Of course, Russell was still very pleased. With the Pirate Coast as a bargaining chip, he was not afraid that East Africa would ask for too much; he only feared that East Africa would not think the Pirate Coast worth having.
Russell's mindset was actually aligned with that of the East African officials. The British Government understood the Pirate Coast's value even better than they did. Why had it directly chosen the Pirate Coast as its bargaining chip? Essentially because, in the British Government's eyes, the Pirate Coast was the least valuable.
Although the British Government was the suzerain of the many tribes along the Pirate Coast, it had no real governance over the area. At present, the Pirate Coast had another name: the "Trucial States."
The Trucial States could also be called the Alliance of Trucial States. This alliance had been brought about by Britain in the Early 19th century, with the aim of stabilizing the region and thereby curbing the growth of piracy in the Persian Gulf region.
After all, once Britain had gained dominance over the Persian Gulf region, the principal trade on the Persian Gulf had largely been carried by British merchant ships. The rampant piracy along the Pirate Coast had in fact harmed British interests, since piracy was essentially the main source of income for the many tribes of the Pirate Coast at the time.
If it did not stabilize the local political order, Britain could not even find the culprits it wanted to punish. Thus, Britain forcibly united the large and small tribes of the Pirate Coast into a single political force. That way, the British Government could identify those responsible behind the Persian Gulf pirates, preventing its merchant ships from being plundered with nowhere to seek redress.
That political force was the "Trucial