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| Near & Middle East Titles: Documentary Studies in Arabian Geopolitics: Lower Gulf Islands: Abu Musa And The Tunbs Dispute |
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| ISBN: (13) 978-1-85207-490-6
Extent: 6 volumes, 4,000 pages Price: £1,995 This title may be part of a special offer, please click here for details Editor: R. Schofield and P. Toye Author:N/A ISBN: (10) 1-85207-490-6 Published: 1993 Paper: Printed on acid free paper Binding: Library bindings with gilt finish See sample pages: not available |
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Resumé
The Arabian Geopolitics series sets out to examine the key issues in the political evolution of strategic regions of the Arabian Peninsula. It explores the historical background to contemporary developments in political and territorial authority. It highlights the interaction of inter-state relations and claims, traditional trade and tribal activity and the extent to which natural resources dictate national claims. Disputes over the status of Abu Musa and the Tunbs dominate the maritime history of the southern Persian Gulf as recorded for the last hundred years in the archives of the Foreign Office and the British government in India.
This collection of primary source material makes available for the first time the vital historical evidence pertaining to the status of the islands. The issues involve Iran, the UAE, Abu Musa, the Tunbs, the lower Persian Gulf islands and the Strait of Hormuz. These volumes present balanced historical evidence on the long-standing dispute over island sovereignty, documenting successive Iranian claims and also the positions taken by the British government on behalf of the Qasimi shaikhdoms before UAE independence.
Historical Overview
Of all maritime disputes in the Persian Gulf, the rival claims of Iran and the Qawasim of the southern Gulf littoral to the sovereignty of the small but strategically important islands of Abu Musa and the Tunbs have proved the most resistant to settlement. Disputes over the status of Abu Musa and the Tunbs dominate the maritime history of the southern Persian Gulf as recorded for the last hundred years in the archives of the Foreign Office and the British government in India.
This series of volumes makes available for the first time the vital historical evidence available in British archives pertaining to the status of the islands. It seeks to do so in a balanced fashion, documenting the successive claims entered by Persia/Iran over the decades and also those forwarded by the British, responsible for the conduct of the foreign affairs of the Qasimi shaikhdoms of Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah until the independence of the UAE in 1971.
Along with the status of Bahrain and the Shatt al-Arab, the dispute over the Gulf islands prevented Britain and Iran from successfully concluding the Anglo-Persian General Treaty negotiations, begun in the late 1920s. Various compromises suggested then, typically the one whereby Sharjah´s title to Abu Musa would be recognised by Iran in return for acknowledgement of its rights to the Tunbs, never saw the light of day. These were repeated in the quest for a settlement of this enduring dispute in the mid-1950s, by which time access to offshore oil was perhaps the main determinant in the evolving political geography of the Gulf.
Contents Outline
Volume 1
- Nineteenth-century descriptions of the islands
- Perso-Muscat disputes over Bandar Abbas
- Rival claims to the Tunbs and Abu Musa from the Qawasim of Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah and Lingeh, 1818-1887
- Persian moves on Lingeh and Sirri
- Qasimi claims to the islands
- Hoisting of Arab flags
- Persian occupation and evacuation of the islands
- Re-opening of the dispute
- Anglo-Persian general treaty negotiations
- Rival claims and schemes for settlement that failed, 1928-1938
- Oil and the developing offshore political geography of the Persian Gulf
- The 1971 Memorandum of Understanding on Abu Musa between Sharjah and Iran, 1939-1971
Related Titles:
Documentary Studies in Arabian Geopolitics: Iran In The Persian Gulf 1820–1966
Gazetteer Of The Persian Gulf, Oman And Central Arabia
Islands And Maritime Boundaries Of The Gulf 1798–1960
Persian Gulf And Red Sea Naval Reports 1820–1960
Persian Gulf Historical Summaries 1907–1953
Persian Gulf Pilot 1864–1932, The
Political Diaries Of The Arab World: Persian Gulf 1904–1965
Survey Of The Shores And Islands Of The Persian Gulf 1820–1829