This the, this the, the sort of what formed the Trucial States? This is much later, right?

Yes.

Uh, uh, but even before that, uh, uh, the, the, uh, British had, out of necessity, tapped into, uh, indigenous, uh, intelligence and social networks, uh, because rather than point, appoint their own people, as today the equivalent of ambassadors to all these various states, they appointed local, uh, merchants, the wealthiest merchant in each port, who had some sort of trade tie connection with, with British India.

Um, uh, today we would call these people honorary consuls.

They still exist.

They account for over half of the diplomatic personnel in the Foreign, uh, uh, Development and Commonwealth Office for the UK, the Foreign Office.

And, um, so if you were to go to, let's say, uh, Marrakech as a British citizen, and let's say you lost your passport, you needed to get a new one.

When you teach this history to, um, folks who grew up in the, who grew up in the UAE, regardless of what passport they have, um, what do you think is most surprising to them?