Since its original publication twwenty years ago, this work has remained the standard authority on the history of British relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf during the nineteenth century. It covers such wide-ranging topics as the repercussions of the Napoleonic Wars in the Middle East; the defense of India against the advance of Russia in Asia; the Eastern Crisis of 1839-41; the Anglo-Persian War; the supression of the East African slave trade; and the reassertion of Turkish authority in Arabia. Written by one of the leading historians of relations between the Gulf states and the West, this invaluable volume draws on inaccessible primary sources to provide the most comprehensive account available of how Britain acquired its preeminent position in the Gulf.