ABSTRACT
During most of the nineteenth century the southern Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, although ocially part of the Ottoman Empire, were virtually independent. e empire had interests in certain parts of it: the Hajj routes and the seaports. It made an eort to keep the main routes open and the ports protable, but even that proved hard work at times. e region was controlled by tribes and more or less powerful local rulers. e relationship between them and the empire was mostly economic and political, and tribes, as well as towns, were treated as vassals or allies, rather than as subjects. e state used various tactics that were usually successful in manipulating the tribes, something they preferred to confrontational measures. In conicts, particularly with the large tribes of the area, the empire did not always come out on top.
