Persian Gulf Residency

The British residency of the Persian Gulf was an official colonial subdivision (i.e., residency) of the British Empire from 1763 until 1971, whereby the United Kingdom maintained varying degrees of political and economic control over several states in the Persian Gulf, including: the United Arab Emirates (originally called the "Trucial Coast States") and at various times Persia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.

Historical background until 1900

British interest in the Persian Gulf originated in the sixteenth century and steadily increased as British India’s importance rose in the imperial system of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the beginning, the agenda was primarily of a commercial character. Realizing the regions significance, the British fleet supported the Persian emperor Shāh Abbās in expelling the Portuguese from Hormuz island in 1622. In return, the British East India Company (“the Company”) was permitted to establish a trading post in the coastal city of Bandar 'Abbās, which became their principal port in the Persian Gulf. Empowered by the charter of Charles II in 1661, the Company was responsible for conducting British foreign policy in the Persian Gulf, as well as concluding various treaties, agreements and engagements with Persian Gulf states in its capacity as the Crown’s regional agent.

In 1763, the British East India Company established a residency at Bušehr, on the Persian side of the Persian Gulf: this was followed by...
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