|RNational holiday:|N National Days, November 18 and 19.
|RNature and climate:|N Along the coast a lowland in the north broken by the mountainchain Djebel Achadar with a highest peak reaching 3019 m.a.s.l.
In the interior a wide, stony and dry plateau at 300 m.a.s.l. This Plateau is crossed by several dry river valleys, so called wadies.
Desertlike climate with an average temperature of 20°C in January and 30°C in July.
Percipitation about 100 mm.
|RPeople:|N 74% Arabs, 21% Palestineans, some East Indians and blacks.
|REconomy:|N Oil dominates the economy, but 60% of the labour force is occupied in agriculture, stockraising and fishing.
Big scale oilextraction started in 1967 and has since then dominated the economy.
A great part of the oilrevenues has been invested in projects aiming to make the country independent of the oil and much is invested in projects trying to find water.
Based on subsistence farming the most important crops are wheat, maize, vegetables, dates and citrusfruits, some of it for export.
|RHistory:|N Since ancient times the area, of great importance for trade, has been dominated by foreign powers. The rural area, imamate Oman, was frequently dominated by Persia and the trade port, the sultanate of Muscat, was held by Portuguese from 1508.
In 1659 the Ottoman Turks took possession of the area.
In 1741 Ahmed ibn Said from Yemen drove out the Turks and in 1744 the sultanate of Oman was established. The Said dynasty still reigns.
The sultanate gained influence in the area and at the beginning of the 19th century it controlled most of the Persian and Pakistani coasts as well as remote Zanzibar.
The British helped Zanzibar to separate in 1861 and from then on there was a constant state of war between Oman and Muscat. A peace treaty in 1920 finally settled the unrest. The treaty was negotiated under British supervision. Oman had been a British protectorate since 1891.
Since the 1950:s a leftist guerilla has operated in the southern parts. At times the guerilla controlled vast areas, but in 1975 it was finally defeated.
In 1854 the sultan handed over the Kuria Muria archipelago to Britain. It was given back in 1967 after a public referendum.
Oman became an independent country in 1971 when Britain withdraw from the area.
