The Trucial Coast (Arabic: الساحل المتهادن As-Sāḥil al-Mutahādin or أو المتصالح al-Mutaṣāliḥ; also known as Trucial States, Trucial Oman, Trucial States of the Coast of Oman, and Trucial Sheikhdoms) were a group of tribal confederations in the south-eastern Persian Gulf, previously known to the British as the "Pirate Coast", which were signatories to treaties (hence 'trucial') with the British government. These treaties established an informal protectorate by Great Britain, and the sheikhdoms, or emirates, were a British protectorate from 1820 until 1 December 1971, when the seven principal trucial sheikhdoms became independent. Six (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Al Quwain and Fujairah) were to form the United Arab Emirates the next day; the seventh - Ras Al Khaimah - joined the Federation on 10 February 1972. |
