Week 1: History of Oman Part 1

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the blog!

This week, we are continuing to explore the foreign policy of Oman, however, to do this, we must delve into Oman’s history to fully comprehend how the country evolved to where it is today.

Oman’s history stretches back to the height of the Persian Empire when the region was dotted with maritime ports of power in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. With the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, the regional population moved away from a dispersed nomadic lifestyle and steered towards a localized ruling system, marked by the formation of an Imamate. Imams were chosen as spiritual leaders by a group of tribes for unity and protection against internal and external conflicts. 

Let’s fast forward 600 years to 1154 AD. A man named Banu Nabhan established the first sultanate in Oman which lasted for over three centuries, until 1429, when it was met again with an imamate power. This power struggle between the imams (elected leaders) and the sultans (hereditary kings) continued until the 20th century. But one superpower had yet to come; the Europeans. In 1507, the Portuguese swept into Oman, capturing  Muscat (the capital) and establishing control over the region. 

In 1650, Sultan bin Saif reclaimed Muscat, setting the groundwork for the Omanis’ eventual expulsion of the Portuguese from Zanzibar and the entire east African coast by 1698. Zanzibar was imperative to Oman’s economy, as it was the source of the most trade and money during the 17th and 18th centuries. Participating in the spice and slave trade, Oman became incredibly rich, but following the death of Sultan bin Saif, his sons split up the empire, with one son taking Muscat and Oman, while the other took Zanzibar. Zanzibar was eventually handed over to the British and later gained independence as an autonomous state, but the region we are focusing on is what’s left of the Omani empire on the Arabian Peninsula. 

With the slave trade slowing down following gradual emancipation in Europe, Oman’s economy took a tumble. They began to rely heavily on British money and eventually became a Protectorate of the British Empire in 1798.

 Do you remember the power struggle between the Imams and Sultans from earlier in the blog? Yes? Because this is where the conflict gets intense. Despite British support, tribes from Oman’s interior region (basically desert and mountains) followed Imams in their fight for power with the coastal power of the Sultan. At the same time, the sultanate clashed with a Marxist guerilla movement called the PFLO, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman, causing disarray and destruction throughout the population. 

Let’s fast forward again, this time 20 years to 1970. 1970 marked the ascension of Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the throne, overthrowing his father to change the trajectory of the course of Oman. 

That’s all for this week, folks. Stay tuned to learn how Sultan Qaboos implements his visionary ideas following his ascent to the throne in 1970!

Sources:

“HISTORY of OMAN.” Historyworld.net, 2020, www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad54.

Kechichian, Joseph A. Oman and the World. Rand Corporation, 1995.