History History

As early as the third millennium BC, ancient populations have been living on Omani territory trading in minerals, especially copper, which they exported to all the Gulf countries. The most important copper mines were located near Sohar in the north and in the Sharqiyah region. Copper is mined and processed into ingots a few centimetres in size, which are then transported by camel by land to Umm al-Naar (Abu Dhabi) and Dilum (Bahrain), or by sea to Sumer (Iraq), Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley (India). Ore is exchanged for barley and cloth. Omani sailors are excellent navigators, among the first to use the stars to calculate their position and to use the wind and currents generated by monsoons to optimize their navigation. Their boats are made of reed bundles, caulked with bitumen. Reading Sumerian tablets reveals the existence of a state called Magan, "the Copper Mountain," which would correspond to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman. This period of history is also marked by the trade in incense, which at that time was a prized commodity of all civilizations. Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used it in large quantities for their religious rituals and as make-up, perfume or therapeutic remedy. The boswellia sacra, the tree from which the world's most precious incense is extracted, grows, as it does today, in the Dhofar region in the south of the Sultanate. In ancient times, the resin was loaded in the ports of Sumhuram and Taqah, and transported to Tarim (in Yemen) and the rest of the world. At the same time, the country also traded with India, mainly in the exchange of horses and spices.

A victim of its development and its strategic position at the crossroads of Africa and Asia, Oman attracts more than one conqueror. The founder of the Achaemenid Persian dynasty, Cyrus the Great, seized the country in 536 B.C. He first occupied Sohar and baptized Oman with the name "Mazoon". The Arabs of Oman then took refuge in the interior of the country and on the coast south of Muscat. In the middle of the^5th century AD, the Arab tribe of the Azd, led by Malik ibn-Fahm, arrived from the south and settled in the region of Sharqiyah, taking Qalhat as their capital. Then it seized Sohar and expelled the Persians from the country in 640. Persian domination nevertheless left its mark on the territory: it had a considerable influence on local art and brought precious know-how in agriculture.

The impulse was given by Amer Ibn al Aas, who arrived in Oman in 630 A.D., carrying a letter from the Prophet to Abed and Jaifar, the two sons of Julanda bin al Mustakbir who ruled the country together. Oman is thus one of the first nations of the peninsula to embrace Islam, and this during the lifetime of Muhammad. After his death in 632, following the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, Oman was one of the rare countries to take the middle path of Kharidjism (a dissident movement that did not wish to join either side) and more particularly its most peaceful branch: Ibadism. The first Imamat of Oman was born out of this desire to create a pure and perfect Muslim state. The very first Ibadite Imam, Julanda bin Massoud, was elected in Nizwa in 751 A.D., but died in battle. It was not until 801 that Warith bin Kaab was elected in his turn. During this period, trade flourished and the economy experienced an unprecedented boom, particularly under the influence of Abu Ubaida bin Abdullah who opened the first road to China in 750 AD. Incense, copper, horses, dates, and spices are traded through the ports of the Batinah and Dhofar regions. Arab sailors set up a series of trading posts that extended from present-day South Africa to Eritrea. It was at this time that the port of Sohar experienced its greatest activity, becoming a major maritime crossroads for food and water supplies.

Sohar's prosperity lasted until 971, when the Persians invaded and destroyed the city. The period that followed was marked by a succession of invasions and foreign domination until the supremacy of the Omani dynasty of the Nabhanids, in power from 1154 to 1570. During this period, Oman established itself as a prosperous nation, from which dhows constantly set sail from the great port of Sohar (rebuilt and once again very active) to trade with the neighbouring merchants: a manna for the sailors! At that time, Sohar is probably one of the most important cities in the Arab world

At the beginning of the 16th century, after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama and his sailors on their way to India, the Portuguese landed in Oman. From 1507, they occupied the ports and strategic sites of the country. In 1514, Alfonso de Alburquerque (Governor of the Portuguese Indies from 1509 to 1515, and also a renowned military and explorer) seized the Strait of Hormuz to make it a military base. Muscat was more difficult to take, as several nations (such as Persians, Turks and other Europeans) coveted this strategic location. However, the Portuguese succeeded in subduing Muscat in 1515 and gained control of a large part of the Omani coastline, without taking possession of the interior, where there was strong national resistance. During this occupation, they fortified all the ports in order to protect themselves from internal rebellions and the Turkish threat, which was dominant in the region.

Oman owes its liberation to the Imam of Rustaq, Nasser bin Murshid, who marked the beginning of the Yaruba era by taking power in 1624. He understood that the country had to unite to drive out the occupier and undertook several journeys through the territory to federate the different populations under his unique authority. He built up a powerful fleet and liberated the port of Sohar in 1643, as well as some coastal towns. Muscat and Mutrah resisted until after his death and were finally taken over in 1649 by his successor, Sultan bin Saif, who put an end to 150 years of Portuguese occupation. The latter, of the Yaruba dynasty like his predecessor, continued the work of unification of the country initiated by Nasser bin Murshid.

