Sultanate of Muscat and Oman: Map & History

Consolidation and decline

In the early 1820s, the Sultanate lost most of its territories in the Persian Gulf, which became the Trucial States under British protection. The fifth Sultan of the Al Said dynasty, Said bin Sultan, consolidated the Sultanate's territorial holdings and economic interests and Oman prospered. However, the Omani fleet was unable to compete with the more technically advanced European fleets and the Sultanate lost much of the trade with South Asia. Pressure by the British to abandon the slave trade further led to the loss of political and economic clout of the Sultanate.

On 4 June 1856, Said bin Sultan died without appointing an heir to the throne and members of the Al Said dynasty could not agree on a ruler.

Background

Although there was a Portuguese presence in the region, the Yaruba imams expelled them in the 17th century. The imams later expanded their own maritime empire to the Persian Gulf and Zanzibar, expelling the Portuguese from the wider region, before falling to the Persians. Persian hegemony in Muscat and Oman was ended in 1749 by a defeat at the hands of the elected Imam Ahmad bin Said. The British Empire was keen to dominate southeast Arabia to curb the influence of other European powers and to weaken the Omani Empire in the 18th century. The British empire thus backed the Albusaidi Sultans of Muscat that came to power in the second half of the 18th century.