Political (External) Collection 34: Slavery and the Slave Trade

The Political (External) Collection 34: Slavery and the Slave Trade sub-series concerns British anti-slave trade policy across the Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula, and Persian Gulf regions. It largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, specifically between the Foreign Office and British representatives based in various protectorates, mandated territories, and independent states in the regions concerned (namely Saudi Arabia, the Aden Protectorate, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Palestine and Transjordan, Muscat, and Persia). Interdepartmental correspondence (mostly comprising the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the Government of India but also including the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, and the Admiralty) also features prominently. The majority of the correspondence relates to British efforts to gather intelligence on and prevent the traffic of slaves across the region. In this context relations with Hejaz and Nejd (from 1932, Saudi Arabia), Persia, the Gulf states and statelets (Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi), France, Italy, Yemen, Abyssinia, and some of the Indian Princely States (Sikkim, Kalat, Las Bela, and Chitral) are the subject of many of the files. The manumission of slaves and their repatriation is also discussed. IOR/L/PS/12/4093 has not been catalogued to an enhanced level as it is beyond the scope of the Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme. As a result it has been omitted from the sub-series record.

IOR/R/15

Unrestricted