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Home , Kathiri, South Arabia

The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America

The Awards of the Qu’aiti Sultanate in : .Part 1

Owain Raw-Rees, OMSA No. 4978

Because of its length, Owain Raw-Rees’ detailed study of the awards of the Qu "aiti Sultanate has been divided into two parts. Part I provides the historical background to the Sultanate, and Part 2 will describe and illustrate each award. Editor

xtending across the eastern half of the present day Red Sea to the Hadhramaut except for the Crown Colony E Republic of is the distinct topographic of , while the Eastern encompassed the feature known as the Wadi Hadhramaut, a narrow valley Hadhramaut. Within the Eastern Protectorate were the running parallel to the coast some 100 to 120 miles Qu’ aiti, , Wahidi, and Mahra Sultanates. inland. When British influence in the southern reaches of the commenced with the seizure of Despite the many treaties, virtually no attempt was made Aden in 1839, the Hadhramaut and surrounding territory until 1937 by either the Colonial Office in London or the contained a collection of autonomous sultanates, sheik- Governor General of India to interfere in the affairs of the doms, and tribes. By the 1860s, the Qu’aiti Sultanate Qu’aiti Sultanate or the Eastern Protectorate in general. was the preeminent Sultanate with its capital at the port It has been remarked that the principal object of the town of . British policy at the time was to avoid active involvement in the region, the preoccupation being with the The first formal relations between Great Britain and the safeguarding of communications and the trade route with Qu’aiti Sultanate was a 1873 treaty to abolish the slave India. However, the situation changed after 1934 when trade. This was followed by a treaty of friendship the British Resident in Aden dispatched his Political concluded in 1882 whereby the agreed to abide by Officer, Harold Ingrams, to report on the Eastern British advice in his dealings with foreign powers and Protectorate. Ingrams’ Colonial Report No. 123 neighboring tribes. Eventually, British sympathies began revealed what appeared to Western eyes as a continuous to favor the Sultan, who held a major hereditary state of blood feuding and plundering among the inland command in the Nizam of Hyderabad’s irregular forces. tribes. Tradition and tribal codes of honor did not permit Since Aden at that time was administered from British the Sultan’s authorities to actively interfere with the India and formed a part of the Bombay Presidency, the settlement of scores among the tribes unless the Sultan Sultan’s Indian connection provided the basis for a was directly challenged by a raid on a settlement or a cooperative relationship that the British rewarded with convoy under his protection or some term of a treaty with material aid to the Sultanate and support in its rise to the Sultan was violated. Furthermore, the Sultan did not primacy within the Hadhramaut. have the financial resources to continually suppress the unruly tribes, and his interference would have been Over time, British influence in the area increased strongly opposed by the tribes as an infringement of their primarily to protect British strategic interests and in traditional rights. particular the trade route to India; indeed, Aden’s initial value was as a coaling station for steamers between In 1936, Ingrams, accompanied by his wife Doreen, Bombay and Suez. A vast number of dependency treaties returned to the Hadhramaut. With the encouragement were negotiated with the various emirates, sultanates, and active support of a number of important local sheikdoms, and tribes that deterred the Turks, and in personalities, such as Sultan Saleh A1 Qu’aiti and the varying measures the French and other powers, from Kathiri , truces were concluded with the various exercising any influence in the region. The dependency tribes in the region. Indeed, some 1,400 signatures had treaties also became the basis of Protectorate of Aden, or to be obtained. These truces were for various set periods more formally the Protectorate of . For ease and in brief endorsed the maintenance of traditional fights of administration, the Protectorate of Aden was divided while discouraging blood feuds and plunder. It is into a Western Protectorate and an Eastern Protectorate. important to note that just prior to this period various The Western Protectorate bordered the independent truces had already been concluded in honor of Sultan ldngdom of Yemen to the north and included the southern ’Umar A1 Qu’aiti’s visit to the interior. When the truces part of the Arabian peninsula from the entrance of the began to expire, renewal was strongly encouraged, thus

11 Volume 50 Number 5

500 km BAHREI Persian Gulf 400 miles Dubai Abu Dhabi Cull of

Muscat \ SAUDI ~, TRUCIAL "-. STATES ,

ARABIA \ / / I ! I

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YEMEN’-,, -" lalah (North) , , Arabian EASTERN PROTECTORATE Mukalla S tERN PROTECTORATE

