GEOGRAPHY and HISTORY

Geography

Oman is the third largest country in Arabia, with a total land area of 309,500 sq km, sharing borders with Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It lies on the Tropic of Cancer. As a gateway between the Indian Ocean, East Africa and the Arabian Gulf, Oman’s location has always been strategically important.
Oman overlooks the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Sea. Historically, it dominated regional commodity trading. Today, it has modernised its ports to adapt to the way that containerised shipping is transforming the transport of consumer goods and commodities around the world. Lying on the south-east corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman has a 1,700km coastline extending from the narrow Strait of Hormuz that separates Arabia from Iran in the north, to the southern border with the Republic of Yemen.
The country’s climate is varied, with humid coastal areas and a hot, dry desert interior. Its highest mountains, at just over 3,000 metres, enjoy a moderate climate all year round. Although rainfall is generally light and irregular, the southern Dhofar province catches the Indian Ocean monsoon (khareef) rains, which fall between May and September. The monsoon season turns Dhofar into a lush, green paradise that draws thousands of Arab tourists fleeing Arabia’s stifling summer heat to Oman every year.
The Sultanate of Oman consists of three governorates – Muscat, Dhofar and Musandam – and five regions. Each region is further divided into districts (wilayats) headed by a district governor (wali).

Muscat

In ancient times, Muscat was known far and wide as a trading port, one of the leading trading hubs and commercial centres serving the Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The Governorate of Muscat is home to the Sultanate’s modern capital and extends from Seeb in the north to the fishing port of Quriyat in the south.
Muscat is the Sultanate’s capital, centre of government and main political, economic and administrative centre. The governorate’s six wilayats – Muscat, Mutrah, Seeb, Bausher, Al Amerat and Quriyat – represent the Sultanate’s most densely populated region. A modern regional and international economic centre, Muscat is home to Port Sultan Qaboos and the port of Mina Fahal. Seeb International Airport links the Sultanate to the outside world, supported by modern roads and communications.
Muscat is a world-class capital city, modern and well planned, blending the best of old and new. Its historical landmarks reflect the city’s role over the ages and its ancient merchants’ houses, souqs, towers, gateways and forts have become major tourist attractions. Urban areas are meticulously planned; even new buildings are designed to incorporate traditional Arab, Islamic and Omani elements. The newly built Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Bausher, opened in May 2001, is one of Oman’s most striking architectural landmarks.
Old Muscat is enclosed by city walls and its gates display a mixture of traditional and contemporary styles. Mutrah souq, Muscat’s most popular market, is a well-preserved traditional market that has become a popular tourist attraction, selling a heady mix of traditional Arabian spices, fragrances and handicrafts, as well as household goods for Omani families.
Muscat’s world-class hotels, parks, historic and modern buildings, museums, beautiful beaches and fertile, palm tree-lined wadis delight visitors and residents alike. Muscat is home to Sultan Qaboos University, major commercial banks, world-class hotels, parks, specialist hospitals, colleges, training institutes, schools, sports associations, youth clubs and cultural and art centres. Muscat has beautiful beaches, and visitors take health-giving waters in the hot mineral springs in Bausher. Other popular attractions include Wadi Al Khoud and the nature reserves on Dimaniyat Islands near Seeb. The Wadi Sareen Reserve is home to the Arabian tahr and gazelle. Many species of plants grow wild at Wadi Dhayqah and Jebel Al Za’atari in Quriyat.

Dhofar

Beautiful Dhofar’s sweeping coastline and arid interior are flanked by the mountains of Jebel Dhofar. The summer monsoon rains fall on an 8km wide plain along 130km of Arabian Sea coastline that houses Salalah, capital city of the Governorate of Dhofar. The Jebel Dhofar mountains form a narrow girdle, never more than 23km wide, that runs 400km east to west, from the Halaaniyat Islands to the Yemeni border. The highest peak is 2,500 metres. The monsoon rains fall on a 75km stretch of mountains, cloaking them in lush summer greenery and the coastal plain is thickly planted with vegetables, bananas and coconut palms.
Dhofar was the heart of Oman’s frankincense trade in ancient times, when the fragrant resin was burned in religious ceremonies and was as highly-prized as gold. Ancient civilisations traded in frankincense up to 7,000 years ago. Caravans of camels set out from Oman, carrying loads of Dhofari frankincense, crossing mountains and deserts to the trading capitals of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. Consignments of Omani frankincense were loaded onto ships at Gaza for shipment across the Mediterranean to ancient Rome and across Europe.
Frankincense trees still grow on the lower slopes and craggy plains of Jebel Dhofar today. The frankincense tree, Boswellia sacra, grows up to five metres tall. The trees grow just out of range of the monsoon rains, but thrive in the cool winds that sweep across Dhofar during the rainy season.
As temperature start to rise at the end of March, frankincense gatherers begin to harvest the 7,000 tonnes of fragrant resin that Dhofar produces every year. Cutting requires great skill and the three months harvest yields an average of ten kilos of resin per tree. Omani frankincense is considered the highest quality frankincense in the world and is still in demand for fragrance manufacture. It is also used to produce oils, powders, medicines and candles, as well as the balls of resin that are still burned in Catholic and other religious ceremonies around the world.

Musandam

Musandam is separated from the rest of Oman’s territory by the east coast of the United Arab Emirates and is its northernmost tip whose main towns are Khasab, Daba and Bukha. Madha is a small enclave near Fujairah (UAE). The 1,800 metre mountains that rise steeply above the region’s rocky coastal inlets have led to comparisons with Norway’s fjords. Musandam marks the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow 55 km shipping lane between Arabia and Iran that links the Arabian Gulf with the Arabian Sea. The navigable waters through the Strait lie towards Oman.

