Timeline / 1900 to 1930 / UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (SHARJAH)
Date Country Theme
1900 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Birth of the celebrated poet Mubarak bin Saif al-Nakhi in Sharjah.
1900s United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
British records note that an industry of weaving fine sheep’s-wool ‘aba’ (cloaks) had been developed in Sharjah but, as insufficient quantities were being made to meet local demand, they were also imported from Bahrain and al-Ahsa. Most of the cloth used in the Trucial States at the time was imported from India and elsewhere.
1900s - 1915 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Reforms And Social Changes
Media from Egypt and India critical of British politics penetrates the Trucial Coast. The Cairo-based newspapers Al-Mu’ayyad and Al-Liwa have numerous subscribers on the Trucial Coast.
1900 - 1930s United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Reforms And Social Changes
Wealthy pearl merchants from the Arabian Gulf establish new educational institutions on the Trucial Coast. In addition to religious subjects, the schools – housed in purpose-built structures with proper classrooms – offer an expanded curriculum. In Sharjah, al-Taimiyyah (later al-Islah) and al-Nabudah schools are established.
1900 - 1930s United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Reforms And Social Changes
Sharjah’s Taimiyyah School, which also incorporated a library, would send promising students farther afield to continue their studies. Students from outside Sharjah were offered free board and accommodation at the school.
1901 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company begin commercial and passenger operations in the Gulf.
1902 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Economy And Trade
The Qawasim and other sheikhs of the Arab littoral agree by Treaty to prohibit the import of arms into their territories.
1903 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
British Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Lord Curzon, visits the Trucial sheikhs at Sharjah to reaffirm Britain’s commitment to “guardianship and protection” and the British Government’s position as “your overlords and protectors”. Curzon asserts that continued British control of India depends on maintaining British supremacy in the Gulf.
1906 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme
The German Hamburg–America Line offers a steamer service between Europe and the Gulf.
1908 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
The population of Sharjah has reached around 19,000 inhabitants. The suq boasts some 200 shops, with a multicultural mix of local and resident merchants, pearl traders, and trade-related professionals originating from as far away as India and East Africa. The Emirate of Sharjah as a whole is estimated as having around 45,500 inhabitants at this time.
1911 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Economy And Trade
The Qawasim and other sheikhs of the Arab littoral sign a Treaty with the British that enjoins them to request permission from the British Resident in the Arabian Gulf prior to responding to foreign requests for pearling or sponge-fishing rights along the Trucial Coast.
1914s United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Economy And Trade
Around 1914, 80 per cent of the Trucial Coast’s labour force is involved in the wider pearling sector, including 950 major pearl merchants, 1,300 pearling ship-owners and some 21,000 general employees. The remainder are employed in agriculture, fisheries and other forms of commerce. Gulf pearling exports amount to 2 million pounds sterling.
1927 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
The British dismiss a former teacher of al-Taimiyyah School and a Qadi in Sharjah for sympathising publicly with the Tawhidi (Wahhabi) movement in Najd.