IOR/G/29/25

The volume comprises correspondence, reports, notes, and other papers relating to the work and activities of the East India Company (EIC) in the Gulf of Persia [also spelled as the Gulph]. The volume consists of thirteen items covering various subjects, including:

• The dispute between the EIC and the Bashaw [Pāshā, also spelled as Pashaw, and Bacha] of Bagdad [Baghdad, also spelled as Bagdat]
• Correspondence of the EIC with the Levant Company related to their rights to trade
• Complaints raised against the EIC’s Factory at Surat
• The right to trade in Mecca, Judda [Jeddah], Bussorah [Basra; several spellings appear in the volume] and Mocha
• The Company’s request for naval assistance against its maritime enemies in the Gulf
• A ‘Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Troubles in the Gulph of Persia’
• An ‘account of the Maritime Force of the several Indian maritime powers’
• French military and naval activities and their capture of the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat’s ship
• The war with Hyder Ally [Ḥaydar ‘Alī, Sulṭān of Mysore]
• Appointment of Sir John Lindsay as Commander-in-Chief of the EIC’s naval force
• The Treaty of Perpetual Friendship and Peace made and concluded between the EIC and the Sultan of Mysore (ff 136-137)
• Appointment of Samuel Manesty to be in charge of the Company’s affairs at Bussorah
• Reports of the activities of the Monteficka Arabs [al-Muntafiq Arab tribal confederation, also spelled as Montificka]
• Correspondence with local woollen goods contractors and merchants in Bussorah and Bagdad
• A detailed ‘Report on the British trade with Persia [Iran] and Arabia’
• The mission of Mirza Mehedy Ali Khan [Mīrzā Mahdī ‘Alī Khān, several spellings appear in the volume], Resident at Bushire [Bushehr] to the Persian Court, and his diplomatic efforts to impede the advance of Zeman Shah [Zamān Shāh Durrānī, Amīr of Afghanistan, also spelled as Zemaun] into Hindostan [Subcontinental India]
• Appointment of Captain John Malcolm to the office of Envoy from the British Government to the Court of Persia on 12 October 1799
• A Memoir on the Whahaubee [Wahhābīs, also spelled as Wahabies]
• A proposal of a treaty with Persia
• The arrival and departure of ships, and trading activities in various towns and ports
• Ottoman-Persian relations
• Ottoman-British relations
• Russian-Persian relations
• French-Arab relations.

The main correspondents in the volume are: Lord Halifax [George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax], Secretary of State for the Northern Department; the Levant Company; Lord Viscount Weymouth [Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath], Secretary of State for the Northern Department; Robert Wood, the Under-Secretary of State; the EIC’s Court of Directors; Sir John Lindsay, Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies; William Digges Latouche and Samuel Manesty, the EIC’s Residents at Bussorah respectively; Jonathan Duncan, the Governor at Bombay; Soliman Bacha [Büyük Sulaymān Pāshā, also spelled as Soleyman] of Bagdad; Mirza Mehedy Ali Khan, Resident at Bushire; and Hajy Mahomed Kheleel Mullik Ettijar [Ḥājī Muḥammad Khalīl Qazwīnī, Malik al-Tujjār of the Persian Empire; several spellings of his name and title appear in the volume].