Arabia in general and the gulf in particular experience a turbulent time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

To the southeast, the Al Said of Oman are extending their influence northward, and from Iraq the Ottoman Turks are extending their influence southward.

From the east, both the Iranians and the British are becoming increasingly involved in Arab affairs.

The most significant development in the region, however, is the Wahhabi movement.

The name Wahhabi derives from Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, who dies in 1792.

He had grown up in an oasis town in central Arabia where he studied Hanbali law, usually considered the strictest of Islamic legal schools, with his grandfather.

While still a young man, he had left home and continued his studies in Medina and then in Iraq and Iran.

When he returns from Iran to Arabia in the late 1730s, he attacks as idolatry many of the customs followed by tribes in the area who venerate rocks and trees.

He extend his criticism to practices of the Twelve Imam Shia, such as veneration of the tombs of holy men.

He focuses on the central Muslim principle that there is only one God and that this God does not share his divinity with anyone.

From this principle, his students begin to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (sing., muwahhid), or "unitarians."

Their detractors refer to them as "Wahhabis."

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab considers himself a reformer and looks for a political figure to give his ideas a wider audience.

He finds this person in Muhammad ibn Saud, the emire of Ad Diriyah, a small town near Riyadh.

The two swear a traditional Muslim pledge in 1744 in which they promise to work together to establish a new state (which will later become present-day Saudi Arabia) based on Islamic principles.

The limited but successful military campaigns of Muhammad ibn Saud cause Arabs from all over the peninsula to feel the impact of Wahhabi ideas.

The Wahhabis become known for a fanaticism similar to that of the early Kharijites.

This fanaticism helps to intensify conflicts in the gulf.

The origins of the Bani Yas tribe and the Al Qasimi family that rule in the present-day UAE are somewhat clearer.

The Bani Yas originate in central Arabia and probably establish themselves on the coast at Abu Dhabi around 1700; they later extend their influence to Dubai.

Historical evidence indicates that the Al Qasimi lived along the gulf during the pre-Islamic period and engaged in trade, pearling, and piracy.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are a turbulent time for Arabia in general and for the gulf in particular.

To the southeast, the Al Said of Oman are extending their influence northward, and from Iraq the Ottoman Turks are extending their influence southward.

From the east, both the Iranians and the British are becoming increasingly involved in Arab affairs.

The most significant development in the region, however, is the Wahhabi movement.

The name Wahhabi derives from Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, who dies in 1792.

He had grown up in an oasis town in central Arabia where he studied Hanbali law, usually considered the strictest of Islamic legal schools, with his grandfather.

While still a young man, he had left home and continued his studies in Medina and then in Iraq and Iran.

When he returns from Iran to Arabia in the late 1730s, he attacks as idolatry many of the customs followed by tribes in the area who venerate rocks and trees.

He extend his criticism to practices of the Twelve Imam Shia, such as veneration of the tombs of holy men.

He focuses on the central Muslim principle that there is only one God and that this God does not share his divinity with anyone.

From this principle, his students begin to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (sing., muwahhid), or "unitarians."

Their detractors refer to them as "Wahhabis."

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab considers himself a reformer and looks for a political figure to give his ideas a wider audience.

He finds this person in Muhammad ibn Saud, the emire of Ad Diriyah, a small town near Riyadh.

In 1744 the two swear a traditional Muslim pledge in which they promise to work together to establish a new state (which will later become present-day Saudi Arabia) based on Islamic principles.

The limited but successful military campaigns of Muhammad ibn Saud cause Arabs from all over the peninsula to feel the impact of Wahhabi ideas.

The Wahhabis become known for a fanaticism similar to that of the early Kharijites.

This fanaticism helps to intensify conflicts in the gulf.

Whereas tribes from the interior have always raided settled communities along the coast, the Wahhabi faith provides them with a justification for continuing these incursions to spread true Islam.

Accordingly, in the nineteenth century Wahhabi tribes, under the leadership of the Al Saud, move at various times against Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.

In Oman, the Wahhabi faith creates internal dissension as well as an external menace because it proves popular with some of the Ibadi tribes in the Omani interior.

Wahhabi thought has a special impact on the history of Qatar.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's ideas prove popular among many of the peninsula tribes, including the Al Thani, before the Al Khalifa attempt to take over the area from Bahrain at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

As a result, Wahhabi beliefs motivate Al Thani efforts to resist the attempt of the Al Khalifa, who reject Wahhabism, to gain control of the peninsula.

