Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1199

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OMAN.

A.n independent State, in South-eastern Arabia, whose integrity has l>een guaranteed by Great Britain and France. Oman extends along the southern shore of the gulf of that name from the entrance into the Persian Gulf to the extreme eastern point of Arabia, and thence S. W. as far as lias Sajir, lat. 16° 8" N. The coast line is nearly 1,000 miles long. Inland Oman is bounded on the S. \V. by the great desert. Area, 82,000 square miles; population, estimated at 500,000, chiefly Arabs, but there is a strong infusion of negro blood, especially along the coast The towns of Muskat and Muttrah hardly contain an Arab, l>eing inhabited almost entirely by Baluchii and Negroes. The capital, Muskat, and the adjacent town of Muttrah have together about 24,000 inhabitants. Muskat was occupied by the Portuguese from 1508 to the middle of the seventeenth century. After various vicissitudes it was recovered in the eighteenth century by Ahmed bin Sa'eed, of Yemenite origin, who was elected Imam in 1741, and whose family have since ruled. Since 1913, the last year of the reign of the late Sultan, the interior of Oman proper has been in rebellion. The tribes have elected an Imam whose authority, assisted by a council of Shaikhs, is paramount, and the Sultan's power extends practically only along the sea coast. He has, however, control of the Customs and the ports. The interior has at all times been turbulent and upset, and the power of the Sultans shadowy. The title of Imam, which has a religious signification, has fallen out of use during the last three generations.

The present Sultan is Seyyid Taimur bin Feysil, eldest son of the late Seyyid Feysil bin Turki, who succeeded his father October 5. 1913.

In the beginning of last century the power of the Imam of Oman extended over a large area of Arabia, the islands in the Persian Gulf, a strip of the Persian coast, and a long strip of the African coast south ol Cape Guardafui, including Socotra and Zanzibar. On the death of Sultan Sa'eed in 1856, one son proclaimed himself Sultan in Zanzibar and another in Muskat. Eventually the rivals agreed to submit their claims to the arbitration of Lord Canning, Viceroy of India, who formally separated the two Sultanates. Subsequent troubles curtailed the area of the state in Asia. The island of Kishm or Tawilah, near the entrance of the Persian Gulf, formerly belonging to the Imam of Oman, is now under Persian government and is ruled by a Shaikh, but the port of Basidu at the western extremity of the island is British. Further south on the Persian coast of the Gulf of Oman is the Port of Jask, formerly belonging to Oman, but now Persian. The closest relations have for years existed between the Government of India and Oman and a British Consul and Political Agent resides at Muskat.

The revenue of the Sultan amounts to about 7,00,000 rupees. It has decreased considerably owing to the fall in the Customs revenues during the war and to the disturbances in the interior. The population is poor ; in- land the Sultan's authority is merely nominal and there is little security for life and property. In some coast regions there is the possibility of con- siderable agricultural development. Inland camels are bred in large numbers by the tribes, and these are said to be the best breed in Arabia, but in size and strength they are inferior to those of north-western India. As to the mineral resources of the country little is known.

Commerce is mostly by sea, statistics being given only for the ports of Muskat and Muttrah, but large caravans under protection carry on traffic with the interior.