Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Oman is a small country located in West Asia nearly at the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Oman. To the east is the Indian Ocean and to the west is the Persian Gulf. It is like the boot of Italy, only except kicking southwestward, Oman is kicking northeastward to Iran and Afghanistan. It’s neighbors are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Yemen, while sharing maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan.
When someone mentions the Arabian Peninsula to a European or American they immediately envision desert. If they are would enough the recall the 1962 movie, “Lawrence of Arabia”. Their vision is of rolling hills of endless sand, maybe, a few date palm trees around a small wadi, and endless nothingness. While there is some truth to this, it isn’t the whole story. Standing on the balcony this morning looking out towards Muscat, the Capital of Oman, there weren’t endless hills of sand blowing aimlessly around every shifting.
There are mountains. Not the green hills we saw in New Zealand that is for sure. These mountains are sandy brown color, treeless and don’t look at all welcoming. The base of the mountains, between them and the sea, appears to be a small community of ground hugging homes all of them painted white. A nice, very clean, white. Again, for the aged, think of the opening scenes of “Patton” and the small village where if first arrives. Except, these buildings are very clean and very bright white.
Looking out on the village it would be hard to believe Muscat is the capital city of Oman. There are a few larger buildings that are probably the palace and administrative buildings, but it would be hard to envision this as a city of more than 1,000, and that maybe generous.
Oman sits at the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. We are still in Asia. A good number of our fellow passangers are under the belief that we are now in Africa. The Arabian Peninsula is just that a peninsula of land starting in the west with the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Lebanon. It extends southeasterly fromt here to the Gulf of Arden and the Arabian Sea. The south is bordered by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez, basically Egypt. The north is bordered the Euphrates Valley; Syria, Iraq and Kuwait.
The Arabian Peninsula ia s the largest peninsula in the world covering 1,250,000 square miles. Geographically the Arabian Peninsula includes nine countries; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen, southern Iraq and Jordan. Historically many people have also included the Sinai Peninsula as part of the Arabian Peninsula but that is technically incorrect.
The Sinai Peninsula is a peninsula in Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula is the only part of Egypt that is located in Asia. The peninsula is a land bridge between Asia and Africa, and it lies between the Red Sea to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Psst, this is where the Suez Canal comes in. We have booked a cruise in 2026 to go from Doha, Qatar to Athens (Piraeus), Greece, thus transversing the Suez Canal. Waiting two years to finall have both of the major canals under our belts will be difficult.
Sorry, digressed a little bit there. The description of the excursion is says something about about visiting the historical and religious sights of Oman, getting a taste of the Omani political, economic and commerical climate. Where? If this is the commerical hub, then there is no commerce here.
This makes no sense to us. What is going on here? Well is we have to go back awhile to the very first part of the 16th century. Prior to this not much is known, but Oman occupies a strategic location on various trade routes. The Portuguese really liked those trade routes to and from India. So, Oman came under the control of the Portuguese Empire from 1507 to the mid-17th century. The Omani tribes were then able to end the Portuguese occupation of Muscat.
In 1695 the Omani fleet attached Mombasa (in present day Kenya). They were not just desert dwellers and nomads, they were a sea fairing people. At Mombasa the Omani fleet besieged the Portuguese Fort Jesus. It took thirty-three months for Omanis got the Portuguese to surrender. By 1783, were as far spread as Gwader in present day Pakistan, in the Persian Gulf the took Bahrain from the Persians, and had a large-scale settlement in Zanzibar in present day Tanzania.
All of this was built on the base constructed by Saif bin Sultan. He made massive improvement in agriculture, provided water to the interior lands of Oman, encouraged Omani Arabs to move from the interior and settle along the coast by planting date palms in the coastal region. Al Hama, in the interior of Oman, the irrigation system was improved and a large new falaj was built. The falaj represents an irrigation system as old as 5000 years in. This irrigation system effectively divided the water among all the inhabitants; it flowed by gravity from their original sources to homes and cropland. Watchtowers were built to protect it. In 2006, five Aflaj (plural from falaj) Irrigation Systems of Oman were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
The Ya’ruba dynasty under Saif bin Sultan supported the settlement and agricultural terracing along the Wadi Bani Awf. Saif bin Sultan built many schools, and add the Burj al Rich wind tower. He accomplished a great deal in his short eighteen year reign. De dies in 1711. When he died is estate was said to include twenty-eight ships, seven hundred male slaves and one-third of Oman’s date trees. He was succeeded by his son, Sultan bin Saif II, who reigned for just seven years. The great Ya’ruba dynasty went on to last until 1749.
