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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Sultanate of area 272,000 sq km/105,000 sq mi
capital Muscat towns Salalah physical
mountains and a high arid plateau; fertile
coastal strip features Jebel Akhdar
highlands; Kuria Muria islands; Masirah
Island is used in aerial reconnaissance of
the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean head of
state and government Qaboos bin Said from
1970 political system absolute monarchy
exports oil, dates, silverware currency Omani
rial (0.64 = 1 Feb 1990) population (1989)
1,389,000; annual growth rate 4.7% life
expectancy men 51, women 54 language Arabic
religion Sunni Muslim literacy 20% (1983) GNP
$7 bn (1983); $2,400 per head of population
chronology 1951 The Sultanate of Muscat and
Oman achieved full independence. Treaty of
friendship with Britain signed. 1970 After 38
years' rule, Sultan Said bin Taimur replaced
in coup by his son Qaboos bin Said. Name
changed to Sultanate of Oman. 1975 Left-wing
rebels in the south defeated. 1982 Memorandum
of Understanding with the UK signed,
providing for consultation on international
issues.
2.
Country on the Arabian peninsula, bounded to
the W by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, and South Yemen, and to the E by the
Arabian Sea. government Oman has no written
constitution and the sultan has absolute
power, ruling by decree. There is no
legislature. The sultan takes advice from an
appointed cabinet. There is also a
consultative assembly of 55 nominated
members. There are no political parties.
history For early history, see Arabia. The
city of Muscat has long been an important
trading post. The country was in Portugal's
possession 1508-1658, and was then ruled by
Persia until 1744. By the early 19th century,
the state of Muscat and Oman was the most
powerful in Arabia: it ruled Zanzibar until
1861 and also coastal parts of Persia and
Pakistan. In 1951 it became the independent
sultanate of Muscat and Oman and signed a
treaty of friendship with Britain. Said bin
Taimur, who had been sultan since 1932, was
overthrown by his son, Qaboos bin Said, in a
bloodless coup 1970, and the country was
renamed Oman. Qaboos embarked on a more
liberal and expansionist policy than his
father. The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Oman has been fighting to overthrow the
sultanate since 1965. Oman's wealth is based
on a few oil fields. Conflicts in
neighbouring countries, such as the Yemen,
Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, have not only
emphasized the country's strategic importance
but put its own security at risk. The sultan
has tried to follow a path of nonalignment,
maintaining close ties with the USA and other
NATO countries, but also keeping good
relations with the USSR.