations with the English East India Company.

• He welcomed British successes in combating piracy, which enabled Kuwait's long-distance trade to flourish.

• 1821: The English East India Company moved its trading post from Basra to Kuwait for a few months due to a plague.
  *Many Kuwaitis profited from transporting and selling pirate booty to the Persians and Persian-backed Arabs on the Persian littoral

• British - long distance trade

• 1831: Turki Abdallah Alsand visited Kuwait Cubaithlyah

• 1834: Turus Assasination.
  *1832 English company transfer
  *English company transfer 1834, Turus Assasination

• Jabir I's foreign policy alternated between opportunism and non-alignment. *Jabir I whose foreign policy alternated between opportunism and non-alignment. For this reason, despite good relations with the British, he refused a formal alliance and maintained equally good relations with other foreigners including the Ottomans'

  • He refused a formal alliance with the British but maintained good relations with the Ottomans.
    *1839  Jabir I gave a British officer, Lt. Edmunds, a frosty welcome, they dismissed this  as merely to mislead the Egyptian agent at  Kuwait  as to his relations with the British powerSimilarly, in 1841, the  British Resident in the Arabian Gulf wrote to the Directors of theEast India Company that it was only natural that Jabir I would not allow Kuwait to become a British naval station or coaling depot
    *1841, the  British Resident in the Arabian Gulf wrote to the Directors of theEast India Company that it was only natural that Jabir I would not allow Kuwait to become a British naval station or coaling depot "YourHonourable Committee will… understand the reluctance with whicha chief holding himself so much above the common motives of interestwould view the introduction of a foreign power (Great Britain)which… would probably sooner or later dispossess him and his Son of the power and influence they now enjoy…"
    *Two European travellers, Buckingham and Stocqueler, who visited the Gulf separately, were also impressed, the former writhing in November816 that Kuwait"seems always to have preserved its independence.and the people… have the highest character for probity, skill,firmness and courage”.
    *As much asJabira kept out or the turmoil, but sometimes he intervened in order to win prestige, rewards and friends. In 1826-27 the Ottomansrewarded him for helping to chase. off the forces mounted by the BaniKa'b and their ally Sayyid Said bin Sultan of Oman who had beentrying to force the Mutasallim of Basra to pay money owing for Omanhelp during the Persian, siege of Basra in 1775 and 1776.
    *826-28- help ottamaschase off the Badi kab
    *Later,however, Jabir became friendly with the Ottomans' enemy, Turki17 Abdallah Al-Saud, and personally offered gifts during Turki's visit toKuwaiti territory (Subaihiya) in 1831 when Turki was at the height ofhis power. In the same period, strengthened by his Saudi alliance,Jabir I dared to blockade Basra in support of what seems to have been arevolt against the new Pasha in Baghdad, Ali Ridha. Also hebefriended the Al-Saud's "Thaqib" cousins whom some of the powerfulIraqi (Muntafiq) shaikhs, the Al-Sa'dun, had been helping to establishat nearby Zubair as a dynasty ruling independently of the centralOttoman authority.
    *1837, helped ottamasin a blockade in Mahamma port
    *1836 he acquiesced in the overthrow of the Al-Thaqib as Amirs of Zubairand, in 1837, he assisted the Ottomans by ordering the powerfulKuwaiti fleet to blockade the port Muhammera (now KhoramshahrinIran) which the Ottomans then destroyed. Muhammera was thustemporarily eliminated as a commercial rival to Basra and Kuwait-adevelopment that greatly increased Jabir I's populanty with themerchants. Meanwhile Jabir I began receiving larger gifts of dates10from the Ottomans and was rewarded with date groves on the Shattal-Arab. These and other resources made him the first Al-Sabahruler to be rich enough to act at least partly independently of Kuwait'spowerful raerchants.
    *Closer involvement with Ottoman Iraq weakened Kuwait's shallowalliance with the Al-Saud. In 1838, when the Imam Faisal was capturedand imprisoned, Jabir I went so far as to court his Egyptian captor,Khurshid Pasha, the victorious pro-consul of Muhammad Ali Pasha.
    *Bir Al-Aish - feeding poor

• Jabir died in 1859, remembered for his modesty, dignity, and generosity.

