Mubarak Al-Sabah influence by opening up customs and harbormaster posts. Through these posts the Ottomans tried to forcefully compel Mubarak to accept the new Ottoman presence, therefore showing real loyalty to the Ottomans. However, the British publicly reinforced Kuwait as they began solidifying the meaning of the 1899 Agreement. This showdown caused a crisis between the Ottomans and the British over Kuwait's status as a state. After the Perseus Zuhaf encounter, where an Ottoman and British warship had a stand-off with each other, Mubarak, the British, and the Ottomans agreed to sign the Status Quo Agreement in September 1901. This agreement maintained
Transformation of the Ottoman Empire in particular suffered from heavy competition, and its commercial presence declined significantly, particularly after 1645, when the Ottomans and Venetians went to war over Crete. The English were by far the most successful European merchants in the empire during the seventeenth century, and they benefited from friendly relations between the two states. The Ottomans exported raw silk and imported cheap woolen cloth, as well as tin necessary for the production of military armaments. While in 1550 the Ottoman Empire was a patrimonial state in which all power was held exclusively by the sultan, by 1700 it had experienced a political