In the late 18th century Sultan bin Ahmad (1972 – 1804) strengthened the already powerful fleet by adding numerous gunships and fast cargo vessels. He was also fighting wars on two fronts. The Mazrui clan was trying the wrestle control of Mombasa, and the Qasimi tribes from the Persian city of Lengeh were trying to expand in to Oman’s territory. So he sought an ally to help him retain control over Oman.
He had heard that the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, wanted to march through Persia and nature Muscat on this way to invade India. The the late 18th century Great Britian was at war with France. So he decided to find an ally in Great Britian.
Britain and Oman signed a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in 1798. Sultan bin Ahmad pledged himself to British interests in India, and his territories became out of bounds to the French. He allowed the British East India Company to establish the first trading station in the Persian Gulf, and a British consul was posted to Muscat. As well as defeating Bonaparte, the British had another motive for the treaty with Oman: they wanted to put pressure on the sultan to end slavery, which had been declared illegal in England in 1772.
Trade between Africa to Oman was strong at the opening of the 19th century. Oman still controlled Zanzibar, and its position as an important trade center was greatly enhanced when the supply of ivory from Mozambique to India collapsed because of excessive Portuguese export duties. The traders simply shipped their ivory through Zanzibar instead. Omani warships were in constant skirmishes up and down the gulf, which kept Sultan preoccupied. It was in the course of one of his sorties during an incursion abroad a ship in the Persian Gulf in 1804 that Sultan bin Ahmad was shot in the head by a stray bullet.
The United States got involved in 1833 with a historic treaty of friendship and trade. It was only the second trade treaty formulated by the United States and an Arab state (Morocco being the first in 1820). The United States was only interested in commerce. In 1840 the ship Al-Sultanah docked at New York. It was the first ever Arab envoy to ever visit the New World. The crew of fifty-six Arab sailors caused a flurry of excitement among the three hundred thousand residents of New York.
The Al-Sultanah brought ivory, Persian rugs, spices, coffee and dates, as well as lavish gifts for President Martin Van Buren. The Al-Sultanah’s visit lasted nearly four months, and brought with it, Ahmad bin Na'aman Al Kaabi, the first Arab emissary to visit the United States. Among Bin Na'aman's hosts was Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, in whose home he met then New York Governor Seward and the United States Vice President Johnson. The United States completely refitted the Al-Sultanah and sent Al Kaabi home with gifts for his Sultan.
When Said bin Sultan died in 1856 there was a succession crisis, which ended up with the empire being divided between his two sones. The somewhat distance African part of Oman became the Sultanate of Zanzibar ruled by Majid bin Said. The Asian section became the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman ruled by Thuwaini bin Said. The next eighty or so years the British meddled with Oman. Then in 1932 Said bin Taimur became the sultan of Muscat. Said bin Taimur was a very complex character, he was feudal, reactionary and isolationist all at the same time, but he was backed by the British government. The British government maintained vast administrative control over the Sultanate as the defense secretary and chief of intelligence, chief adviser to the sultan and all ministers except for two were British.
In 1937, an agreement between the sultan and Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), a consortium of oil companies that was 23.75% British owned, was signed to grant oil concessions to IPC. After failing to discover oil in the Sultanate, IPC was intensely interested in some promising geological formations near Fahud, an area located within the Imamate. IPC offered financial support to the sultan to raise an armed force against any potential resistance by the Imamate. Which resulted in the reunification of the two countries. The, in a 1951 treaty covering commerce, oil reserves and navigation, the United Kingdom recognized the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman as a fully independent state.
In 1963 the UN General Assembly decided to establish an Ad-Hoc Committee on Oman to study the 'Question of Oman' and report back to the General Assembly. Then in 1964 oil was discovered in Oman. The UN General Assembly adopted several resolutions in 1965, 1966 and again in 1967 which told the British government to cease all repressive action against the locals, end British control over Oman and reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Omani people to self-determination and independence.