This was followed by a period of prosperity and development overseas, towards Africa (Mogadishu, Mombassa, Zanzibar) and India, fostered by the performance and quality of the Omani fleet. From being dominated, the Omanis became colonizers, establishing spice and slave trading posts from East Africa (especially Zanzibar) to Bahrain and Pakistan. It was during this same period that most of the forts were built, such as those at Nizwa, Jabrin, Rustaq and Al-Hazm.

In 1718, however, the death of Sultan bin Saif II, the Sultan at the time, brought this era of growth to an end. With the problem of succession, civil wars broke out all over the country and the Persians reinvested a large part of the territory from Sohar from 1737. They occupied it until 1744, the year Ahmed bin Said came to power, whose first significant action was to drive the Persian enemy out of Omani soil for good.

Elected Imam of Rustaq, Ahmed bin Said, former governor of Sohar known for his wisdom and worth, restored the territory's strength and unity, and rose to the rank of Imam of Oman in 1747. He founded the Bu Said dynasty, which is still in power today, established its capital in Muscat, which became a powerful city, and reigned until his death in 1783, when his son Sultan Bin Ahmad succeeded him. In 1789 (1798?), Oman signed a treaty of trade and navigation with England, wishing to control this part of the globe and in particular the route to India and to stop any foreign initiative there. This privilege makes more than one envious and, in 1800, pirates invade the north of the country with Wahhabites, members of an Islamic sect from Central Arabia.

It was then that a great figure in the history of Oman, Said bin Sultan, son of Said Badr bin Saif who died in battle, was revealed. Said bin Sultan put an end to the invasion and took power in 1806. His reign, which lasted until 1856, was synonymous with growth and expansion. Oman became the epicentre of a vast colonial empire that stretched from Persia to the East African coast and gave special prominence to the island of Zanzibar, which became Oman's second capital from 1831 to 1856. A commercial crossroads between Africa, Asia and the Gulf, Zanzibar boosted the Omani economy thanks to the trade in precious stones and spices from India, silk, porcelain and lacquer from China, gold and ivory from southern Africa, glassware, armour, fabrics, perfumes, incense, horses and pearls from the Middle East, not forgetting a major slave trade. Numerous treaties were signed with foreign nations, such as Japan and China, and ambassadors were sent on official visits to the great European powers and the United States.

On the death of Said bin Sultan, the country was divided between his two sons: one was given the kingdom of Zanzibar, the other the kingdom of Muscat and Oman. This unequal division provoked the intervention of the international community and resulted in the independence of the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the parallel loss of its African possessions to Oman in 1861. The abolition of slavery also caused an economic decline that was compounded by other negative factors such as the opening of the Suez Canal in 1860 and the arrival of the steamboat in 1869, which made the Omani sailing fleet obsolete. In 1891, while nominally retaining its independence, Oman was placed under British protectorate, a status that was maintained until 1970.

This was followed by a period of renewed internal conflicts between the two main areas of the country: Muscat and the coastal zone (called Muscat) and the hinterland (called Oman). These dissensions lead to the isolation of the nation from the rest of the world. When Sultan Taymur bin Faysal ascended the throne in 1913, tribal chiefs from the interior imposed a new imam on him, establishing a double power in the country: Muscat and Nizwa. This situation did not end until 1956, under the government of Sultan Said bin Timur (father of the current sultan, in power from 1932 to 1970), who took advantage of succession struggles to assert his control and obtain the abdication of the imam of Nizwa. In 1957, the Sultan, with the help of British forces, prevented a new imam from taking power in Nizwa. The revolt ended definitively in 1959. From 1961, however, a new revolt broke out in the country, this time in Dhofar, where independence movements (Popular Front for Liberation), supported by Yemeni troops, entered into rebellion. This chaotic situation lasted until the accession to power of His Majesty the Sultan Qaboos in 1970.

In 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said deposed his father, whose isolationist and despotic government he no longer tolerated. Thanks to the renewed help of the English military, he put an end to the Dhofar war in 1976 and offered a unit, a flag and a name to his country: Muscat and Oman became the Sultanate of Oman. The country is now moving towards the 21st century. The Sultan's greatest challenge is to bring his compatriots back home with good education and work, so that together they can contribute to the full development of the new nation, especially with the growing financial windfall from oil. This is the "Renaissance". Since then, Oman has embraced the principles of free trade and open markets, while the State plays a key role in planning development programmes in all areas. The private sector is making a real contribution to the economy, while the "Omanization" programme encourages young people to acquire, through training, the skills that should enable them to take up positions previously held by expatriates. Women were not marginalized and participated actively in the country's political life and economic development. The same openness is practised in foreign policy, where the Sultanate stands out for its principles of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries, respect for international law and the strengthening of relations with all nations. This inclusion in modernity is not to the detriment of the heritage and traditions whose preservation remains the cement of national identity.

Appointed to power in January 2020 upon the death of Sultan Qaboos, the new Sultan Haïtham bin Tarif pledged to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor.