emirate · Arabia and the Gulf

Banu Khalid Emirate

1669 CE – 1796 CE (approx.) · capital Hofuf

The Bedouin emirate that ruled eastern Arabia from Hofuf after expelling the Ottomans, until the first Saudi state absorbed it.

Origins

The Banu Khalid were a powerful tribal confederation of eastern Arabia. In 1670 their chief Barrak ibn Ghurayr expelled the Ottoman garrison of the Lahsa Eyalet and made Hofuf the centre of an emirate controlling the coast from Kuwait to Qatar and the oases of al-Hasa and Qatif.

Rule and society

The emirs governed through tribal alliances, taxing oasis farmers, pearl divers and caravans while keeping nominal ties with the Ottoman Empire. Under their protection, clans of the Bani Utbah settled at Kuwait and later Zubarah in Qatar. Sulayman ibn Muhammad, emir in the mid-18th century, pressured the town of Uyayna to expel the reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

Decline and legacy

Family feuds after 1752 weakened the emirate. The Emirate of Diriyah defeated the Banu Khalid in a series of campaigns and conquered al-Hasa by 1796, though the tribe remained important in the region.

Lineage

Lahsa Eyalet 1560 CE – 1670 CEBanu Khalid Emirate

Connections (2)

More states of Arabia and the Gulf →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Banu Khalid Emirate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khalid-emirate
MLA
“Banu Khalid Emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khalid-emirate. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Banu Khalid Emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khalid-emirate.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Banu Khalid Emirate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khalid-emirate (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