[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Not only did new trade pos-sibilities arise with the arrival of Ottoman authorities garrisons needed to befed, roads protected, taxes collected but an alliance with the Ottoman admin-istration demonstrated to many locals sitting on the sidelines that previouslysubordinate elements of Yemen s hierarchical society could find new politicalor economic niches in the region.;öÜöTHE ITALIAN FACTOR AND THE REGULATION OF TRADEThe consequences of these borderland dynamics extended beyond just rela-tions between the Ottomans and their British neighbors.Italy became an in-creasingly effective regional power that manipulated Ottoman vulnerabilitiesin Yemen as concerns grew that Red Sea trade was under threat due to the lackof security.As more and more competition over fewer and fewer legal trade op-tions put pressure on coastal communities throughout the region, some localentrepreneurs entered into the business of robbing local commercial vessels.The problem of piracy hence became an issue of transregional and diplomaticsignificance.Ironically, the pirates that so exercised Italian and French au-thorities were often allies of one or the other regional powers who helped en-force commercial order.;ö:öIn an attempt to assure that enough revenue-producing trade reached Italian-controlled ports, Italian officials in Massawa were particularly aggressive in pro-tecting their merchants, many of whom also robbed local traders, in order tosecure territorial claims throughout the western coast of the Red Sea.Part ofthe process of securing the interests of local allies was to encourage them to ex-plore the most lucrative trading niches in the region.Italy, as well as France,used their increasing influence over Red Sea merchants to help protect smug-glers who began to tap into the growing demand for modern rifles.Over time,these weapons would find their way to Yemen, satisfying a demand among 3.Illicit Trade and Albania and Yemen [ 79 ]local Yemenis facing increasing Ottoman and British pressure.This develop-ment threatened both the British and Ottoman monopoly of modern weaponsin the region and would prove to have dramatic consequences to how these twoadministrations operated in Yemen.;ö;öThe infiltration of weapons into the Arabian Peninsula was particularlyalarming for the British and their control over the so-called nine borderlanddistricts surrounding Aden.British indirect rule in the nine districts of Aden shinterland relied on the administration s capacity to offer exclusive assistanceto communities who were otherwise vulnerable to Ottoman incursions.Theweapons trade emerging after 1885 threatened this balance of power.As non-aligned communities got their hands on increasingly modern rifles erasingany advantage British allies had over their rivals efforts to maintain stabilityin its districts became increasingly tenuous.;ööCONCLUSIONEfforts to police the frontiers come to the surface here with grave consequencesfor all parties involved.The establishment of customs posts, border patrols, andtoll stations introduced new kinds of restrictions on trade that cut profit mar-gins in already squeezed markets.As noted above, the at times illogical mea-sures taken to tax economic activity in and around Yemen s most productive re-gions enhanced the ability of Italy and Britain to secure allies who were willingto challenge Ottoman legitimacy in Yemen.;ö?ö Not only did the British enclave inAden or the Italians in Assab and Massawa on the African side of the Red Seabenefit by drawing more of Yemen s trade to their ports, but officials based inHudaydah and Mukha also found themselves at odds with Istanbul as the localadministration failed to meet unspecified expectations for revenue.;ö@öThe kinds of transactions that the Ottoman state wanted to regulate andfrom which ultimately draw revenue highlight the paradox of empire in these [80] isa blumidistant provinces: the more effort put into one aspect of asserting greater impe-rial control over primitive economies and peoples, the more complicated therelationship with these subject communities became, a striking example of oneof this work s major themes.;öAö In the end, these measures disrupted a relationalbalance as violence became the only means of interaction between key localstakeholders and state officials
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]