Patricia Risso - Oman and Muscat: An Early Modern History

Volume 12

OMAN & MUSCAT

an early modern history

Patricia Risso

First published in 1986

by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2016

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1986 Patricia Risso

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-11959-8 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64190-4 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-18184-7 (Volume 12) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-18421-3 (Volume 12) (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64535-3 (Volume 12) (ebk)

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

OMAN & MUSCAT an early modern history

Patricia Risso

1986 Patricia Risso
Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row, Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT
Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, Suite 4, 6th Floor, 64-76 Kippax Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Risso, Patricia

Oman and Muscat: an early modern history.

1. Oman - History

I. Title

053'.5304 DS247.065

ISBN 0-7099-4204-4

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd, Kent

It is a pleasure to acknowledge those who helped me in this project, though I cannot mention everyone individually. For introducing me to Gulf history and for all his support, I thank Ahmad Abu-Hakima. Robert Landen made many valuable suggestions and has always been encouraging. I'm grateful to John Wilkinson for much information and for conveying to me his enthusiasm about Omani history. Christine Nicholls and Raymond Bathurst suggested documents I might otherwise have missed. Research was facilitated by the faculty and staff members of several institutions: McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies and the Institute's library; the India Office Library and Records; the British Library; the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and the School's library. This book started with my doctoral research, which was funded mainly by the McConnell Foundation of McGill University. For much of the time that I was working on the revisions, I was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Fonds FCAC of Qubec, which I held at Concordia University in Montral. The Department of History there offered me warm hospitality. During the final stages of preparation, I was with the Department of History at Illinois State University and I'd like to thank my chairman, William Haddad. The maps were done by the Department of Geology-Geography at ISU.

The difficult work of producing a camera-ready typescript was done by Zainool Kassam of McGill University. I am grateful for both her expertise and her friendship.

This book has been published with the help of an incentive grant for the use of newer technology from the Social Science Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I would like especially to thank Denise Lachance of the SSFC. Publication has also been made possible by generous support from the Omani Ministry of National Heritage and Culture.

I have allowed the primary material to guide my choices of most names and terminology in order to reflect the eighteenth century. Some widely-known words, such as Islam, have been Anglicized but most have been transliterated. The transliteration system for Arabic and Persian is fairly standard. The cedilla has been used to indicate the usual subscript dot. The t marba is indicated only when elided or after a long alit (e.g., zakt). The Arabic w changes to v in a Persian context. I have sometimes used proper plural forms (e.g., ulam), but more often have simply added an English s (e.g., imms). I have left Ab and Ban invariable. The Arabic or Persian names of authors that have published Anglicized forms have been given as such.

Indian, African and other names and terms have been spelled in their Anglicized forms (e.g., Mombasa, rupee). In quotations, I have retained English and French idioms, although I have modernized some French spellings to avoid misunderstanding. Translations of the French quotations can be found in the notes.

When both Muslim Hijri and Western dates are given, the Hijri date comes first. Archival dates from the French Revolutionary period are given in both the Republican and Gregorian calendars, where applicable.

Eighteenth century currencies varied from port to port and from time to time (as did weights and measures). I have used the Bombay rupee and the Spanish dollar as monetary standards. I have made no attempt to give twentieth century equivalents because what is most important are the relative, contemporary values of goods and services.

series in the India Office Records (IOR designations)