Southern Arabian Peninsula during the period of the Protectorate ofAden peace among the tribes began to acquire a feature of Qu’aiti Sultan retained a clause from the 19th century permanence that became known as "Ingram’s Peace." friendship treaty that stated the Sultanate was to be..."an appendage of the "...and noted that,..."he "Ingrams’ Peace" was followed by the Advisory Treaty did not want the British to rule...but wanted to be with the Qu’aiti Sultan in August 1937, and Ingrams associated with it." Indeed, the Sultan had initially himself became the first British Res’ident Adviser to wanted Ingrams to serve as his Wazir. Qu’aiti to advise "in all matters except those concerning the Muhammadan religion and customs." Under the The ruler of the Sultanate at the time of the Advisory treaty, the Sultanate remained an Arab state and Treaty was Sultan Saleh Bin Ghalib Bin ’Awadh A1 continued to be governed in accordance with local Qu’aiti (1884-1956), who succeeded to the Sultanate in practice whereby the Sultan ruled through a Wazir or 1936. Sultan Saleh was a man of high intellect and wide Prime Minister who acted as the chief executive. The and learned experience, a highly regarded theologian, Sultan was assisted by an unofficial body of notables, jurist, linguist, and engineer. His library in Mukalla, who were consulted individually or collectively on which he presented to the public, was regarded as the pertinent issues. This body was later replaced by a largest in South Arabia. Sultan Saleh’s influence and formal State Council composed of local dignitaries, some scholarly approach permeated all aspects of life within senior executives, and the Resident Advisor that helped the Sultanate, and his philanthropy and enthusiasm for in decision making, legislation, and government. The the propagation of knowledge through formal education

12 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America did much to boost literacy in the Sultanate. Formal reflected the Hyderabad connection with the Sultanate. primary education was introduced in 1938, and by 1966 Harold Ingrams described the M.R.A. as follows: about 27 percent of the Qu’aiti budget was allocated for education. "The Sultan of Mukalla has about 800 slaves... There are 250 of them in the army, all ofAfrican origin. They receive Military Units from one to three dollars a month pocket money, rations and quarters. They are provlded with wives and given milk, The Sultan himself had received military training and, as scarce in Mukalla, for their families. The remainder of the regular army consists of 350 to 400 Yafa "is. They each get noted earlier, held a hereditary command of a force of nine dollars a month with no extras, so that they are not so Arab irregular levies under the Nizam of Hyderabad that welloff as the slaves. Most of the regular army is stationed could be traced back to the early 19th in Mukalla...They have only one set of century. In 1925, O.H. Little des- uniform, which is kept for special cribed the Sultan’s forces within the occasions. (Blue attd gold laced tunics, Sultanate as follows: scarlet breeches with a broad blue stripe attd squat tarbushes). There are "He has a standing army composed 6f 1000 to 1200 irregulars paid seven principally partly trained slaves and dollars a month each...and these can count on the assistance of the troops, who are all Yafa "is garrison the tribesmen when their interests are interior towns." and, menaced. The soldiers (’asakir) have no uniform but tile band wears a "The slave boys are organised in a gorgeous one on state occasions. cadet corps, do physical drill regularly, Though they may be " ’asakir" all and are carefully looked after. They their lives they are only irregulars. gave us a very creditable display at a They carry a rO~le and ammunition belt ’review’ at the palace and looked well but generally wear only a loin cloth in their khaki uniforms...the higher and sandals. I never saw them drill ranks of the regulars include one and when they march each man goes Subedar and four Jemadars. There as he pleases. They are quite un- are about 1200 paid irregulars disciplined but are mobile and used to officered by eleven Muqaddams (Lt the country though they have not the CoL) each with a Mu "awin (AssistanO. intimate kno,vledge of it like the The police are divided into uniformed Beduin." and slave branches. Tile uniformed police wear blue and the slave police He then describes the Sultan, only, for obvious reasons, are em- ployed with dealing with disorderly "...mounted on an Arab horse and tribesmen in the town." wore a khaki uniform with Sam Bro~te belt, sword and revolver. One Later on, most of these irregulars officer also was in uniform but the rest joined the newly formed Qu’aiti wore native dress." Armed Constabulary. In the 1930s, Sultan Saleh Bin Ghalib A1 Qu "aiti the M.R.A. had a training officer on In 1935, Freya Stark reported that in his late twenties. loan from the Indian Army, a Major the Sultan’s forces were..."divided Robinson, and at this time some 40 into his own bodyguard of slaves percent of the M.R.A. were Yafa’i, the balance being called the Nizam and the ’Askar who are paid troops," clansmen from various tribes indigenous to the region. and that the officers appeared to have been..."trained in Upon the succession of Sultan Saleh in 1936, manu- the Aden Levies.’" The °Askar or soldiers, more properly mission of the slaves was effected, and these freed slaves known later as the Mukalla Regular Army (M.R.A.), were were absorbed into the M.R.A., the Constabulary, or officered mainly by Indians or trained in Hyder- other units. Harold Ingrams noted in October 1938 that abad, such as Saleh Bin Sumaida, who rose from a line ..."at the Sultan’s request steps are being taken to boy in Hyderabad to a General in Hadhramaut. The reorganize and train his forces and train the forces for M.R.A., which consisted of some 700 troops, thus the Kathiri Sultan, and thanks to Captain Hoplans who

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