33.2 The near east: a.d. 1801 to 1900

The near east

Back to The Near East: A.D. 1701 to 1800

The first cholera epidemic of the 1820s, coming out of India, went to Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Asia Minor and the Caspian shores. It was stopped only by a very severe winter in 1824. The next epidemic of the same disease occurred in the 1,830s and was established at Mecca by 1831. Thereafter epidemics of cholera always followed the Moslem pilgrimages to Mecca until 1912. There were approximately 40 such epidemics in the Near East. (Ref. 140 )

Arabia and jordan

Nationalist opposition to Turkish rule was aroused by a revival of the Wahabi movement, which was a reform within Islam. Its cause was strengthened by the adherence of the founder of the present ruling f amily of Saudi Arabia, into whose hands much of Arabia fell. Expansion of this Saudi kingdom was temporarily halted by the Ottoman Empire, but just after the turn of the new century in 1,902, Abdulaziz captured Rijadh and reinstated the al Sauds to leadership, paving the way to unification.

Hejaz on the eastern shore of the Red Sea had Egyptian occupation from 1,811 to 1,840, then local rulers, the sharifs of Mecca, under Ottoman sovereignty until the next century. Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf, remained an independent sheikdom under the Al Khalifa family, but had British protection after 1,820. Aden, at the southwest tip of the peninsula, was annexed by British from India for use as a coaling station in 1,83~ and following this British influence in the area gradually increased. Kuwait, at the head of the Persian Gulf, was an autonomous sheikdom under the al Sabah family, with the Ottomans still claiming sovereignty until the British took it under formal protection after 1,899. Jordan remained passively under Turkish rule. (Ref. 6 , 8 )

Mediterranean coastal areas

A new colonization of the Palestine area from Europe began about 1,870. Although Lebanon was under Ottoman control, this area was permitted autonomy and powerful families rose periodically to rule. In one particular mountainous area lived the Druses, an off-brand Islamic sect who were fierce fighters and haters of Christians. In 1,841 and again in 1,860 they came down out of the mountains to massacre the Christian Maronites. Pressure from European powers had forced the Ottomans to grant still greater independence to "Great Lebanon", as it was then called. An American university was established in Beirut in 1,866. Printing had not attained significance in the Near East until this century, but now western books began to be translated into Turkish, Arabic and Persian.

Iraq and syria

These two areas remained mainstays of the Ottoman Empire. Ibrahim Pasha, from Egypt, seized Syria from the Turks in 1,832 and 1,833, but later had to withdraw under European pressure. Some of the Druses also lived in Syria and although the massacres were in Lebanon they threw all Syria into an uproar.

Iran: persia

In Iran the Kajars (Qajars) continued as rulers throughout the century initiating a disastrous foreign and military policy, so that inroads were constantly made by western powers. Between 1,804 and 1,827 Russia defeated Iran in three wars, annexing Georgia and Azerbaijan. Iran's part of Afghanistan was also lost with the Treaty of Turkamanchai in 1,828 as Russia took over the entire foreign trade control and gradually thereafter gained control of the northern districts of Iran. The wild horsemen of Iran and Turkistan were no longer a match for armies equipped by European or even Chinese weapons. The British even fought a short Persian war in 1,856, but the Kajar Dynasty was not seriously challenged on that occasion.