From 1873, in recognition of the increasingly important position occupied by the Gulf in international affairs, the British Resident in the Gulf, along with other British officials both within and outside India, was required to produce regular printed administration reports summarising political, diplomatic and economic developments in the area. These reports continued to be produced without interruption until Indian independence in 1947 when the conduct of British interests in the Gulf was taken on by the Foreign Office in London. The reports present not just a continuous picture of the progress of British interests in the area; nor do they confine themselves simply to the activities of rulers and officials. The importance of the reports lies ultimately in their wealth of information on the changing experiences of the people of the Gulf states through perhaps the most crucial three-quarters of a century of the region´s history.