Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
The British Raj’s maps hid a secret: Bahrain, Oman, and Abu Dhabi were part of British India. Why? To avoid offending the Ottomans.
From Kuwait to Yemen, vast parts of the Gulf were ruled not from London—but from Bombay. The British called it the Indian Empire.
The official list of India’s princely states began with one unexpected name: Abu Dhabi—a reminder of how wide the Raj truly stretched.
Lord Curzon once declared Oman as much a native state of British India as any in the subcontinent. This wasn’t metaphor—it was policy.
The UAE’s coastline was once dubbed the “Pirate Coast.” The British Navy invaded in the 1800s to protect trade with India—not Europe.
Representative pic
The term “Middle East” barely existed before 1900. British writers invented it to describe regions tied to Indian security—not Arab identity.
Credit: Library of Congress
Until 1947, India managed Gulf politics via the Indian Political Service. Then, overnight, London cut ties—fearing Indians would inherit influence.
As one British lecturer joked: “As a jealous sheikh veils his wife, so the British veiled their Gulf rule.” Hidden empire, hidden motives.
Had the Gulf Residency not been separated in 1947, Oman, Qatar, and the Emirates might today be Indian or Pakistani protectorates.