Editing Khuriya Muriya Islands (section)

=== Modern history ===
[[File:Aden Colony dependencies.png|thumb|Aden Colony and dependencies, including the Kuria Muria Islands]]
In 1854 the sultan of [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]] (later [[Muscat and Oman]], now Oman) presented the islands to Queen Victoria as a gift and responsibility for the islands was granted to the Bombay government in British India. There was some concern at the time that the deed of cession was null since the sultan had no rights over the archipelago. The Red Sea and India Telegraph Company, formed in 1858, intended to use one of the islands as a base for a telegraph connection between Aden and Karachi but the project was abandoned in 1861 after sections of the cable failed. A group of Liverpool entrepreneurs were granted monopoly rights to harvest the abundant [[guano]] deposits, but after having met resistance from the local inhabitants who considered that resource theirs, and questions in the British parliament about the advisability of granting monopoly rights to anyone, the mining was abandoned after some 200,000 tons had been extracted between 1855 and 1860.<ref>Kenneth J. Panton, ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'', London, 2015, p. 279.</ref> During that period, the archipelago presented a busy scene, with up to 52 ships present on one occasion. As per a British intelligence report from 1883, fewer than 40 inhabitants lived on Al-Hallaniyah, the main island. The islanders lived in huts of unmortared stone with mat roofs, and at certain seasons they moved to caves. They lived on fish, shellfish and goat's milk, occasionally exchanging dried fish for dates and rice from passing ships. They fished entirely with hooks since they had neither boat nor nets.<ref>Naval Intelligence Division, Western Arabia and the Red Sea. Kegan Paul Limited (U.K.), 2005, p. 617–618.</ref>

==== Yemeni control ====
In 1886, the islands were attached administratively to [[Aden Settlement|Aden]]. Due to their remoteness, the lack of anchorages and the fact that the inhabitants continued to consider themselves subjects of the Sultan of Muscat, the islands remained un-administered and, for decades, were only sporadically visited by British officials.<ref>Kenneth J. Panton, ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'', London, 2015, p. 279.</ref><ref>French sailor and adventurer [[Henry de Monfreid]] who stopped very briefly at these islands around 1920 on his way to India saw no one else but the local inhabitants.</ref> While technically part of [[Aden Colony]], the islands, because of their remoteness and inaccessibly, were left to the supervision of the [[Persian Gulf Residency|British Resident in the Persian Gulf]].<ref>Naval Intelligence Division, p. 617.</ref>  As a British possession until 1967, they were administered by the  Governor of [[Colony of Aden|Aden]] until 1953, then by the British [[High Commissioner]] until 1963, and finally by the British [[Chief Political Resident]] of the [[Persian Gulf]] (based in [[Bahrain]]). On 30 November 1967, [[Lord Caradon]], the British Ambassador to the [[United Nations]], announced that in accordance with the wishes of the local inhabitants, the islands would be returned to [[Muscat and Oman]], despite criticism from President [[Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi]] that the islands should be transferred to the [[South Yemen|People's Republic of South Yemen]].<ref name="times">The Times, December 1, 1967</ref>  The boundary between the two countries was not formally settled until 1992 when it was agreed that the islands were on Oman's side of the line.<ref>[https://www.un.org/depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/OMN-YEM1992IB.PDF International boundary agreement between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen,1 October 1992.]</ref>