Wahhabism will distinguish Qatar religiously from its neighbors in the early twenty-first century.

Wahhabi fervor is also significant in the history of the present-day UAE.

The Al Qasimi tribes that have controlled the area since the eighteenth century adapt Wahhabi ideas and transfer the movement's religious enthusiasm to the piracy in which they had traditionally engaged.

Whereas Wahhabi thought opposes all that is not orthodox in Islam, it particularly opposes non-Muslim elements such as the increasing European presence in the Persian Gulf.

The increased European presence results in large part from commercial competition between Al Qasimi merchants and British merchants for the lucrative trade between India and the Persian Gulf in the early nineteenth century.

British merchants enlist the British navy to assist them by launching attacks on Al Qasimi strongholds in the present-day UAE as early as 1809.

The navy does not succeed in controlling the situation until 1819, in which  year, the British send a fleet from India that destroys Ras al Khaymah, an Al Qasimi port at the east-ern end of the gulf.

From Ras al Khaymah, the British fleet destroys Al Qasimi ships along both sides of the gulf.

The British have no desire to take over the desolate areas along the gulf; they only wish to control the trading cities.

The British decide  to leave most tribal leaders in power and conclude a series of treaties with them.

As a result of these truces, the Arab side of the gulf comes to be known as the "Trucial Coast."

This area had previously been under the nominal control of the sultan in Oman, although the Trucial Coast tribes are not part of the Ibadi imamate.

The area has also been referred to as "Trucial Oman" to distinguish it from the part of Oman under the sultan that is not bound by treaty obligation.

The British in 1820 seem primarily interested in controlling the Al Qasimi, whose main centers are Ras al Khaymah, Ajman, and Sharjah, which were all small ports along the southeastern gulf coast.

The original treaties, however, also involve Dubai and Bahrain, which are entrepôts. The inclusion of these ports bring two other extended families, the Bani Yas and the Al Khalifa, into the trucial system.

Wahhabi fervor is also significant in the history of the present-day UAE.

The Al Qasimi tribes that have controlled the area since the eighteenth century adapt Wahhabi ideas and transfer the movement's religious enthusiasm to the piracy in which they had traditionally engaged.

Whereas Wahhabi thought opposes all that is not orthodox in Islam, it particularly opposes non-Muslim elements such as the increasing European presence in the Persian Gulf.

The increased European presence results in large part from commercial competition between Al Qasimi merchants and British merchants for the lucrative trade between India and the Persian Gulf in the early nineteenth century.

British merchants enlist the British navy to assist them by launching attacks on Al Qasimi strongholds in the present-day UAE as early as 1809.

The navy does not succeed in controlling the situation until 1819, in which year, the British send a fleet from India that destroys Ras al Khaymah, an Al Qasimi port at the eastern end of the gulf.

From Ras al Khaymah, the British fleet destroys Al Qasimi ships along both sides of the gulf.

The British have no desire to take over the desolate areas along the gulf; they only wish to control the trading cities.

The British decide to leave most tribal leaders in power and conclude a series of treaties with them.

As a result of these truces, the Arab side of the gulf comes to be known as the "Trucial Coast."

This area had previously been under the nominal control of the sultan in Oman, although the Trucial Coast tribes are not part of the Ibadi imamate.

The area has also been referred to as "Trucial Oman" to distinguish it from the part of Oman under the sultan that is not bound by treaty obligation.

The British in 1820 seem primarily interested in controlling the Al Qasimi, whose main centers are Ras al Khaymah, Ajman, and Sharjah, which were all small ports along the southeastern gulf coast.

The original treaties, however, also involve Dubai and Bahrain, which are entrepôts.

The inclusion of these ports bring two other extended families, the Bani Yas and the Al Khalifa, into the trucial system.

Wahhabi thought has a special impact on the history of Qatar.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's ideas prove popular among many of the peninsula tribes, including the Al Thani, before the Al Khalifa attempt to take over the area from Bahrain at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

As a result, Wahhabi beliefs motivate Al Thani efforts to resist the attempt of the Al Khalifa, who reject Wahhabism, to gain control of the peninsula.

Wahhabism will distinguish Qatar religiously from its neighbors in the early twenty-first century.

Tribes from the interior have always raided settled communities along the coast, but the Wahhabi faith provides them with a justification for continuing these incursions to spread true Islam.

