Trucial States

The Trucial States, also known as the Trucial Coast, or the Trucial Sheikhdoms, or Trucial Oman, was a group of tribal confederations in southeastern Arabia south of the Persian Gulf whose leaders had signed protective treaties with the British Empire between 1820 and 1892.

The Trucial States remained an informal British protectorate until the treaties were revoked on 1 December 1971. The following day, six of the sheikhdoms—Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah—formed the United Arab Emirates; the seventh, Ras Al Khaimah, joined on 10 February 1972.

Overview

The sheikhdoms included:

Abu Dhabi (1820–1971)

Ajman (1820–1971)

Dubai (1833–1971)

Fujairah (1952–1971)

Kalba (1936–1951)

Ras Al Khaimah (1820–1972)

Sharjah (1820–1971)

Umm Al Quwain (1820–1971)

The sheikhdoms allied themselves with the United Kingdom through a series of treaties, beginning with the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 and including the Perpetual Maritime Truce of 1853, until in 1892 they entered into "Exclusivity Agreements" with the British—following on from Bahrain in 1880—which put them under British protection. This was an unclear status (that of a "protected state") which fell short of a formal protectorate, but required Britain to defend them from external aggression in exchange for exclusive British rights in the states.

Two sheikhdoms at various times looked as if they might be granted trucial status, affirming their independence from neighbouring Sharjah, Al Hamriyah and Al Heera, but neither signed treaties with the British. Kalba, granted trucial status in 1936 because it was chosen as the site of a back-up landing strip for the Imperial Airways flights into Sharjah, was re-incorporated into Sharjah in 1951 on the death of its ruler.

The last sheikhdom to be granted recognition was that of Fujairah, which became a trucial state in 1952 after the British Government came under pressure from PCL (Petroleum Concessions Limited) to grant status so that the company could have a free hand to explore for oil along the whole east coast.

In 1952, the Trucial States Council was established to encourage co-operation among the seven rulers. The Indian rupee remained the de facto currency of the Trucial States as well as the other Persian Gulf states, such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, until the Gulf rupee was introduced in 1959.