Merchants' networks in Kuwait: The story of Yusuf al-Marzuk

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 45, Issue 5, 2009, Pages 709-719

  Segal, Eran ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOGRAPHY; TRADE;

ASIA; EURASIA; KUWAIT [MIDDLE EAST]; MIDDLE EAST;

EID: 70449449308     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: 17437881     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263200903135539     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. J. Onley, 'Transnational Merchants in the Nineteenth-Century Gulf: The Case of the Safar Family', in M. al-Rasheed (ed.), Transnational Connections and the Arab Gulf (London: Routledge, 2005), pp.62-3.
2. C. Markovits, 'Indian Merchant Networks outside India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A Preliminary Survey', Modern Asian Studies, Vol.33, No.4 (1999), p.883.
3. See A.L. Udovitch, Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970).
4. A. Cohen, 'Cultural Strategies in the Organization of Trading Diasporas', in C. Meillassoux (ed.), The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp.266-81.
5. P.D. Curtin, Cross-Cultural Trade in World History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
6. Markovits, p.897.
7. Onley, p.63.
8. I.P. Minoglou, 'Toward a Typology of Greek-Diaspora Entrepreneurship', in I.B. McCabe, G. Harlaftis and I.P. Minoglou (eds.), Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks: Four Centuries of History (Oxford: Berg, 2005), pp.176-7; Markovits, p.903.
9. Onley, p.60.
10. J. Ismael, Kuwait: Social Change in Historical Perspective (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1982);
11. M.G. Rumaihi, 'The Mode of Production in the Arab Gulf before the Discovery of Oil', in T. Niblock (ed.), Social and Economic Development in the Arab Gulf (London: Croom Helm, 1980), pp.49-60.
12. J. Crystal, Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
13. Crystal used descriptions on the sea trade between the Persian Gulf and East Africa, which were similar to those of Alan Villiers and researchers like Michael Field. For more on this subject, see A. Villiers, Sons of Sinbad (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1940);
14. M. Field, The Merchants: The Big Muslim Families of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States (New York: The Overlook Press, 1985).
15. Mubarak al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ruler to Percy Cox, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (12 Dec. 1912), in Kuwait Political Agency: Arabic Documents 1899-1949 (Slough, UK: Archive Editions, 1994), Vol.3, pp.231-5 (hereafter: Kuwait Political Agency).
16. There was a debate in the 1960s between R.G. Landen and J.B. Kelly regarding modernization and its contribution to the Gulf. It is a problematic question as statistics are not available, since most of this trade was not registered. Also important to add is that the arguments focused on the British influence on Muscat, while Kuwait clearly benefited from the former's decline. N.R. Dalziel, 'British Maritime Contacts with the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman 1850-1900' (unpublished dissertation, University of Lancaster, 1989), pp.240-48.
17. M.A. Jammal, al-Hiraf wal-Mihan wal-Anshita al-Tijjaria al-Qadima fi al-Kuwait (Kuwait: Markaz al-Buhuth wal-Dirassat al-Kuwaitiyya, 2003), pp.310-13;
18. F. Broeze, 'Kuwait before Oil: The Dynamics and Morphology of an Arab Port City', in idem (ed.), Gateways of Asia: Port Cities of Asia in the 13th-20th Centuries (London: Kegan Paul International, 1997), p.160.
19. The nature of their success was not understood by some British officials in the Gulf and they were surprised, for example, by the popularity of initiating a post office in Kuwait in 1916 and its extensive use by the merchants. 'Administration Report for the Kuwait Political Agency for the Year 1916' in The Persian Gulf Administration Reports, 1873-1947 (Slough, UK: Archive Editions, 1986), pp.74-5; 'Report of the Trade of Kuwait for the year 1916-17', in The Persian Gulf Trade Reports, 1905-1940 (Slough, UK: Archive Editions, 1987), p.2.
