60 Fun Facts About Oman

What is the capital and largest city of Oman?

The city sits on the Gulf of Oman close to the Strait of Hormuz, and about half of all Omanis live in and around it and the Batinah coast.

Oman shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and which other country?

Iran and Pakistan are only maritime neighbours across the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.

Which Omani exclave sits on the Strait of Hormuz, cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE?

The peninsula's fjord-like inlets face Iran across one of the world's busiest oil shipping lanes.

Inside Oman's Madha exclave lies Nahwa, a small enclave belonging to which UAE emirate?

Nahwa is an enclave within an enclave: about forty houses, a clinic and a telephone exchange, wholly surrounded by Omani land that is itself surrounded by the UAE.

Oman's ruling dynasty has held power continuously since which year?

Ahmad bin Said Al Busaidi was elected imam that year, ending a civil war and Persian occupation, and his descendants still rule.

Ancient Sumerian tablets referred to Oman by what name, linked to its copper?

Dilmun is usually identified with Bahrain and Punt with the Horn of Africa; the Akkadians called Oman Makan.

Which European power governed coastal Oman for 143 years from 1507?

Afonso de Albuquerque took the capital a decade after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape; the twin Al Jalali and Al Mirani forts above Muscat harbour are their legacy.

Fort Jesus, which fell to Omani forces in 1698 after a two-year siege, guarded which East African port?

The Yaruba imams pursued the Portuguese all the way down the Swahili coast and absorbed their East African possessions.

In 1837 the Omani ruler Said bin Sultan moved his capital to which island?

Zanzibar's clove plantations and slave market made it the richest part of the empire; in 1856 Britain arbitrated the split into two separate sultanates.

Gwadar, an Omani possession for over a century, was sold in 1958 for US$3 million to which country?

The port is now the anchor of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and Baloch families who trace their roots to Gwadar are still part of Omani society.

The 1920 Treaty of Seeb split Oman between the coastal sultanate and an interior ruled by whom?

The elective Ibadi imamate had reappeared in cycles for over a thousand years; the treaty was brokered by Britain, which then had no interest in the interior.

The 1950s war in which British troops helped the Sultan crush the Imamate is named after which Hajar range massif?

The interior's forces retreated to the 'Green Mountain' plateau, which was finally taken in a surprise operation in January 1959.

Sultan Said bin Taimur was deposed in a bloodless coup by which relative?

Qaboos had been kept under virtual house arrest in Salalah after returning from Sandhurst; the coup had British backing.

What was the country's official name before Sultan Qaboos shortened it soon after taking power?

Dropping 'Muscat and' was meant to end the divide between the coast and the interior that had defined the country for centuries.

Slavery in Oman was outlawed as late as which year?

It happened in the first months of Qaboos's reign; Oman joined the United Nations the following year.

Sultan Qaboos ruled from 1970 until his death in which year?

He was the Arab world's longest-serving ruler when he died and was succeeded by his cousin Haitham bin Tariq.

Who succeeded Qaboos as Sultan of Oman?

Qaboos had no children, so his first cousin took the throne; the two men were also brothers-in-law, since Qaboos had briefly been married to Haitham's half-sister.

Sultan Qaboos was born in 1940 in which southern Omani city?

His father Said bin Taimur lived there from 1932 to 1970 rather than in Muscat, and the 1970 coup took place in the Salalah palace.

Before taking the throne, Sultan Qaboos graduated from which military academy?

He was posted to the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Germany for a year, then toured the world before his father recalled him.

Which branch of Islam do most Omanis follow, one that is rare almost everywhere else?

Ibadism grew out of the early Kharijite movement in Basra and returned to Oman with scholars fleeing the Umayyad governor of Iraq.

The Omani rial is subdivided into how many baisa?

Only a handful of currencies split into a thousand subunits, and the rial is the third most valuable currency unit in the world after the Kuwaiti and Bahraini dinars.

Since 1986 the Omani rial has been pegged so that one rial buys roughly how many US dollars?

Before 1970 Oman used the Gulf rupee; the short-lived Saidi rial that replaced it was pegged to the pound sterling.

What traditional weapon appears on Oman's national flag and forms part of men's formal dress?

The emblem shows the curved dagger over two crossed swords; the flag's white, red and green stripes date from 1970 and were widened in 1995.

Before Qaboos took power, what did Oman's national flag look like?

Qaboos added the white and green bands and the dynasty's badge after the coup; the middle red band was slimmer than the others until 1995.

Oman's highest peak, Jebel Shams, rises above 3,000 metres. What does its name mean?

Its North Summit is a restricted military base, so trekkers use the slightly lower South Summit; the 'Green Mountain' is neighbouring Jebel Akhdar.

Oman's Dhofar coast turns green each summer thanks to a monsoon season known locally as what?

The word literally means 'autumn' in Arabic, but around Salalah it means the June-to-September fog and drizzle that draw hundreds of thousands of Gulf tourists.

Which aromatic resin, harvested in Dhofar, gives its name to an Omani UNESCO World Heritage Site?

The Land of Frankincense listing covers the trees, the ancient port of Khor Rori and a caravan oasis on the incense route; Somalia actually has the larger forests.

Which Omani fortress, added in 1987, was the country's first UNESCO World Heritage Site?

The mud-brick fort at the foot of Jebel Akhdar sat on the World Heritage in Danger list until 2004; the Nabhani kings once ruled from Bahla.

Which Omani site became the first ever to be deleted from UNESCO's World Heritage List, in 2007?