Accordingly, in the nineteenth century Wahhabi tribe under the leadership of the Al Saud move at various times against Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.

The Wahhabi faith creates internal dissension in Oman as well as an external menace because it proves popular with some of the Ibadi tribes in the Omani interior.

East Africa (1684–1827 CE)

Omani Seas, Highland Courts, and the Caravan Turn

Geography & Environmental Context

East Africa in this age braided the Indian Ocean littoral—Somalia, eastern Ethiopia/Kenya/Tanzania, northern Mozambique, Comoros, Zanzibar–Pemba, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles—with the interior highlands and lake plateaus—Eritrea/Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, inland Kenya/Tanzania, northern Malawi, northwestern Mozambique, Zambia, northern Zimbabwe. Anchors ranged from Swahili port cities(Mogadishu, Mombasa, Kilwa, Sofala, Zanzibar) and island crossroads (Comoros, Mascarenes) to Gondar and the Ethiopian escarpments, the Great Rift lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika, Kivu, Turkana), the inter-lacustrine plateaus, and the savanna woodlands of inland Tanzania and Zambia.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The waning Little Ice Age brought alternating droughts and floods. Pastoral belts in the Horn suffered grazing crises; cyclones periodically battered Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles; southern Madagascar swung between famine and recovery while the highlands expanded irrigated rice. Rift-lake levels fluctuated, altering fisheries and lakeshore fields; coastal farmers diversified to cushion rainfall volatility.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Littoral & islands: Swahili towns remained Islamic mercantile hubs; diets widened with cassava and maize. Zanzibar–Pemba cultivated rice, coconuts, and, in the early 1800s, rapidly expanding clove plantations under Omani rule; Comoros balanced gardens, rice, and fishing; Mauritius/Seychelles developed sugar and copra plantations with enslaved labor.

• Madagascar: Merina highland consolidation (late 18th–early 19th c.) intensified rice terracing, tribute, and firearms-backed expansion; Sakalava coastal polities sustained cattle, raiding, and slave exports.

• Highlands & plateaus: Ethiopian/Eritrean terraces produced teff, barley, wheat; church forests and ox-plough agriculture anchored villages. Great Lakes polities (Buganda, Bunyoro, Rwanda, Burundi) rested on banana gardens, sorghum/millet, beans, and cattle, with dense settlement and court redistribution.

• Savannas & pastoral belts: Sorghum/millet/maize mosaics spread; fishing and hunting remained key; South Sudan–Turkana–Karamoja transhumance tracked pastures and wells.

Technology & Material Culture

• Oceanic kit: Dhows with lateen sails stitched ports to Arabia/India; coral-stone mosques, carved doors, and merchant houses framed Swahili towns.

• Highland engineering: Stone terraces, canals, ox traction, and manuscript ateliers at Gondar; royal compounds and muraled churches.

• Court regalia & crafts: Drums, ivory trumpets, barkcloth and raffia weaving, lake canoes; island sugar mills, Seychellois coconut presses.

• Arms & imports: Firearms and powder into coastal and Malagasy polities; in the interior, guns followed caravan lines, supplementing spears and shields.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Omani ascendancy: Oman expelled Portugal from Mombasa (1698) and built a coastwise regime centered on Zanzibar, re-routing Indian Ocean commerce.

• Caravan turn: Ivory and slave caravans from the Tanzania–Mozambique interior converged on Kilwa, Bagamoyo, Zanzibar, Mozambique Island; inland copper and cattle moved along the Zambezi/central Zambian routes.

• Madagascar–Mascarenes link: Merina and Sakalava exported captives and cattle to the Mascarenes; textiles, beads, and firearms returned.

• Horn & Red Sea spurs: Ethiopian caravans carried salt, honey, grain to coastal markets when warfare allowed.

• Lake corridors: Canoe routes on Victoria and Tanganyika fed court capitals and fisheries.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Coast & islands: Islamic learning (mosques, madrasas, Arabic-script poetry) flourished under Omanipatronage; plantation societies in the Mascarenes blended French Catholicism, African traditions, and creole forms.

• Highlands: The Gondarine era left castles and muraled churches; Christian feast calendars, monasteries, and pilgrimage routes ordered time.

• Great Lakes courts: Regnal drums, sacred groves, and oral epics legitimated kingship; clientship(ubuhake/ubugabire) bound households to lords; rainmaking rituals linked rule to fertility.

