Persian Gulf Residency

The Persian Gulf Residency was a subdivision of the British Empire from 1822 until 1971, whereby the United Kingdom maintained varying degrees of political and economic control over several states in the Persian Gulf, including what is today known as the United Arab Emirates (formerly called the "Trucial States") and at various times southern portions of 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 region's 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 Bushehr, on the Persian side of the Gulf: this was followed by another residency in Basar several years later. The arrival in Persia in 1807 of a large French mission under General Gardane galvanized the British, both in London and Calcutta. They responded by sending a mission under Sir Harford Jones, which resulted in establishing the Preliminary Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Shah in 1809. Despite being modified during subsequent negotiations, this treaty provided the framework within which Anglo–Persian foreign relations operated for the next half century. Britain appointed Harford Jones as their first resident envoy to the Persian court in 1808.