The government cut the reserve's area by 90 percent to make room for oil prospecting, and UNESCO removed it outright.

Nizwa's traditional aflaj irrigation channels, listed by UNESCO in 2006, are known by what name?

Nizwa was Oman's capital in the 6th and 7th centuries and its round-towered fort, built in 1668, is the country's most visited monument.

The port city of Sohar is credited in legend as the birthplace of which fictional seafarer?

By the 10th century Sohar was one of the richest ports on the Gulf, praised by medieval geographers as rivalling the ports of China.

The Sharqiya Sands desert in eastern Oman was formerly known by the name of which Bedouin tribe?

Its dunes rise up to 100 metres, and a 1986 Royal Geographical Society expedition catalogued 16,000 invertebrates there.

Oman's central desert is a notable scientific source of what?

Dark stones stand out on the pale gravel plain, which is why hunters comb it for space rocks.

Oman's traditional dish shuwa is meat cooked for up to two days in what?

It is a festival meal; the other festive staple, arsia, is mashed rice and meat, and the whole spit-roasted kingfish dish is mashuai.

Which sweet, traditionally served with coffee, is considered the symbol of Omani hospitality?

Omani halwa is cooked raw sugar with nuts; black and saffron are the best-loved flavours.

What is the name of the ankle-length collarless gown worn by nearly every Omani man?

Its tassel at the neckline can be soaked in perfume; the bisht is the formal cloak worn over it and the kummah is the embroidered cap.

Which Omani coastal town was one of the most famous shipbuilding centres of the Indian Ocean?

An al Ghanja dhow takes a full year to build; other Omani hull types include the As Sunbouq and Al Badan.

Along with Fujairah in the UAE, Oman is the only place in the Middle East with a variant of which sport?

Omani 'bull-butting' pits two bulls against each other rather than a matador, and the Batinah coast is its heartland.

Oman's national football team won its first Arabian Gulf Cup title on home soil in which year?

They had lost the 2004 and 2007 finals on the way; a second title followed in Kuwait in early 2018 against the UAE.

How many times has Oman's men's team qualified for the FIFA World Cup?

Their best Asian Cup run was a round-of-16 place in 2019, and their most famous player, goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi, won three straight Gulf Cup best-keeper awards.

In which sport did Oman qualify for the 2016 and 2021 World Twenty20 tournaments?

A large South Asian workforce underpins the game; the 2021 T20 World Cup was shared with the United Arab Emirates.

At which Omani venue did Real Madrid and Barcelona legends play the first El Clasico outside Spain in 2014?

The same complex has a 50-metre pool used for international meets, and Muscat also hosted the 2010 Asian Beach Games.

Which Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque feature was the world's largest single piece of its kind until 2018?

The 1.7-million-knot Persian carpet took 600 workers four years; the mosque's chandelier was also a world's largest until Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Mosque overtook both.

Sultan Qaboos inaugurated the Grand Mosque on 4 May 2001 to mark what?

The building can hold 20,000 worshippers and its main minaret stands 90 metres tall.

The Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1985, was unusual for being made up entirely of whom?

Qaboos was devoted to classical music and commissioned Lalo Schifrin, of Mission: Impossible fame, to write Symphonic Impressions of Oman.

For eliminating which disease did the WHO recognise Oman in 2013?

Its child vaccination rate has stayed above 99 percent since 1995, though road deaths remain far above the world average.

In 2020 Oman had the world's highest military spending as a share of GDP, at about what percentage?

That beat Saudi Arabia's 8.4 percent; the world average over 2016-18 was just 2.2 percent.

Oman's largest foreign community, making up more than half its workforce, comes from which country?

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab supply most of them, and Malayalam is one of the country's most spoken languages after Arabic.

Which fruit makes up four-fifths of Oman's fruit crop and covers half its farmed land?

Oman is around the ninth-largest date producer, and India buys roughly 60 percent of its exports.

Roughly what share of Omani citizens are of Baloch descent?

Omanis of Baloch origin typically carry the surname Al-Balushi, and Gwadar in Balochistan was an Omani colony for over a hundred years.

Oman's first crown prince in the country's history was named in 2021. Who is he?

Until then succession was decided by the ruling family after a sultan's death; Haitham amended the Basic Statute to name his eldest son heir.

What did the ancient Persians call Oman, from a word meaning clouds and flowing water?

The Sumerians knew it as Magan; Pliny the Elder wrote of 'Omana'.

Into how many governorates is the Sultanate of Oman divided?

The governorates are further split into 63 provinces, or wilayat.

In which year did Oman join the United Nations alongside Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE?

A decade later it became a founding member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Omani women were granted the right to vote for the Consultative Assembly in which year?

Two women were duly elected to the Majlis al-Shura; all citizens over 21 got the vote in 2002.

Which Omani beach is famous for the annual nesting of hawksbill and green turtles?

Lonely Planet named Muscat the second best city to visit in the world in 2012.

Which Omani village set a world record in 2018 for the highest minimum temperature in 24 hours?

The overnight low stayed at 42.6 C (108.7 F) on 26 June 2018.

Which whole spit-roasted fish, served with lemon rice, is the Omani dish mashuai?

Rukhal, a thin round bread, is eaten with honey at breakfast or crumbled over curry at dinner.

Which continental multi-sport event did Muscat host in 2010?

Oman also staged the 2012 Beach Handball World Championships at Mussanah.

The Tour of Oman, a six-day professional cycling stage race, is held in which month?

Oman's traditional sports include dhow racing, camel racing and falconry.