Muscat, Oman

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Muscat, Oman

Image:Oman Masqat.png

Location of Muscat, Oman

Classification

City

Sultan

Qaboos bin Said al Said

Area

3,500 km² [1]

Population
- Total (2005)
- Density
- Oman calculated rank

646,024 [2]
184.57/km²
1^st

Timezone:

(UTC) +4

Latitude
Longitude

Template:Coor d

Official website: http://www.omanet.om

Muscat (Arabic: مسقط) is the capital and largest city in the Sultanate of Oman. It is the largest city in the mintaqah (governorate) of Muscat (sometimes referred to as Masqat to differentiate it from the city). The city of Muscat has a 2005 estimated population of 880,200 [3].

The greater metropolitan area of Muscat, know locally as the 'Capital Area', currently covers an area of approximately 1500 km². Since Oman's 'Renaissance' of modernization began in 1970 (see below), Muscat has seen an explosion of infrastructure development and urbanization, and, as has been the case in so may other cities worldwide, towns which were once distinct have been subsumed within the sprawling growth of the city's expanding metropolitan area. Pockets of dense residential and commercial districts are interspersed with undeveloped land. The major centers of development can be split into three main groups:

West Muscat: Al-Seeb, Azhaiba, Bausher, Al-Ghubra and Ghala
Central Muscat: Al-Khuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Shati-Al Qurm, Qurm and PDO
East Muscat: Wattayah, Ruwi, Muttrah, Kalbuh, Old Muscat, Sidab and Al-Bustan

The IPA for Muscat is /'Template:IPA/. The pronunciation is sometimes approximated as /'Template:IPA/, /'Template:IPA/ or Template:IPA, but never as /'Template:IPA/.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Society and religion
4 Transport
5 External links

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History

Muscat is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. It has been known since the second century AD. Some 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of frankincense was transported each year by ship from southern Arabia to Greece, Rome and the Mediterranean. The center of this trade was in a place called Khour Rouri, which the Greeks called "Muscat". (Note that Khour Rouri is now recognized as an archelogical site in the Dhofar region of the country, more than 500 miles south of present-day Muscat, far closer to the present-day city of Salalah).

The first foreign presence in Muscat was in the form of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who landed in Oman on his way to India. The Portuguese returned in 1507 to sack and capture Muscat. In 1649, the Imam Sultan bin Saif defeated the Portuguese under André Pereira dos Reis and drove them away east to Goa, India.

Image:Muscat Fortjalali.jpgWith the superior, captured warships of the Portuguese navy, the Imam established an empire that spanned from Zanzibar in the south to Gwadar in Pakistan in the east. Slaves were brought in from Zanzibar and Balochistan to work in Oman and traded elsewhere. This was a period of relative stability and prosparity in Muscat and Oman.

The country was torn apart by strife and unrest upon the death of the Imam in 1679. Muscat was then invaded by the Persians in 1737, albeit briefly, since Admad bin Said defeated them and was subsequently elected Imam.

In 1803, the Wahabbis of Saudi Arabia attacked Oman, but were repulsed by Sayyid Said bin Sultan. The sultan then set up a colony in the fertile areas of Zanzibar and essentially ruled Oman from a foreign island. Later, in 1853, the Sultan transferred the title of "capital" of Oman to Zanzibar. Thus began to decline of the fortunes of Muscat and Oman.

In 1913, Sultan Taimur bin Faisal became Sultan and the territory was renamed "Muscat and Oman" with the Sultan ruling Muscat and the Imam ruling Oman. After Indian independence in 1947, the Sultan, with the help of the British, defeated the Imam, unified most of Oman taking command of the Buraimi oasis.

The Dofar War began in 1964 which sought the expulsion of the British from Oman. Six years later, Prince Qaboos bin Said, son of Sultan Taimur staged a palace coup and claimed the throne. The old Sultan was flown to London by the British Royal Air Force. The coup, staged by Prince Qaboos, with his close friend and confidant Tim Landon at his side, was the beginning of a new consolidated, modern sultanate.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said instituted land and social reforms, and though autocratic, ruled Oman with a liberal vision that saw the an overall improvement in educational standards of its citizenary, cultural and economic development and overall consolidation of the Sultanate.