Sabah II (1859-1866)

• Described as "A fine, stout, hale old man… rough in appearance and manner, but kind at heart."

• A connoisseur of statecraft, having assisted his father, Jabir I, in administering Kuwait.

• Maintained Kuwait's traditional policy of non-alignment in foreign affairs.

• Cultivated good relations with Faisal Al-Saud, the Imam of Najd, and his son, Abdallah.

• The Ottomans were trying to convert nominal suzerainty into actual control.
  *1841 , Anglo- kuwaiti Maritime Trice

• 1854: virtual ruler
  *1862, British Merchant started callingat  kwait
  *1866, Ottamon sequested Al-Sabah propertyat Sufiyya, Shatal Arab
  *Two major battles were fought in Kuwait during Sabah II's reign. The Kuwaitis were involved in neither of them, the combatants being theforces of Abdallah ibn Faisal Al-Saud and of Rakan ibn Hithlain,paramount shaikh of the Ajman tribe. The first battle took place in thespring of 1860 by the wells of Malah about twenty miles south of Kuwaittown. According to Saudi sources, the Ajman were roundly defeatedhaving fought with reckless courage in the classic Bedouin tradition.
  *battles happened in Saba II:
  Battle of Malah, 1860
  kle of tin
  *By avoiding entanglement in these conflicts Sabah II enabled Kuwaitto develop its trading and pearling activities almost without interrup tion. As commerce expanded, he began imposing customs dues onimports; but when he tried to tax exports, particularly of horses toIndia, 10 the merchants insisted that if he needed money he could ask forit but not receive it routinely as a right. They also challenged thehigh-handed methods of his tax collector, Anbar, and threatened toabandon Kuwait if he were not removed from office. "On both occasionsSabah II yielded, compromising between the interests of the Al-Sabah154

155and the Kuwait merchants" and using such money as he had to help the poorer citizens whom many of theships' captains and merchants were all too ready to underpay andovercharge; and, like his father before him, he provided the poor withfree food which was served daily at the guest-house beside the SiefPalaceSabah II was said to be eighty-two years old when he died in 1866, Hiswives included Mauza Salman Al-Daud (W) and Lulua MuhammadAl-Thaqib (see p. 238 and Appendix D).
*Sabah II was said to be eighty-two years old when he died in 1866

Connoisseur - expert authoritySpecialistStatecraft Skillful management of stateaffairs.

Abdallah II (1866-1892)

• aligned Kuwait with Ottoman Turkey. Though he enjoyed the hospitality of a Pasha.

• Object was most obsessive concern. Ever since the days of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-39) they had tried to impose themselves on the fringes of their empire and tobind local rulers more closely to their central administration, so it wasinevitable that the Al-Sabah should have had to face this challenge. Atfirst, during the reigns of Jabir I and Sabah II, Kuwait had managed tocooperate with the Ottomans without sacrificing its de facto indepen that most enthusiastic exponent of the Ottoman forward policy, Midhat Pasha

• In exchange for "a pledge that his town would enjoy administrative autonomy" place Kuwait at his disposal as a military base.

• Thus forestsalled an invasion and gained a profitable role for himself and the merchants as ottoman allies.
  *sent force of cavalry under his brother Mubarak (later Mubarak 1)to join about one thousand Iraqi Muntafiq tribesmen in their southwardmarch to fight for Abdallah ibn Faisal Al-Saud

• Later that year Abdallah II accepted the position ofQaimmagam of Kuwait
  *friendship between the Al-Sabah and the Al-Saud survived
  *Abdallah II died aged seventy-eight years in 1892

Muhammad I (1892-1896)

*was the second son of Sabah II. On becoming ruler in1892 he took personal charge of administration and foreign policywhich he declared would remain as pro-Ottoman as it had been underhis predecessor. He placed financial affairs in the hands of his brother,Jarrah, with whom he ruled in a virtual partnership. His other brother