Why do people say the UAE was colonized? The UAE was never a colony and not even a protectorate.
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DEFINITIONS
Colony: territory the imperial power (in this case it’s Britain) annexes or directly rules. Local rulers do not keep independent internal government
Protectorate: the British Crown takes sovereign authority. It builds and runs the internal government. The local ruler is left with a title
Protected state: the local ruler keeps sovereignty and runs the inside of the country. Britain only binds external relations by treaty
Only the third definition applied to the 7 emirates, with Bahrain and Qatar and Kuwait.
Aden was a colony and large parts of Africa were protectorates. The Gulf was not filed with either of those
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Proof it was not a protectorate:
1. No instrument said the Crown had assumed sovereignty over Abu Dhabi or Dubai or any of the 7 emirates. A protectorate starts when the Crown takes that authority. With no such instrument it was not a protectorate
2. There was no British governor. Internal law and courts and taxes and succession stayed with the local ruler. A protectorate inserts British internal control and because that control was absent it was not a protectorate
3. People were not British subjects, instead they were “British protected persons” when they travelled which is the category for protected states. Protectorate populations are tied to Crown authority in a tighter way. The passport status is important because it shows even in personal affairs the emirates were not considered protectorates
4. The 1892 agreement is basically just three clauses: no deals with other powers plus no foreign agents without British consent plus no ceding land except to Britain. That is a LIMIT on foreign policy. Inter emirate foreign policy never passed to London whatsoever. Borders and tribute and affairs between Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and the Qawasim stayed local business. The UK did not become the foreign ministry of each emirate. From the late 1960s Britain even pursued them into open external roles like trade offices, Arab League committees, Abu Dhabi’s OPEC membership, Zayed’s 1968 visit to Jordan and meeting with Arafat. In 1967 Zayed began direct talks with King Faisal on the old Buraimi/Saudi file. Direct ruler to king negotiation is leftover foreign affairs control so the UK didn’t even have full controls of external affairs. British protectorates on the other hand gave up full control of their foreign policy to the UK and the treaty that was signed between the emirates and Britain did not hand over complete control of foreign policy to the UK. The 1892 agreement did not even write a full British duty to govern or to occupy. Protection only grew from practice and earlier maritime truces, NOT from a protectorate proclamation
5. In 1928 the Government of India called the 7 emirates “independently administered tribal principalities governed by independent Arab sheikhs.” In the 1960s the Foreign Office called them “independent sheikhdoms in special treaty relations with the United Kingdom”. That is not the language used for a protectorate whose foreign office has been extinguished
6. When Britain left in 1971 it cancelled treaties. The same ruling families took back external powers and formed the UAE. That is how a PROTECTED state ends while a protectorate needs a new constitution written by the protecting power. The 1971 exit did not work that way
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Abu Dhabi is 486 years old
Dubai is 193 years old
Sharjah is 299 years old
Ras Al Khaimah is 304 years old
These are not the ages of colonized states