Shah Muhammad Ali, the sixth Qajar shah, came to power in January 1907. The Anglo-Russian Convention, signed in August of that year, divided Iran into a Russian zone in the north and a British zone in the south; the center of the country was neutral. The British switched their support to the shah, abandoning the constitutionalists. In 1908, the shah moved to "exploit the divisions within the ranks of the reformers" and eliminate the "majlis". Persia tried to remain free of Russian influence through resistance (via the "majlis") to the shah's policies.