History of the Persian Gulf explained Bahrain Kuwait Qatar Oman and the UAE

the Persian Gulf nations include the Sultanate of Oman the United Arab Emirates comprised on seven federated emirates and the constitutional monarchies of Qatar Bahrain and Kuwait as well as Iran Iraq and Saudi Arabia historically the Gulf world has been set apart from the civilizations centered in the interior of Persia Mesopotamia and Arabia by the physical barriers of mountain ranges inhospitable deserts and marshes to the north for many centuries the people living on the shores of the Gulf have had closer relations with one another than those living in the interior for millennia the region has shared maritime culture exchanging people Commerce ideas and religious movements the Persian Gulf has always been key international trade route connecting the Middle East to India East Africa Southeast Asia and China although the empires of the Iranian plateau Mesopotamia and Arabia have included much of this region within the borders of their various empires the cities and villages of this region accustomed to the freedom of the sea always proved difficult to tax because of their geographical isolation and mobile nature of their economies although lacking most natural resources the Gulf region contained one of the most plentiful habitats for pearls on the planet and the fisherman of this region became food merchants and expert sailors in 1521 Portuguese force entered the Gulf and seized Bahrain which had been center of the lucrative pearl industry the Portuguese would continue capturing strategically located coastal cities and build series of fortresses along the Gulf eventually controlling the lion's share of all seaborne trade from the west to India this near monopoly on Gulf trade would take his first blow in the Safavid Persian Empire conquered Bahrain from the Portuguese over the next 20 years the Persians assailed two portuguese strongholds and in 1622 our moves was taken by joint british and persian force soon after the remaining portuguese strongholds were overtaken by the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman the Straits were opened up to the Dutch Spanish English Indian and even Portuguese merchants and the region enjoyed prosperous and relatively peaceful era for short time the Persian after it dynasty would seize Muscat and take control of the Straits of Hormuz however this lasted only as long as the reign of brilliant tactician nadir Shah after his death the Iranian plateau became battleground for competing dynasties this left power vacuum which the ottoman and british empires were eager to fill the British East India Company began relations with the emirate of Kuwait that evolved in short time from small fishing settlement to major commercial hub talented shipbuilders renowned for their quality Kuwait became the largest producer of merchant tile and fishing vessels in the Gulf and Indian Ocean pirates based on several small islands and villages on the southern coast of the Gulf became quite adept at capturing British mercantile vessels the British signed treaties with several of the emirates of the arabian coast with stated goal of quashing piracy in the region and establishing series of trading posts over time the trading posts in the Trucial States as they became known were garrisoned by British troops and would fall under the administration of the British Raj of India the rupee became the common currency of the region and Indian merchants became pivotal player in the pearl industry of the Gulf few years earlier in 1783 Bahrain was seized by Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa from the Persians on dynasty when they were occupied by their civil strife with the ascendant Kjar dynasty Bahrain is still ruled by his descendants in 1871 the ottoman empire annexed what is now qatar and began to fully implement them into the empire however as previous empires had found this region was difficult to tax and after series of rebellions was granted to status of near autonomous vassal state throughout the 19th century Oman became extremely prosperous and extended influence across the Straits of Hormuz to the southern coast of modern-day Pakistan and Zanzibar off the East African coast however the 19th century ended and the 20th began they fell increasingly under British influence Bahrain would follow similar path and through series of treaties from the mid through the late 19th century was obliged to become British protectorate in exchange for protection from the Ottoman Empire and the Persians the British would control foreign policy and much of trade regulation on their behalf during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War Qatar became British protectorate and the newly formed Saudi Arabia would take control of the rest of the former Ottoman possessions on the eastern Arabian coast around formed primarily out of the former Ottoman provinces of Basra Baghdad and Mosul also established presence as new power on the Persian Gulf coast threat that would devastate the region's thriving economy would come from the other side of the planet the invention of cultured pearls first invented in Japan in the early 20th century began to produce large quantities of foreign pearls sending the value of the only major commercial natural commodity in the region to fall into downward spiral following Indian independence and the contraction of the British Empire the route continued to become less important for international trade cities like Abu Dhabi were depopulated by up to 90% these hard times would not last long however as oil would be discovered first in Iran then Iraq Bahrain Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were not far behind then discoveries in Qatar the Trucial States and finally Oman in 1956 revived the fortunes of the region far beyond what they could have wildly dreamed of Kuwait would not renew their treaties with the United Kingdom declaring their independence in 1961 in 1971 in rapid series of diplomatic agreements Bahrain Qatar and then the Trucial States which now became the United Arab Emirates declared independence Qatar and Bahrain declined to join the seven emirates which comprised the united arab emirates which were short while sought to form larger state with them in the decades that followed Qatar Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates would establish their rule on the international stage as members of OPEC whose 15 member nations account for 44% of the global oil production and over 80% of the Earth's proven oil reserves and control the international supply famously in 1973 oil crisis which was in protest of the Yom Kippur since the Gulf War and the Iraq war little over decade later the United States has established itself in bases in the region in alliance with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait tensions between the American Saudis and our onions have these prosperous oil nations standing in the midst of these regional powers this has been Epimetheus hope you have enjoyed this brief simplified overview of the history of this complex region and hope you are more familiar with it now the idea for this video was suggested to me by one of my patrons over on patreon don't always do those but found this subject to be very interesting and wanted to learn more about it and share it with you guys if you like this video would recommend checking out my video I've done on Saudi Arabia or on don't forget to Like subscribe and hit the bell icon to get notifications every time make new video