20. Smuggling was the name given by the British to trade that was not monitored by them or the local rulers. See A. Perotin-Dumon, 'The Pirate and the Emperor: Power and the Law on the Seas, 1450-1850', in J.D. Tracy (ed.), The Political Economy of Merchants Empires (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp.196-227.
21. Broeze, p.159.
22. A.B. Toth, 'Tribes and Tribulations: Bedouin Losses in the Saudi and Iraqi Struggles over Kuwait's Frontiers, 1921-1943', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.32, No.2 (2005), pp.146-60.
23. India Office Records (IOR), R/15/5/202. Most of the discussion which follows is based on this file.
24. Crystal, p.208, n.29; A. al-Rushaid, Tarikh al-Kuwait (Beirut: Dar Maktabat al-Hayat, 1971), p.330;
25. A.H. al-Hamdani, al-Hiraf al-Yadawiyya: Bain al-Tarikh wal-Qanun fi al-Mujtama'al-Kuwaiti al-Qadim min al-Fatra 1896-1950 (London: Dar Zaid lil-Nashr, 1994), p.73.
26. Al-Rushaid, p.330.
27. Jabir al-Mubarak, Hakim al-Kuwait, to Marzuk bin Muhammad al-Marzuk (15 Dhu al-Hijja, 1334=Oct. 1916), in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.4, pp.40-41. In brackets is the Islamic date of the letter and its approximate equivalent.
28. Marzuk bin Muhammad al-Marzuk to Salim al-Mubarak, Ruler of Kuwait (12 Feb. 1919), in Records of Kuwait (Slough, UK: Archive Editions, 1989), Vol.1, pp.748-50 (hereafter Records of Kuwait); H.H. al-S. Khaz'al, Tarikh al-Kuwait al-Siyasi (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub, 1962), Vol.4, p.63.
29. Crystal, p.208, n.29.
30. His elder brother was a member of the 1921 Council - Villiers, p.326;
31. V. Dickson, Forty Years in Kuwait (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1971), p.106.
32. T. Hickinbotham, 'Who's Who in Kuwait' (May 1942) in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.9, p.405.
33. Muhammad al-Thunyian al-Ghanim (?-1966) was a distinguished merchant, a member of the 1938 council (Majlis) and was among the three merchants who approached the ruler with the demand to form this council. Political Agent, Kuwait to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (24 June 1938 and 29 June 1938), in Ruling Families of Arabia: Kuwait (Buckinghamshire: Archive Editions, 1991), pp.295, 296.
34. IOR, R/15/5/202, Political Agent Kuwait to Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (31 May 1937).
35. When his silk was captured by the Iranian authorities after leaving for Dubai, Yusuf went to Lingah to deal with it. However, it is unknown if there was an agent who was not able to approach the authorities. IOR, R/15/5/171, 'Regarding the Kuwaiti Dhow Seized by the Iranian Sloop BABR' (4 March 1937).
36. Obviously the British did not appreciate their activities, one document referred to them as 'the gang' -IOR, R/15/5/2020, Collector of costumes in Karachi to Consul General in Bushier (7 March 1937).
37. Collector of customs in Karachi to Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (27 Nov. 1937), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.4, p.428.
38. Nevertheless, Fahd was considered by the British authorities in Karachi as a smuggler of tea and silk.
39. Crystal, p.208, n. 29; IOR, R/15/5/202, 'Report by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Sind, Karachi' (16 April 1937), Political Resident to Political Agent (19 April 1937), Collector of customs in Karachi to Consul General in Bushier (7 March 1937).
40. The Sabah family gradually purchased and took control of extensive date plantations in southern Iraq, and thus built up its economic power base which cemented their political power. See my 'Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait (1840-1940): The Struggle of Elites in a Commercial Chiefdom' (unpublished dissertation, University of Haifa, 2008, in Hebrew).
41. Regarding the tea trade, see numerous documents on Records of Kuwait, Vol.4, pp.425-54. On December 1931 Yusuf received permission from the British to import arms from India.
42. Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.4, pp.580-81.