All of this was taking place during the the Dhofar War, which began in 1963, in which pro-Soviet forces were pitted against government troops in a rebellion that threatened the Sultan's control of Dhofar, the sultanate’s southeast “state” near Yemen. Dispute several resolutions to get out of Oman and British continued to interfere. Sultan Said bin Taimur was deposed in a bloodless coup in 1970 by his son Qaboos bin Said with British support.
After deposing his father in 1970, Sultan Qaboos opened up the country, embarked on economic reforms, and followed a policy of modernisation marked by increased spending on health, education and welfare. Saudi Arabia invested in the development of the Omani education system, sending Saudi teachers on its own expense. Slavery, once a cornerstone of the country's trade and development, was outlawed in 1970.
In 1971, Oman joined the United Nations, as did Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Sultan Qaboos bin Said expanded the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces, modernized the state's administration and introduced social reforms. All this time the Dhofar was continuing. It didn’t finally end until 1976, and with help from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Britain.
In 1981, Oman became a founding member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. Political reforms were eventually introduced. The country adopted its present national flag in 1995, resembling the previous flag but with a thinner stripe. In 1997, a royal decree was issued granting women the right to vote and stand for election to the Majlis al-Shura, the Consultative Assembly of Oman. Two women were duly elected to the body. In 2002, voting rights were extended to all citizens over the age of 21, and the first elections to the Consultative Assembly under the new rules were held in 2003.
In 2004, the Sultan appointed Oman's first female minister with portfolio, Sheikha Aisha bint Khalfan bin Jameel al-Sayabiyah, to the post of National Authority for Industrial Craftsmanship. Despite these changes, there was little change to the actual political makeup of the government. The Sultan continues to rule by decree. Nearly 100 suspected Islamists were arrested in 2005 and 31 people were convicted of trying to overthrow the government. They were ultimately pardoned in June of the same year.
Inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings that were taking place throughout the region, protests occurred in Oman during the early months of 2011. While they did not call for the ousting of the regime, demonstrators demanded political reforms, improved living conditions and the creation of more jobs. They were dispersed by riot police in February 2011. Sultan Qaboos reacted by promising jobs and benefits. In October 2011, elections were held to the Consultative Assembly, to which Sultan Qaboos promised greater powers. The following year, the government began a crackdown on internet criticism. In September 2012, trials began of 'activists' accused of posting "abusive and provocative" criticism of the government online. Six were given jail terms.
Sultan Qaboos, the Arab world's longest-serving ruler, died on 10 January 2020. Leaving no heir on succession. After his death he was succeeded by his first cousin Haitham bin Tariq.
Oomphs, we digressed again, didn’t we? Ok, time to head down to the theater to get our tour ticket numbers, and then head out to the motor coaches. Where did these motor coaches come from? They would fill the entire town? There isn’t even space to park them. We leave the port and turn on to a modern four lane highway. This is making less and less sense.
We exit the town through a very beautiful arch over the freeway. We are heading up into those mountains we saw earlier. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes later the motor coach crosses the mountain ridge. Before us is modern and real Muscat. It actually was a good forty minutes to up and over and down into Muscat.
The guide tells us that we are driving through the fashionable residential district of Shati Al Qurum. Yes, wonderful and beautify looking homes. Only problem is that they are all painted white. They all appear to have bought the exact same shade of white. There are a few tall buildings but the tallest is maybe five stories.
We exit the very well kept up freeway, and we are surprised with a very large and beautiful Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. The guide points out that it is the largest sanctuary in Oman. That is easy to believe. We exit the motor coach and one of the first things we notice is that it is hot here, but not humid. This is a nice change. After visiting the mosque we reboard the motor coach and head back over the mountain.
There is something else missing. Ok, two things. One is people. There are a few people out and about but not many. It is 38 degrees out there (100F). That is undoubtedly one of the reason for a lack of people. It is also Ramadan, and people tend to stay home and indoors. You can’t eat or drink, and if you are outside, you definitely need to drink. The other things missing, since Indonesia is trash. There isn’t any any where. There aren’t even weeds growing at the side of the road. Almost Disneyland clean.
