Oman

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Oman in a nutshell

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Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان), is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen on the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the south and east and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The country also contains Madha, an exclave enclosed by the United Arab Emirates, and Musandam, an exclave also separated by United Arab Emirates territory.

Oman is a very ancient word and appears on very old maps. Little information exists regarding the origin of the word Oman: opinions of Arab geographers and historians differ greatly as to the origin of the name, some sources ascribing it to the Qahtani tribe of Oman and others linking it linguistically to a word meaning "settling" or "staying". Ibn al-Qabi says that Oman means "those who occupy a place", as in the adjective aamen or amoun (settled man), and that the word "Oman" was derived from this.

Others say that Oman was named after Oman bin Ibrahim al Khalil who built the city of Oman. Yet others believe the name to be taken from that of Oman bin Loot. A further explanation is that the Azd, a tribe migrating from Yemen to Oman in pre-Islamic times, labeled Oman "Omana" because they came from a valley in Ma'rib in Yemen which went by the name of Oman, and they likened it to this place.

Chief of state and government is the hereditary sultān, Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, who appoints a cabinet called the "Diwans" to assist him. In the early 1990s, the sultan instituted an elected advisory council, the Majlis ash-Shura, though few Omanis were eligible to vote. Universal suffrage for those over 21 was instituted on 4 October 2003. There are no legal political parties nor, at present, any active opposition movement. A State Consultative Council, established in 1981, consisted of 55 appointed representatives of government, the private sector, and regional interests.

The Sultanate is divided into nine governorates and regions. Each governorate consists of states which share common cultures, habits, Arabic dialects, history, traditional clothing and traditional occupations.

The Governorate of Muscat is the most densely populated region in the Sultanate with a population of more than half a million. It is Oman's political, economic, and administrative centre.

The Governorate of Dhofar is in the far south of the Sultanate and borders on the Wusta Region the east, the Arabian Sea to the south, the Republic of Yemen to the west and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the north and north-west.

Population

The Ministry of Economy estimates that in mid 2006 the total population was nearly 2.6 million. Of those, 1.8 million were Omanis. The population has grown from 2 million in the 1993 census to over 2.3 million in the 2003 census. In Oman, about 50% of the population lives in Muscat and the Batinah coastal plain northwest of the capital; about 200,000 live in the Dhofar (southern) region, and about 30,000 live in the remote Musandam Peninsula on the Strait of Hormuz. Some 600,000 expatriates live in Oman, most of whom are guest workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, India and the Philippines.

Of the total population, about 55% are Ibadi Muslims who are related to the early Kharajites. Sunnis account for 35% of the population while Shia Jaffaris are 7%. The remaining 3% of the population are Hindus, Christians and other minorities, most of whom are expatriates.

References

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