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Also known simply as ‘resident’, the title used for the head of the British mission to the seven Trucial States of the (Persian) Gulf until their formal dependence on Britain was ended in 1971. This unusual term was employed because these entities (also known as the Gulf Sheikdoms) were ‘British protected states’, for the conduct of whose foreign relations Britain was responsible under special treaty relations dating from the early nineteenth century. The head of the British mission was thus something more than an ordinary ambassador. Based in Bahrain, the political resident\'s senior representatives in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, and Qatar were known as ‘political agents’, as was his subordinate officer in Kuwait (a protected but not a Trucial state). The term ‘Trucial’ arose from the assurances which used to be sought each year by Britain from the several rulers that they would observe a ‘truce’ – that is, would abstain from piracy. |
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