Arab reformers and nationalists In 1839 Britain occupied Aden on the southern coast of Yemen, then on the further fringes of the Ottoman Empire, making it a British Crown Colony After the Suez Canal became a major trade route, Aden became a bustling port city and trading center Britain and the Ottomans clashed repeatedly over control of northern and southern Yemen In the late 19th century, the British signed formal treaties with a number of tribes in the regions around the port of Aden; these became known as the Aden Protectorates The largest of these sultanates, sheikhdoms, emirates, and confederation of tribes was the two sultanates of Hadhramaut In the early 20th century the British and Ottomans agreed to specific borders demarking their respective territorial claims Britain also sought to protect its vast holdings in India and to prevent rival European imperial powers from expanding into Asia by extending its control over neighboring areas both east and west of the Indian subcontinent Consequently, British foreign service officials in Delhi sought to extend British control along the Persian Gulf The British secured a number of treaties with the ruling families along the Persian Gulf, which in Arab provinces was frequently referred to as the Arabian Gulf The patron-client relationship between Arab rulers in the Gulf and the British lessened Ottoman control and freed local rulers from Ottoman taxation while increasing their own political power The local economies were dependant on income from pearls and sponges obtained by divers who were paid by a few trading families who often had ethnic and commercial ties with Persia Because the area was largely poverty stricken, local sheikhs were also interested in possible economic gains from ties with the British The first British treaty agreement in the region was with the sheikh of Muscat (part of present-day Oman) in 1798 Successive agreements were signed between the British and the ruling Al Khalifah clan in Bahrain in 1820 and with the Sabah family in Kuwait in 1899 Under the latter, Britain had the right to conduct all the foreign relations for Kuwait, and no foreign treaties could be signed nor could foreign agents operate in Kuwait without the approval of Britain This enabled Britain to ensure that the proposed Berlin to Baghdad railway would not be extended to the Persian Gulf, and it also made Kuwait an unofficial British protectorate Similar agreements were reached with the Thani clan in Qatar and with a number of local rulers in the Trucial Coast (present-day United Arab Emirates) As a result, acting through its surrogates, Britain 33 was able to control the coastal areas along almost all of the Arabian Peninsula See also Eastern Question Further reading: Bidwell, Robin The Two Yemens Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983; Boxberger, Linda On the Edge of Empire: Hadhramawt, Emigration, and the Indian Ocean, 1880s–1930s Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002; Cottrell, Alvin J., et al., eds The Persian Gulf States: A General Survey Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980; al-Naqeeb, Khaldoun Hasan Society and State in the Gulf and Arab Peninsula London: Routledge, 1990 Janice J Terry Arab reformers and nationalists During the 19th century a number of Arab intellectuals led the way for reforms and cultural changes in the Arab world Rifa’a al-Tahtawi from Egypt was one of the first and foremost reformers A graduate of esteemed Muslim university al-Azhar, Tahtawi was sent to France to study as part of Muhammad Ali’s modernizing program He returned to Egypt, where he served as director of the Royal School of Administration and School of Languages, was editor of the Official Gazette, and Director of Department of Translations Tahtawi published dozens of his own works as well as translations of French works into Arabic In A Paris Profile, Tahtawi described his interactions as a Muslim Egyptian with French culture and society His account was an open-minded and balanced one, offering praise as well as criticism for many aspects of Western civilization For example, Tahtawi respected French originality in the arts but was offended by public displays of drunkenness Tahtawi urged the study of the modern world and stressed the need of education for both boys and girls; he believed citizens needed to take an active role in building a civilized society Khayr al-Din, an Ottoman official from Tunisia, echoed Tahtawi’s emphasis on education while also addressing the problems of authoritarian rule He advocated limiting the power of the sultan through law and consultation and wrote the first constitution in the Ottoman Empire The Egyptian writer Muhammad Abduh dealt with the ongoing question of how to become part of the modern world while remaining a Muslim He was heavily influenced by the pan-Islamic thought of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani Abduh taught in Lebanon, traveled to