Oman’s geography has played a significant role in the shaping of its society.  The country’s strategic location has attracted a great deal of foreign influence to the coastal regions.  The interior, by contrast, has tended to be more isolated.

Oman is located in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.  The Omani coast is bordered by the Arabian Sea - a part of the Indian Ocean - in the south and east.  The Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz lie to the north.  The straits mark the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

Oman’s immediate neighbors are Yemen in the southwest, Saudi Arabia in the west and the United Arab Emirates in the northwest.  The coasts of Iran and southwestern Pakistan lie on the other side of the Gulf of Oman.

Oman itself can be geographically divided into four regions: a coastal plain, an inland mountain range, an interior plateau and an interior plain.  Much of the country’s interior is made up of arid desert.  The coastal plain and some of the mountains, however, are wet enough to support the farming of dates and other crops.

Geographically Oman is positioned along ancient maritime trade routes between Iran and Iraq, Northeast and East Africa and the Indian subcontinent.  The important historic role played by Oman in regional commerce is largely due to its location along these ancient trade routes.  This commerce, in turn, helped to shape the demographics of Oman’s coastal areas and its major port and capital city, Muscat.  While Oman’s interior is dominated by Arab tribes, Muscat and the coast are far more cosmopolitan, with large non-Arab minorities.

Omani society has traditionally been divided between the coast and the interior.  Interior society tended to be insular, homogeneously Arab and tribal in organization.  The coast has been more heterogeneous, trade-oriented and open to foreign influences.  In reflection of the differences between the coast and interior, the official name of the country before 1970 was ‘Muscat and Oman’.

The Arab tribes of the interior claim descent from two different origins.  Some tribes claim descent from southern Arabian migrants from Yemen.  These tribes are known as Yemani.  Others claim descent from northern Arabs.  Tribes that claim northern descent are known as Nizari.  The Yemani and Nizari tribes in Oman have traditionally been rivals.

In coastal regions there are significant non-Arab minorities.  Several coastal groups are thought to be descended from Iranian migrants.  The presence of Iranian migrants is a reflection of Oman’s proximity to the Iranian coast.

Baluchis live mainly in Muscat and the Al Batinah coast, which borders the Gulf of Oman.  Baluchis come from Baluchistan, a region that straddles the borders of southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan.  This region is separated from the northern coast of Oman by the Gulf of Oman.

A few other communities in Oman are thought to be of Iranian origin.  The Shihuh of the northern Musandam Peninsula speak Arabic and a Farsi (Iranian/Persian) dialect.  The Baharina and Ajam are also thought to be of Iranian or Iraqi origin.

Centuries of trade with India have led to the emergence of communities of Indian origin in the coastal areas.  The Khoja community of Matrah, a town near Muscat, are of Indian origin.

The Omani coast is also home to a significant minority of East African origin.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth century Oman maintained colonies on the east coast of Africa, especially on the island of Zanzibar.  Through these colonies Oman dominated the East African slave trade.  Some Omanis today are descendants of East African slaves.

In the early 1830s the Omani Sultan Sayyid Sa’id moved his court from Oman to Zanzibar.  Many wealthy Omanis followed their sultan to East Africa.  Some of the descendants of these Zanzibari Omanis have now returned to Oman.

The lingua franca of the East African coast is Swahili.  Swahili is a Bantu language that was influenced by Arabic and other foreign languages.  East Africans and Zanzibari Omanis have brought the main languages of the East African coast - Swahili and English - to Oman with them.  Some members of the East African community speak Swahili and English but do not speak Arabic.

Oman’s location along important trade routes has attracted the attention of Western powers over the centuries.  Before the twentieth century, Europeans were attracted to Oman by the country’s position along profitable Indian and Southeast Asian trade routes.

In the early sixteenth century the Portuguese took control over Muscat and coastal areas.  The Omanis expelled the Portuguese in 1650.  The Omanis were able to capture some Portuguese vessels, which helped the country build up its maritime power and its colonial empire in East Africa.  In 1798 the British East India Company negotiated exclusive trading rights with the Omani sultan.  After this time, Oman was increasingly dominated by the British.  In the mid-twentieth century the British backed the country’s sultan in his struggle against the imam whose support base lay among the tribes of the interior.

Oman officially gained its independence from Britain in 1951.  But British influence remained in segments of Omani society.  British officers continued to serve in the police and military well into the late twentieth century.  The English language is widely spoken in business circles and by some minority communities in Oman.

In the second half of the twentieth century Oman’s control over the narrow Straits of Hormuz attracted more attention from Western powers.  The oil exported from the petroleum-rich Persian Gulf region passes through these straits.  In 1980 Oman signed a defense pact with the USA.  The US offered economic and military aid in return for allowing the American military to use Omani ports and air bases.

In recent decades large numbers of foreign workers - mainly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Filipinos - have come to Oman to work.

Oman’s geography has played a significant role in the development of the country’s society.  The interior of the country, which is geographically isolated from the coast, has tended to be more homogeneous.  In contrast to the cosmopolitan coast, the society of the interior tends to be Arabic-speaking and tribal in organization.

The strategic position of Oman’s coast, on the other hand, has attracted a great deal of foreign influences over the centuries.  Communities of East African, Indian, and Iranian descent have grown up in coastal areas, mainly due to trade.  Western influences such as Portuguese, British and finally American have also been prominent because of the country’s strategic location.  The most obvious legacy of British and more recently American influence is the widespread use of the English language among some segments of Omani society.

Reference:

Helen Chapin Metz (editor).  Oman: A Country Study.  Third Edition.  Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1994.

“Oman”, John and Barbara Bains, et al.  The Encyclopedia of World Geography: A Country by Country Guide.  Toronto: Prospero Books, 2002., p. 407.

“Oman”, The Europa World Year Book 1996.  Volume II: Kazakstan-Zimbabwe.  London: Europa Publications Limited, 1996., p. 2447-2457.

“Oman”, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.  New York: Funk & Wagnalls, Inc., 1979, p. 144.

Uzi Rabi.  The Emergence of States in a Tribal Society: Oman Under Sa’id bin Taymur.  Portland, Oregon: Sussex Academic Press, 2006.

John Townsend.  Oman: the Making of a Modern State.  London: Croom Helm Ltd., 1977.