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Economy

Image:Muscat QaboosPalace.jpg Muscat, like much of Oman, is dominated by trade. The more traditional exports of the city include dates, mother of pearl, frankincense and fish. Many of the souks of old Muscat and Muttrah sell these items and traditional Omani artefacts.

The Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has been central to Muscat's economy since at least 1962 and is the country's second largest employer, after the government. PDO's major shareholders include Royal Dutch/Shell and Partex and its production is estimated to be about 650,000 barrels per day.

Muscat also has major trading companies such as Suhail and Saud Bahwan, which is a trading partner for corporations such as Toshiba, Subaru, Seiko, Hewlett Packard, General Motors, Saud Bahwan Group whose trading partrs are Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hertz Rent-a-Car, and Zubair Automotive whose trading partners include Mitsubishi, Dodge and Chrysler.

Mina Qaboos or Mutrah, Muscat's main trading port is an important trading hub between the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and the far east with an annual volume of about 1.6 million tons. However, the emergence of the Jebel Ali Freezone in neighboring Dubai, United Arab Emirates has made that port the premier maritime trading port of the region with about 44 million tons traded in cargo annually.

All infrastructural facilities are owned and operated by the government of Oman. Oman Telecommunications is the only telecommunications organization in Oman and provides local, long distance and international dialing facilities and operates as the country's only ISP.

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Society and religion

Image:Muscat RiyamDome.jpg Omanis constitute about 60% of the local population. Muscat has a sizable expatriate population, mainly in the form of skilled and unskilled workers from the Indian subcontinent, the Sudan, Egypt and other GCC countries.

Arabic is the official language of the state. Swahili, English, Hindi and Malayalam are widely spoken.

Most of the city's residents are followers of Islam, the Sultanate's only recognized religion. 75% of the people are Ibadi Muslims. Muscat also has foreign minorities of Hindus and Christians. Like in many Middle-Eastern countries, non-Muslims are free to practice their religion but may not proselytize publicly or distribute religious literature. The city has two Hindu temples — a Shiva temple and a Krishna temple, and a Saints Peter & Paul Church in the city's Ruwi locality.

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Transport

The main airport is Seeb International Airport located around 25 km from the city's business district of Ruwi and approximately 15 to 20 km from the main residential localities of Al-Khuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Shati Al-Qurm and Al-Qurm. Muscat is one of the three headquarters of Gulf Air and the headquarters for the local-based airlines Oman Air, both of which fly to several destinations within the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and East Africa. In addition Gulf Air flies to select destinations in Europe, Great Britain, North Africa and East Asia. Other airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates, Swiss International Air Lines, Kuwait Airways, Air India and Thai Airways also fly through Seeb International Airport.

There are also two seaports in Muscat, one located in Mina Al-Fahal that caters solely to the oil refinery district of PDO (Petroleum Development Oman) and the other in Mina Qaboos (Mutrah), a regular seaport.

The Muscat area is well serviced by paved roads and dual-carriageway connects most major cities and towns in the counrty.

Public transportation in Muscat, and Oman in general, leaves much to be desired. There is no rail or metro network in the country. Several forms of public transport are popular in Oman. Most popular by far are the signature colour-coded orange and white "Baiza" buses, so named for the lower denomination of the Omani Rial, the baisa (an adaptation of the Indian lower denomination paisa), which are relatively inexpensive and service all major roadways as well as a wide and loose network of smaller byways in the greater Muscat metropolitan area, opportunistically dropping off and picking up passengers at any location. Less popular and slightly more expensive are large public buses, coloured red and green, whose service is limited to major roadways and point-to-point travel routes between Oman's major cities and towns. Taxis, also colour-coded orange and white, provide semi-personal transportation in the form of both individual hire and the same opportunistic roadway service as Baiza buses.

Baiza buses and taxis are unmetered, after several government initiatives to introduce meters were rejected. The fare is set by way of negotiation, although taxi drivers usually adhere to certain unwritten rules for fares within the city, including the gleeful and unabashed fleecing of naive tourists and wealthy visitors.

Unlike in some other wealthy countries in the Gulf, taxi and bus drivers in Oman are exclusively Omani nationals.

Taxis will also generally take passengers to locations out of the city, including Sohar, Buraimi and Dubai.

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