• Pastoral rites: Cattle rituals, age-grades, and clan shrines regulated law and memory.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Crop portfolios: Cassava/maize/banana diversification stabilized coastal and savanna diets; highland rice terraces buffered famine.

• Mobility & storage: Transhumance and widened grazing circuits; dried fish, grain pits, and caravan grain purchases bridged lean years.

• Rebuilding after storms: Island societies replanted coconuts/rice and repaired harbors; plantation colonies depended on forced labor and imports to absorb shocks.

• Institutional cushions: Church granaries, court redistribution, waqf and guild charity mitigated crises.

Political & Military Shocks

• Coastal realignment: Portuguese forts waned as Omani fleets and cannon secured the main ports; Zanzibaremerged as the political–commercial capital.

• Interior militarization: Merina centralization (c. 1787–1810 →) expanded with firearms; Sakalava raiding persisted. Great Lakes—Buganda pushed lakeward with canoe fleets; Rwanda intensified hill-country tribute; Bunyoro contested supremacy.

• Slave & ivory booms: Demand from Zanzibar/Mascarenes widened raiding zones in Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar; caravan chiefs and coastal patrons gained leverage.

Transition

Between 1684 and 1827, East Africa pivoted from a Portuguese littoral to an Omani oceanic order, while interior kingdoms—from Gondar to Buganda and the Merina highlands—refined statecraft under climatic strain and a growing gun–caravan economy. By the 1820s, Zanzibar orchestrated coastwise trade; Merina hegemony reshaped Madagascar; Great Lakes courts consolidated; and plantation regimes in the Mascarenes took root. The stage was set for the nineteenth-century surge in slave and ivory exports, deeper Indian Ocean entanglement, and, soon after, more direct European intervention.

Maritime East Africa (1684–1827 CE): Omani Ascendancy, Malagasy Kingdoms, and Island Crossroads

Geographic & Environmental Context

The subregion of Maritime East Africa includes Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, eastern Kenya, eastern Tanzania and its islands, northern Mozambique, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles. Anchors included the Swahili port cities (Mombasa, Zanzibar, Kilwa, Sofala, Mogadishu), the offshore islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and the Comoros, the highlands and rice terraces of Madagascar, and the outlying islands of Mauritius and Seychelles.During this period, Portuguese coastal dominance receded and Omani Arabs asserted control, reshaping trade and political authority across the Indian Ocean rim.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The waning Little Ice Age produced cycles of drought and flood. Pastoral Horn communities faced grazing crises; coastal farmers diversified subsistence with cassava, maize, and bananas. Madagascar experienced alternating famine and abundance: drought struck southern regions, while the highlands expanded irrigated rice. Cyclones occasionally battered the Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Swahili towns: Retained Islamic, mercantile character; hinterland caravans carried ivory, slaves, and gold. Cassava and maize, by now entrenched, expanded diets.

• Zanzibar and Pemba: Grew coconuts, rice, and cloves (clove plantations expanded in the early 19th century under Omani rule). Fishing and trade supported islanders.

• Comoros: Balanced subsistence gardens, rice paddies, fishing, and inter-island commerce; communities rebuilt repeatedly after cyclones.

• Madagascar: Merina kingdom in the central highlands expanded under Andrianampoinimerina (r. c. 1787–1810), consolidating rice terraces, tribute systems, and iron-armed armies. The Sakalava maintained coastal cattle-based polities, raiding for slaves.

• Mauritius and Seychelles: Colonized by the French in the 18th century; developed sugar plantations using enslaved labor.

Technology & Material Culture

Swahili towns featured coral-stone mosques, minarets, and merchant houses with carved doors. Dhows with lateen sails carried regional cargoes. Firearms, imported via Omani and European trade, armed coastal and Malagasy polities. On Madagascar, rice irrigation systems, cattle corrals, and fortified hilltop villages symbolized power. French colonists built sugar mills on Mauritius; Seychellois settlers planted coconuts and food gardens.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Omani ascendancy: By the late 17th century, Oman expelled Portugal from Mombasa (1698) and gradually claimed authority over Swahili ports, consolidating Zanzibar as a capital of Indian Ocean commerce.

• Ivory and slave caravans: Moved inland from Tanzania and Mozambique toward coastal entrepôts, feeding growing Omani and French demand.

