Chapter 4: Foreign Power in the 16th – 17th Century

• In the 16th century, Gulf was affected by the age European expansion
• In the 16th century, a new economic system called capitalism was created
o Capitalism is imperialistic economic system that was exploitive
o If you don’t have laws to control capitalism, you will have a small amount of people that are extremely
rich, a poor and some people that are slaves
o Capitalism is a result of European expansion
▪ Colonialism = imperialism = European expansion
▪ Eurponian colonist was made from settlements
o European capitalism began in Qatar and gulf during the Portuguese

• Portuguese came to the region they didn’t have much to do with Qatar but more about Bahrain
o Portuguese stuck in the gulf for 100 years
• Ottoman empire came in 16th century
• During the 17th century Britain came to fight Portuguese for religious reasons (fight between roman catholic church
and Protestant)

• India was the reason countries colonized Qatar

o Europe and India had a lot of trade but that was blocked
▪ They used to go to India by land through Europe and Asia or by boat in the Mediterranean but
that was blocked because of the Ottomans
▪ Ottomans colonized Anatolia and Balkans by 1493 and cut off the route by forcing them to pay
taxes
▪
o Europeans tried to go to India by going east (discovered America)
o Portuguese went from sea by passing Africa

• First Europeans to go to India in 16th century were the Portuguese

o They colonized India and wanted to secure it by colonizing the gulf
o Alfonso was mean

o Ormuz was the base of Portuguese and they posed taxes on the island and anyone passing through and
stole the wealth
▪ Portuguese were brutal to Ormuz people and especially Muslims where they cut their extremities
off
o They took muscat as well
o There are rumors that Portuguese attacked Qatar and people fled to al Zubarah

o Portuguese integrated Qatar into Indian ocean economic system and created a joint Indian ocean economy
o All the regions around India were economically intwined

• Portuguese created war in the gulf because when they arrived the ottomans came to kick them out

• Qatar became part of ottomans in 16th century when they came to fight the Portuguese
o When the Portuguese came, they allied themselves with the Persians against ottomans
▪ Persians preferred Christian colonizers as there was extreme religious conflict between Sunni and
Shia
o Portuguese and Persian fought against ottomans for the gulf and most of it was fought in the Iraq area
near Basra
o Basra was affected and was colonized by Persians which led to a lot of Sunni Muslims to fled to Zubarah
which led to the flourishing of that region
• Ottomans were Turkish that expanded under Solomon
o Ottomans wanted the gulf to control Mecca and Madina cause of religious reason as they wanted to be the
hub of Islamic civilization
o They also wanted the gulf and Arabia as it was centre of trade and didn’t want it to fall under Persians and
Portuguese

o They came through Al Hasa as it had oases and dates and made allies with the tribes in Qatar especially
Al Musallam
o When ottomans came, they didn’t come as colonizers but as small groups for relations
o In Mecca and Madina, they made sure to say something nice about al sultan that’s it
o They colonized the region through friendship more than they fought and took it by
o Ottomans eventually went back to Basra (their hub of control) and then left no war no nothing

o Bahrain wanted ottomans even though they were Shia because Portuguese were brutal

• Eventually Portuguese had issues with rebellion and the king of Ormuz rose up again and as a result they became
weak and were attacked by Persians
o They were called back by Portuguese monarch as they got controlled by Spain through marriage
o Spain wasn’t interested in India and gulf instead they were interested in Americas, so they called the
Portuguese back to help that

• Bani Khalid controlled al Ahsa and was the centre of al Bahrain (Al Bahrain= Bahrain, Qatar, al Ahsa)
o Al Ahsa had a lot of resources
o The Bani Khalid where the dominating tribe till the Saudi’s came and kicked them out in 1890s.
o Bani Khalid collected zakat and was called al dahla
▪ functioned as an entry for the smaller tribes to bigger tribes
▪ Zakat was viewed as religious tax.
o Bani Khalid didn’t directly rule over Qatar instead indirectly
o Al Musallam and Bani Khaldi were friends where they married each other and celebrated Eid together
o Nobody controlled the gulf in the 18th century

• 1622, British came, and they attacked the Portuguese in Ormuz and won
o When British came the Persians allied themselves with the British as they were stronger than Portuguese,
were not brutal and torturous and didn’t attempt to Christianize anybody instead it was interested in
keeping British’s power in the region
o British came to fight the Portuguese because of religious war
▪ British’s church of England was protestants and Portuguese were Catholics

o Beginning of 350 years of presences of Britain in gulf and left in early 1970’s
o British did not come for Qatar or gulf but for India
▪ British didn’t pay attention to the gulf except Ormuz
o It came as east Indian trade company where they had outposts in Kuwait and Oman
▪ From Mumbai to Ormuz to Syria to Britain was the trade route created to transport goods which
relied heavily on the sea
▪

o It is at 19th century when the British started paying attention to the gulf area
o They based on themselves on the Persian’s side as they were allied together, and Persians allowed them to
take some areas
• Many merchants came to Qatar as refugees from the Persians and Portuguese war and settled in Al Zubarah.
o Qatar did not have laws or taxes
o Al Musallam were the original tribe of Zubarah, and they welcomed everyone especially those who gave
them money