IOR/F/4/1880/79880

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence, minutes and resolutions cited in, or enclosed with, letters from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] to the East India Company Court of Directors. The item relates to attempts by the Government of Bombay to suppress the trade in enslaved people in the Gulf and on the coasts of Cutch, Kattywar and Karachi [Kachchh, Kāthiāwār and Karāchi]. In particular, the item relates to:

• A report in 1837 by Abdoola bin Awaz [Abdullah bin ‘Awaz] that 233 young women were abducted from the Burburra Coast [Berbera] by the crews of Joasmee [al-Qawāsim] boats to be sold at the principal ports on the Arabian side of the Gulf
• Concerns expressed by Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf, in 1837-38 regarding the difficulty in persuading the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat and the principal Arabian chiefs to prohibit their subjects from participating in the trade in enslaved people and his fear that reducing this trade conducted by these rulers would simply result in the trade being carried on by others from the Ottoman Porte [Ottoman Empire] and Persia [Iran]
• Hennell’s success in obtaining agreements in 1838-39 with several rulers on the Arabian peninsula, the contents of which: extend the boundary line beyond which it is prohibited to carry enslaved people from between Cape Delgado and Diu Head to between Cape Delgado and Pussein [Pasni]; authorise the British Government to search any vessels belonging to the rulers’ subjects found eastward of this boundary line which may be suspected of carrying enslaved people and to liberate the enslaved people on board; confirm that Soomalee [Somali] people are to be considered as ‘hoor’ [ḥurr] or ‘free’, therefore the selling of them as enslaved people is to be considered an act of ‘piracy’.
• The above agreements being signed by: Seed Said bin Sultan, the Imaum of Muscat [Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; Shaik Sultan bin Suggur of Rasel Khymah [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī of Ra’s al-Khaymah and Sharjah]; Shaik Mukhtoom bin Butye of Debaye [Shaikh Maktūm I bin Buṭṭī Āl Bū Falāseh of Dubai]; Shaik Abdoollah bin Rashed of Amulgaveen [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Rāshid al-Mu’allā of Umm al-Qaywayn]; Shaik Rashid bin Humeed of Ejman [Shaikh Rāshid I bin Ḥumaid al-Nu‘aymī of ‘Ajmān]; and Shaik Khuleefa bin Shakboot of Aboothabee [Shaikh Khalifa bin Shakhbūṭ Āl Nahyān of Abu Dhabi]
• Discussions of how these agreements differ from previous treaties, including the 1820 General Maritime Treaty [General Treaty with the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf] and the 1822 treaty signed between the Imaum and Captain Moresby of HMS ship Menai, and whether parts of the treaties are too ambiguous
• A complaint in 1840 by Captain A H Nott, Commanding the Company ship Tigris, that despite the new agreements he is unable to interfere with vessels found with enslaved people on board because he cannot prove that the people have been kidnapped directly by the crews of the vessels
• Minutes by the Board of the Government of Bombay lamenting the apparent ineffectiveness of the new agreements and suggesting further measures to be taken.

The item contains a copy of the Bombay Government Gazette (folios 1015-1022) from 21 May 1840, which, amongst other notifications, announces the new agreement with the Imaum of Muscat in English, Arabic, Persian, Gujarati and Marathi. In addition, Captain Nott’s reports (folios 1030-1031 and 1041-1044) provide details on the number of enslaved people being trafficked annually, how they come to be enslaved, and at which prices they are sold.

There are numerous copies of the 1838-39 agreements at: ff 935-936; 943; 945-946; 991; 994-995; 999-1000; 1008-1009; and 1050.

Principal correspondents include: Hennell; Nott; Thomas MacKenzie, Acting Assistant in charge of the [Persian Gulf] Residency; the governments of Bombay and India; and agents at Muscat and Shargah [Sharjah].

The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘P.C. [Previous Communication] 3075, Draft 431, 1841’, ‘Collection No. 5’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.