orts,
and took possession of Sokotra and Zanzibar, as well as the Persian
coast north of the straits of Hormuz as far east as Gwadur, while by his
liberal policy at home Sohar, Barka and Muscat became prosperous
commercial ports.

On his death in 1856 the kingdom was divided, Majid, a younger son,
taking Zanzibar, while the two elder sons contested the succession to
Oman. The eldest, Thuweni, with British support, finally obtained the
throne, and in 1862 an engagement was entered into by the French and
English governments respecting the independence of the sultans of Oman.
He was assassinated in 1866, and his successor, Seyyid Turki, reigned
till 1888. On his death several claimants disputed the succession;
ultimately his son Fesal was recognized by the British government, and
was granted a subsidy from British-Indian revenues, in consideration of
which he engaged not to cede any of his territory without the consent of
the British government; similar engagements have been entered into by
the tribes who occupy the south coast from the borders of Oman westward
to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.

British sphere of influence.

The opening of the overland route to India again brought the west coast
of Arabia into importance. Aden was occupied by the British in 1839. The
Hejaz coast and some of the Yemen ports were still held by Mehemet Ali,
as viceroy of Egypt, but on his final withdrawal from Arabia in 1845,
Hejaz came under direct Turkish rule, and the conquest of Yemen in 1872
placed the whole Red Sea littoral (with the exception of the Midian
coast, ceded by Egypt on the accession of Abbas Hilmi Pasha) under
Ottoman administration. The island of Perim at the southern entrance of
the Red Sea has been a British possession since 1857, while the
promontory of Shekh Said on the Arabian side of the strait is in Turkish
occupation. In order to define the limits between Turkish territory and
that of the independent Arab tribes in political relations with Great
Britain, a joint commission of British and Turkish officers in 1902-1905
laid down a boundary line from Shekh Said to a point on the river Bana,
12 m. north-east of the small town of Kataba, from which it is continued
in a north-easterly direction up to the great desert. This delimitation
places the whole of southern Arabia, east of this line, within the
British sphere of influence, which thus includes the district
surrounding Aden (q.v.), the Hadramut and Oman with i