Emergence of the baniyas and

qawasim and BEGINNINGS

OF THE COLONIAL
PERIOD
 IDENTIFY

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 Hello!

SPICE TRADE
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 LESSON OBJECTIVES

✣ Explore impact of the Age of Exploration and arrival of the

Portuguese

✣ Comprehend the resistance by local Arab people to the

Portuguese invasion

✣ Examine the UAE’s largest tribal groupings and their

influence on the present-day government
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 Maps

Portugal

Calicut

Cape of Good Hope

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 PORTUGUESE AND THE UAE
The early decades of the 16th century witnessed the foundation of the Portuguese Empire
with Lisbon’s single-minded determination to seize the most profitable ports in East Africa,
the Malabar Coast, the Konkan Coast, the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Malacca.

Albuquerque captured Socotra in 1507, as a base for blockading the Red Sea, and then
turned his attention to Hormuz, which commanded the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, in order
to wrest both of these important trade routes from Muslim hands. 

Since 1507, the Portuguese managed to strangle Oman’s maritime commerce by controlling
several key mercantile ports and cities in the Gulf. These ports included Julfar (now the
Emirate of Ras al Khaimah in the UAE) and Khasab, and the coastal towns between Ras al
Hadd and the Musandam peninsula. The ports in this latter area included Sur, Quriyat,
Muscat, Sib, Sohar, Khorfakkan, Dibba and Lima.

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 PORTUGUESE AND THE UAE
Khorfakkan which was then a busy and flourishing port. The
town was captured and set on fire and all buildings were
razed to the ground, Albuquerque described Khorfakkan as
“a very large place” and as a town with very good houses in
which there lived many wealthy merchants from India.

There were large stables for horses that were exported to India.
In the interior, there were estates with well-built houses, many
fruit and vegetable trees, as well as numerous water pools used
for irrigation. In the harbour, there were fishing boats and nets.
Portuguese fort in Fujairah

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The Portuguese Fort at Bidya

Remains of a Portuguese era fort have been

discovered in the village by a team of Australian
archaeologists.
The fort, originally called 'Libidia', was identified
from a 16th-century map.
Its walls were constructed using rock recovered from
a nearby tower dated back to the third millennium
BCE.
These walls, some 60 metres in length, are joined in
a square with towers on each corner and stand today
at a height of up to a meter.
Finds at the site of the fort include locally made
pottery dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries
and charcoal samples unearthed were carbon dated
to 1450–1600, within the context of the Portuguese
presence in the Gulf.
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HORMUZ AND THE PORTUGUESE IN THE
ARABIAN GULF
 HORMUZ AND THE PORTUGUESE IN THE
ARABIAN GULF
Albuquerque captured Hormuz (Ormuz), His project of building a fortress at Hormuz had to be abandoned
because of differences with his captains, who departed for India. Albuquerque, though left with only two
ships, continued to raid  Arabian coasts.

The map maker Pedro Barreto de Resende wrote that the water in Khor Fakkan is the ‘best in all of Arabia’

For most of the 16th century Portuguese claimed control over UAE by controlling Kingdom of Hormuz.

Once again, as with previous short-lived invasions by foreign powers the resilience of the people of the
UAE meant that the essential features of their society, forged over centuries remained.

Resistance against the Portuguese grew. In 1619, a major revolt occurred in Julfar, in Ra’s al-Khaimah. In
1622, Hormuz, controlled by the Portuguese, was attacked by a Persian and British force. After a several
month siege the city fell. The British had first arrived in the Gulf a few decades earlier, as had the Dutch,
though they never established any presence in the
Emirates
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 A Dutch view of Bidya in Fujairah
In 1666, a Dutch ship, the Meerkat, sailed along the coast. It described the town of Bidya as follows:
“Lebdia (Bidya) is a place which has about 200 houses all built from branches of date palms. It is standing on a
beach on a latitude of 25 degrees, 5 minutes. It has behind the houses a beautiful valley, where there are a
great many date palms and some fig trees and there are several wells, one of them a pistol’s shot distance from
the beach there is very good and fresh water to be got. In this valley grow some melons, watermelons and
onions…’

In Oman, the first leader of the Ya’ariba dynasty, Nasir bin Murshid (1624-1649 CE) began to retake Portuguese
forts by first attacking Muscat. Around 1632, Julfar was liberated when the garrisons of Hormuzi and
Portuguese soldiers were defeated. In 1643 Khor Fakkan was liberated. These victories encouraged further
resistance against the Portuguese.