• Madagascar: Exported slaves and cattle to the Mascarenes and Swahili coast; imported textiles, firearms, and beads.

• Comoros: Functioned as provisioning islands for dhows, slavers, and European ships rounding the Cape.

• Mauritius and Seychelles: Integrated into the French colonial empire as plantation colonies, with enslaved Africans imported from Mozambique and Madagascar.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

Islam remained central to Swahili towns: mosques, madrasas, and Arabic-script poetry thrived. Omani authority patronized Islamic judges and scholars. On Madagascar, ancestor veneration, tomb construction, and cattle rituals anchored Merina and Sakalava legitimacy; Merina rulers combined ritual kingship with bureaucratic tribute. The Comoros developed Islamic scholarship blended with local ritual. In the Mascarenes, French Catholicism, African traditions, and creole cultures fused in plantation societies.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Coastal and island farmers diversified crops—cassava, maize, bananas—buffering drought. Highland Merina expanded rice terraces to secure food supplies. Sakalava herders maintained cattle herds across shifting pastures. Island societies rebuilt after cyclones, replanting coconuts and rice paddies. Plantation colonies relied on enslaved labor for resilience, but suffered when storms or droughts disrupted supply lines.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

Portuguese forts weakened as Oman asserted dominance; cannon and ships secured Zanzibar and Mombasa. Omani sultans organized tribute and port governance, tying the coast to Muscat. Slave and ivory raiding expanded inland, destabilizing societies in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. The Merina kingdom grew into a centralized power, conquering neighbors with firearms and reorganizing tribute. In the Mascarenes, French planters entrenched slavery; enslaved resistance and marronage persisted.

Transition

By 1827 CE, Maritime East Africa had entered a new era. Omani Zanzibar dominated the Swahili coast, dispatching dhows across the Indian Ocean. Madagascar saw the rise of the powerful Merina kingdom, while coastal Sakalava still controlled raiding zones. The Comoros remained small but strategic. Mauritius and Seychelles functioned as French plantation colonies, later to be contested by Britain. The balance of power had shifted: Portuguese authority had receded, Omani Arabs and Malagasy monarchs had risen, and European plantation regimes had taken root—setting the stage for the 19th-century surge in slave and ivory exports.

The last Portuguese foothold on the East African coast is dislodged in 1728 from the great Mombasa castle of Fort Jesus.

From this point until the European "scramble" for African colonies in the 1880s, the Omanis will exercise a shadowy authority over the Banaadir coast.

Omani rule over the Somalis consists for the most part of a token annual tribute payment and the presence of a resident qadi (Muslim judge) and a handful of askaris (territorial police).

Whereas the Banaadir coast is steadily drawn into the orbit of Zanzibari rulers, ...

...the northern coast, starting in the middle of the eighteenth century, passes under the sharifs of Mecca, who hold their feeble authority on behalf of the declining Ottomans.

The Mecca sharifs, much like the sultans of Zanzibar, satisfy themselves with a token yearly tribute collected for them by a native governor.

The various parties in Oman begin to solicit support from outside powers in the 1730s.

Saif bin Sultan II, with his power dwindling, eventually asks for help against his rival—his cousin Bal'arab bin Himyar, Imam of the Omani interior—from Nader Shah of Persia.

A Persian force arrives in March 1737 and, joined by Saif bin Sultan, marches to Az Zahirah, where they meet and rout the forces of Bal'arab bin Himyar.

The Persians advance through the interior, capturing towns, killing, looting and taking slaves, then reembark for Persia with their plunder.

Bal'arab bin Himyar, defeated in 1737, agrees to renounce his claim to be Imam.

Saif bin Sultan II is undisputed ruler of Oman for a few years after this, but continues his self-indulgent life, which turns the tribes against him.

Sultan bin Murshid, another member of the Yaruba family is proclaimed Imam in February 1742.

Installed at Nakhal, Sultan bin Murshid begins to hound Saif bin Sultan, who again appeals to the Persians for help and promises to cede Sohar to them.

A Persian expedition arrives at Julfar around October 1742.

They besiege Sohar and send forces to Muscat, but are unable to take either place.

Saif is tricked in 1743 into letting the Persians take Fort Al Jalali and Fort Al-Mirani, which guards the harbor of Muscat; he dies soon after.

The Imam Sultan bin Murshid is mortally wounded in mid-1743 under the walls of Sohar.

Bal'arab bin Himyar is elected Imam in his place.