History of Ajman

Ajman

The Emirate of Ajman is one of the seven states constituting the United Arab Emirates. With an area of just 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi), Ajman is the smallest of the emirates by area. Its seat of government is the city of Ajman, after which it is named. The emirate is bordered on its north, south, and east by the Emirate of Sharjah. It has a population of some 240,000.

Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, Ajman also controls two small inland exclaves: Manama and Masfut, both of which are primarily agricultural. Approximately 95% of the population of the emirate resides in the city of Ajman, which forms part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Ajman is ruled by Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of the Al Nuaimi tribe. The Crown Prince of the Emirate is Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi.

The foundation of Ajman has been traced to 1810, when Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuami and his followers took the coastal settlement of Ajman from members of the Al Bu Shams tribe in a short conflict.

A British maritime survey of 1822 noted that Ajman had one of the best backwaters on the coast and was a small town with a single fortified building, the Ruler's house. In common with many other coastal towns on what became the Trucial Coast, the population was mobile depending on the season and there were as many as 1400 to 1700 men of the 'Mahamee' tribe during the pearl season, many of whom would travel to Buraimi in the date season. The survey notes that Rashid bin Ahmed considered himself independent of Sharjah but that Sharjah did not maintain that view and yet had no power over Ajman.

The 1822 survey also noted that the inhabitants of Ajman were 'mostly strict Wahhabis' and the presence, along the shore from Ajman town, of the ruined village of Fasht, today the Sharjah suburb of Fisht.

On 8 January 1820, following the sack of Ras Al Khaimah by a British force led by Sir WG Keir, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr of Sharjah signed the General Maritime Treaty with Britain, surrendering the towers, guns and vessels of Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and their dependencies. At first refusing the primacy of Sultan bin Saqr, Ajman capitulated in 1823.

In 1831, the Sheikh of Ajman accepted a subsidy from the Imam of Muscat to join with Sultan bin Saqr of Sharjah against Sohar, but following Sultan's deafeat declared for Sohar. In his absence, a part of Bani Yas from Abu Dhabi sacked Ajman town and its date groves. A subsequent action by the forces of Ajman 'commits daring depradations' upon Sohar and Muscat. When called upon to provide redress for the actions of his 'subject', Sultan bin Saqr disavowed any authority over Ajman and in 1832 a British naval force was sent to Ajman to obtain redress for the raids on the East Coast cities. Ending a conflict between Sharjah, Ajman and Dubai on the one hand and Abu Dhabi on the other, Ajman (together with the other parties) signed the 1835 Maritime Treaty in its own right.

In 1840, Humaid bin Obeid bin Subt of Al Heera invaded Ajman supported by a body of the Bani Naeem. Although initially reluctant to assist Humeid bin Rashid, Sultan bin Suggur of Sharjah sent his son Suggur who, together with Maktoum of Dubai, ejected the invaders and sacked Al Heera in reprisal.

In 1843 a further Maritime Treaty was signed between the Trucial Sheikhs and the British and then, on 4 May 1853, 'A Perpetual Treaty of Peace' was entered into by the coastal Sheikhs, including Ajman. A copy of this treaty is on display in Ajman Museum. A further treaty of 1892 bound the Trucial States to Britain.

By the 20th Century, Lorimer's survey of the coast of the Trucial States showed Ajman to be a small town of some 750 inhabitants (in comparison, the population of Dubai at the time numbered over 10,000).

On 2 December 1971, Ajman, under Sheikh Rashid bin Humayd Al Nuaimi, joined the United Arab Emirates.