By 1650, Muscat was retaken and the Portuguese had lost every outpost on the UAE and Oman coast. The
Portuguese did not disappear from the region, but their defeat meant that they were not longer controlling major
trade routes and putting heavy taxes on shipping. This permitted the tribes of the Arabian Gulf to sail under their
own flags.

The appearance of British soldiers in the attack on Hormuz in 1621 marked the emergence of an entirely new
European power in the Arabian Gulf.
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PLENARY

Summarise what you have learnt in five bullet points.

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The Baniyas and the Al Nahyan

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 The Baniyas and the Al Nahyan

The Bani Yas is a tribe historically located between the Khor Al Udaid  and the
Buraimi oasis (divided between the UAE and Oman) and were the dominant tribal
alliance in the Dhafra desert and Liwa oasis

It was from this tribal federation that the Al Nahyan family was to emerge. The first
evidence of their presence on the coast is found in a book written by the Venetian
jeweller Gasparo Balbi around 1580 in which he mentions the island of Sirbeniast
(Sir Baniyas)  and the mention of place names we recognize today Dibei-Dubai,
Agiman – Ajman, Emegovien – Umm al Qaiwain, Rasaelchime – Ras al Khaimah,
which were established 500 years ago

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 The tribal origins of the Modern UAE
The Qawasim and the Bani Yas represent twin aspects of modern life in UAE.

Emergence of these two groups allied with the tribes of smaller coastal ports like
Ajman and Umm a Qaiwain laid the foundation for UAE today

The leader of each community, the Sheikh ruled in consultation with other
members of his family and key individuals in the community.

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 Time line
Draw the timeline on the history of UAE

1095 1700 1853 1966

1820 1833 1971

History - The Official Portal of the UAE Government

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 The Al Nahyan Family

Ruling the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for decades, the deeply rooted Al Nahyan Arab ancestry goes
back to the original Al Bu Falah tribe of the region. Al Bu Falah’s renowned wisdom and strength
won the tribe the leadership and allegiance of Arab tribes in the regions of Abu Dhabi, including Al
Dhafra and Al Ain, since the mid-16th century.

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa Al Nahyan was the Sheikh of the Bani Yas of the Liwa Oasis (

Abu Dhabi emirate) from 1761 to 1793 and the founder of the Al Bu Falah dynasty, which still rules
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE),today.

Dhiyab bin Isa, leader of the Bani Yas tribal confederation, sent a hunting party from Liwa in
1761 which tracked a gazelle to a brackish spring on the island.

The gazelle became the symbol of Abu Dhabi, and gave it its name (literally Father of the
Gazelle). In 1793, The island expanded a village of some 20 houses and a fort there.

The village expanded quickly, and within two years there were 400 houses on the island, which
quickly became the capital of the Bani Yas.
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 The Al Nahyan Family

• One of the first thing Shaikh Dhiyab

did was to protect the newly dug
well, so a small, round watch tower
made of mud was built near the
water source.

• This is believed to have happened

in 1763, marking the birth of Qasr Al
Hosn, Abu Dhabi’s only historical
building still standing, home to the
ruling Al Nahyan family for two
centuries.

Fort of Qasr-al Hosn

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 Sheikh Rahma bin Matar Al Qasimi
• Sheikh Rahma, who founded the Al Qasimi dynasty, emerged as the most powerful among the
Huwala rulers”

• The Al Qasimi emerged as a strong maritime power 

• In this place itself there is a rather considerable trade as well as pearls as of some merchandise
and provision are carried into the desert.

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 The Qawasim
• In the centuries that followed, Ras Al Khaimah continued to flourish as a center of trade. One of the
most noteworthy maritime powers was the locally-based Al Qasimi clan (Qawisim), who became a
powerful force in the region in the 18th century. 

• Sheikh Rahma was being called the Emir and began to establish his own independent state

• He died around 1760 and succeeded by his brother Sheikh Rashid.They expanded their influence to
Khor Fakkan and Dibba. Their ships sailed the seas from Basra to India and southwards to East
Africa.

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Find about the following and complete the table

Bani Yas Qawasim

Origins

Founder

Today’s descendants

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PLENARY
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THREE BENEFITS OF General
Maritime treaty

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