The regions

• Batinah: A coastal strip between the Hajar Mountains and the Gulf of Oman, the Batinah plain was traditionally fishing and farming region. Today, it is one of the Sultanate’s most industrialised, urbanised and highly populated areas. Sohar, the first Omani city to embrace Islam and mentioned in folklore as the departure point for Sinbad the Sailor, is being redeveloped as an industrial city and port.
• Dhahirah: Translated as ‘the back’, the Dhahirah lies behind the western Hajar mountain range that divides the interior from the Batinah coast. The Dhahirah is a vast semi-sandy plain stretching from the foothills of the mountains to the bleak, arid deserts of Oman’s Empty Quarter, the Rub Al Khali, which runs 1,100km west towards the Saudi border. The north-western city Al Buraimi lies across the border from Al Ain in Abu Dhabi.
• Dakhliya: This mountainous region links Muscat and the coastal plain with the Omani interior through the Sumail Gap, stretching from Fanja to Izki and Manah and beyond the town of Adam, frontier of the desert. The Hajar Mountains’ highest peak is the 3,000 metre Jebel Al Akhdar (Green Mountain) and the towns of Nizwa and Bahla are popular tourist attractions, famous for their Islamic fortresses and wall.
• Wusta: This central region is a gravel desert that runs from the coast to the interior, where most of Oman’s oil, gas and mineral reserves are to be found. Conservationists have reintroduced the Arabian Oryx to Jiddat Al Harasis, and their efforts were rewarded in 1994, when UNESCO placed the project on its World Natural and Cultural Heritage List.
• Sharqiyah: Translated as ‘eastern’, this region is flanked by the gravel plains and valleys of the eastern Hajar Mountains. Further south-east, the Jaalan is a vast, sandy plain, stretching to the Arabian coast at Sur and Al Ashkarah. Oman’s famous and isolated desert region, the Wahiba/Eastern Sands, lies to the south.

Water

In the days before modern transport and communications, the Omani heartland was an oasis enclosed by sea and desert. Sheltered inside a girdle of mountains that faced towards sprawling sands, traditional agricultural communities were sustained by the country’s plentiful reserves of groundwater from mountain springs.
Residents developed the indigenous Arab irrigation system, known as the falaj system, creating water courses and channels to maximise water resources and sustain their crops. There are more than 4,000 falaj systems throughout Oman today, although traditional irrigation systems are being supplanted by modern methods that tap into water reservoirs deep below the ground, and by modern dams.
Falaj systems (plural aflaj) comprise water channels built downstream from the water source. Some working falaj systems are 1,500 years old. Omani builders tunnelled many metres into the ground to access the ground water.
Oman is known for its hot and cold springs. Its most famous hot springs are at Rustaq and Nakhl. Ain Razat in Salalah is famous for its crystal-clear cold springs, which attract picnicking families all year round.

History

From Ancient times to 1970

Oman’s ancient civilisation dates back at least 5,000 years, inhabited originally by fishing communities and hunter-gatherer societies. Archaeological digs continue to uncover and explore sites that shed light on the country’s ancient history.
Sumerian tablets refer to a country called Magan, thought to allude to Oman’s ancient copper mines. Mazoun, another early name for Oman, is thought to refer to its plentiful water. The name Oman is said to originate from Arab tribes who migrated to its territory from the Uman region of Yemen. Many tribes settled in Oman from elsewhere, and modern Omani families can still trace their ancestral roots to other parts of Arabia today.
The Omanis were among the first to embrace Islam in 630AD when Prophet Mohammed sent his envoy, Amr Ibn Al As, to meet Jaifar and ‘Abd (joint rulers of Oman) to invite them to embrace the faith. From the 6th century AD, Oman became a stronghold of Islam, helping to spread the faith to south-east Asia and to eastern and central Africa. In accepting Islam, Oman became an Ibadhi state, ruled by an elected leader, the Imam. By the Middle Ages, Oman was a prosperous seafaring nation, sending dhows from the great port of Sohar to trade with Africa, India and the Far East.
By the early 16th century, the powerful Portuguese trading empire sought to extend its influence and to reduce Oman’s control over the thriving Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean trade routes. Portuguese troops invaded Oman and captured some of the coastal areas, occupying them for 150 years until they were defeated by Sultan bin Saif Al Ya’rubi.
During the Ya’rubi dynasty, Oman entered an era of prosperity at home and abroad, and many of the Sultanate’s great historic buildings and forts date from this time. However, expansion ended when civil war erupted between rival Omani tribes over the election of a new Imam. Persian forces seized the opportunity to invade, and some coastal areas were occupied once again.
In 1744, Omani tribes elected Ahmed bin Said as the new Imam. He expelled the Persian invaders, and restored national unity, reviving Oman’s fortunes by building a strong naval and merchant fleet. No country has successfully invaded Oman since the sixteenth century, and by the nineteenth century, Oman was an imperial power in its own right, expanding its territory across the Arabian Gulf and into East Africa, where it controlled the island of Zanzibar. Oman established political links with other great powers of the time, including France, Britain and the United States.
However, world events at the beginning of the twentieth century saw the country enter a period of decline and isolation. When Sultan Qaboos came to power in 1970, the country was poor and backward, lacking roads, schools and medical care. Many of Oman’s most educated and wealthy citizens had left the country to seek their fortunes abroad. Sultan Qaboos’ challenge was to encourage the Omanis to return home, to help to turn the Sultanate into a modern, competitive state.

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