The guide keeps telling us the next stop is at Muttrah Souq. The debate of one “t” or two is for another time. The real question is what is a Souq? For this you need to hark back to the blog on the grand bazaar in Istanbul. A souq is the market place or bazaar in the Middle East. This particular one dates back about 200 years, although it has obviously been renovated recently. It does, however, have all the beauty, magic and allure of the grand bazaar in Istanbul.
The Mattrah Soug isn’t as large as the grand bazaar in Istanbul, but it could be considered the prototype of old eastern markets. It is characterized by narrow winding alleys. Each area has its own guild. The wool merchants on one place, the gold in another, tourist trinkets in another.
It is impossible to gauge the size of the market from the exterior. It seems to stretch deep with in the city. Where do houses end or begin? The main gate faces the Sea of Oman. Wer don’t enter here, we enter from the city’s old quarters. This isn’t just a tourist stop. Regular Omani shop here.
There is another name the Omani use for this Souq: the market of Darkness. Sunlight is blocked from a lot of the market by the myriad of alleys and roads around the shops. The braziers are burning frankincense, the perfume shops are pushing samples, your nose is alight with the aromatic smells. You get caught up in it all.
Ok, maybe one of us did. A number of the men are wearing a long-sleeved ankle-length robe. This is the traditional dress of the inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula. The “formal” name is thawb or thobe. It is also known as dishhashah, kandurah, kandoors and gandurah. Depending on the region you are in you find not only is it called something different but will have regional variations.
On the Indian subcontinent it is called a Jubba. The outfit I purchased in India is but one version thereof. Here in the Gulf states thobes are typically made with white or beige polymer fabric, with colored wool thobes worn in the winter months. Thobes commonly worn by men and are considered as symbols of national and cultural identity and are appropriate attire for formal occasions and religious ceremonies. In recent years, the thobes have become a popular fashion item, with many fashion designers adding their own modern twists to the traditional garment.
Thawb sleeves and collars can be stiffened to give a more formal appearance, front pockets and embroidery could be added and placket buttons can be covered, exposed, or replaced by zippers. In the UAE and Oman, men's thobes have no collar, use frog closures as placket fasteners, and include tassels; in Oman, tassels tend to be short, and in the UAE tassels extend to waist.
Ok, the look appeals to me. It reminds me of a priest’s black cassock. One night even quess that is where the cassock comes from. Trying one on. You instantly feel more comfortable. Remove the shirt. Hey, its cool in here. Lose the pants. This is really comfortable. How much is it? It is 10 Rail.
Remember to bargin! 5 Rail. No sir, the lowest I can go is 9 Rail. Well, the highest I can go is 6, but if you thrown in the headdress….. The keffiyeh or kufiyyeh and many other names, is the traditional headdress worn by men in the Middle East. It is fashioned from a square scarf and is usually made of cotton. The keffiyeh offers protection from sunburn, dust and sand. It is held in place by a skull cap and an agal. The agal is a twisted rope wound around the head.
But sir, the keffiyeh is also 10 Rail. And the agal another 10 Rail. Ok, 20 for all three. No sir, …. Finally we settle on 25 Rail. It will later show up on my credit card as $9.63. The bargaining resulting in maybe a $2 savings. What a miser. However, now it is comfortable and cool. Yes, it was worn out of the souq and all day long.
It was worn at our next stop Bait Al Zubair. A museum on Al Saidiya Street not far from the souq. The museum has a extensive collection of ancient weapons, including the khanjar, household items, and traditional dress. The kahnjar is the traditional dagger of the Middle East. It has a short curved blade shaped like the letter “J” and resembles a hook. It is made of a different materials and the quality of the craftsmanship can be from crude to spectacular. The examples here have really nice sheaths which are decorated in gold and precious and semi-precious stones. Can’t carry it with me anywhere any more, no I didn’t get one. Damn.
Back to the Mariner after a short stop at the Sultan’s home for photos. Tired, properly dressed and now ready for bed. Speaking of which, they look a lot like Victorian night gowns. Could the Thawb and the night gown be related. Probably not.
Ok that is enough for one day.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
コメント