Muscat and Gwadar: connections between seaboard communities during the XIX century

Abstract During the nineteenth century Baluch tribes protected, hid, supported and faithfully defended the Al Bu Sa’id dynasty of Oman, thanks also to the tribal structure and clan-family relationships of their society which, traditionally nomadic, could count on both Makran and peninsular, and continental solidarity. The town of Gwadar was at the same time: a dominion of the Sultans of Oman, a place of interest for the Gichki from Ketch, a strategic observatory for the British government along the coast of Makran in the Persian direction and a station of the Indo-European telegraph line. Large quantities of rifles were imported from Europe and from Russia through Afghanistan destined to enforce the leaderships of Central Asia, the Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, and East Africa; while secretly arms were imported from European private companies. The trading ports of Bander Abbas, Bushire, and Muscat were the most important markets for arms. Between 1890 and the first decades of the twentieth century, Muscat became the centre of arms trade for the Gulf and the Indian Ocean area. And the presence of Asian merchant communities did play a significant role both on the Gulf shores and in East Africa.