43. G.G. Gilbar, 'The Muslim Big Merchant-Entrepreneurs of the Middle East, 1860-1914', Die Welt Des Islams, Vol.43, No.1 (2003), p.12.
44. 'Notes Occasioned by the Suggestion that the Arabian Side of the Gulf is Becoming Less Value and Interest to India', in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.9, pp.367-8. The report probably relates to the 1934 harsh winter that reportedly destroyed a quarter of the houses in the Kuwaiti town.
45. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they began importing water from the Shat al-Arab and only in 1953 did the distillation of water start, liberating Kuwaitis from dependence on Iraqi water.
46. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 16 November to 30 November 1937', in Political Diaries of the Persian Gulf (Slough, UK: Archive Editions, 1988), Vol.12, p.603 (hereafter: Political Diaries).
47. Collector of customs in Karachi to Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (27 Nov. 1937), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.4, p.429;
48. IOR R/15/5/202, Collector of Customs in Karachi (17 Dec. 1936); 'Report by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Sind, Karachi' (16 April 1937).
49. IOR R/15/5/202, Political Agent to Political Resident (28 March 1938), Political Agent to Political Resident (8 Aug. 1938 and 7 Oct. 1938); Political Agent to Ahmad al-Jabir, Ruler of Kuwait (2 Aug. 1937 and 22 Jan. 1938 and 9 May 1938), in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.10, pp.388-91, 398-9, 403.
50. 'Translation of an article, which appeared in Al-Nas newspaper of Basra of the 10th September 1937', in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.10, pp.392-4.
51. For elaboration see K.O. Salih, 'The 1938 Kuwait Legislative Council', Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.28, No.1 (1992), pp.66-100.
52. Crystal, pp.47-8.
53. On the company and the role of the representative see A.H.T. Chisholm, The First Kuwait Oil Concession Agreement: a Record of the Negotiations, 1911-1934 (London: Frank Cass, 1975).
54. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 16th October to 31st October 1938', in Political Diaries, Vol.13, p.186. There was a claim that the ruler knew he was going to cause trouble for the council but although it turned out that he did nothing, the council acted and expelled him. Political Agent to Political Resident (9 Dec. 1938), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.2, p.213. In addition, Ahmad later claimed that Yusuf al-Marzuk, amongst other merchants, owed him some 24,000 rupees: Political Agent to Political Resident (17 March 1939), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.2, pp.274-5.
55. Numerous documents in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.10, pp.408-10;
56. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 1st to 15th March 1939', in Political Diaries, Vol.13, pp.292-3;
57. Political Agent to Political Resident (10 March 1939), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.2, p.258.
58. Political Agent to Political Resident (1 July 1939), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.2, p.285;
59. T. Hickinbotham, 'Who's Who in Kuwait' (May 1942) in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.9, p.401;
60. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 16th to 30th June 1939', in Political Diaries, Vol.13, p.364.
61. Among these was a former British judge from Basra who became the president of the Date Board there and claimed in 1941 that Yusuf's release could ease the tension in Basra: Political Agent to Political Resident (5 March 1941), in Records of Kuwait, Vol.2, pp.302-3.
62. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 1st to 15th April and 16th to 30th June and 16th to 30th September 1940', in Political Diaries, Vol.14, pp.102, 153, 207;
63. Yusuf al-Marzuk to T. Hickinbotham (n.d.) in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.10, pp.498-9.
64. On January 1940, one of his partners in India who was captured with him, came to the Kuwaiti prison to give Yusuf 10,000 rupees for his assistance. 'Kuwait Intelligence Summary for the Period from 16th to 31st January 1941', in Political Diaries, Vol.14, p.300.
65. Crystal, p.208, n.29; Political Agent to Ahmad al-Jabir, Ruler of Kuwait (19 Feb. 1947), in Kuwait Political Agency, Vol.10, p.417;
66. J.R.L. Carter, Merchant Families of Kuwait (London: Scorpion Books, 1984), p.64.