'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1388] (449/688)

1388
oma -oma
•OMAN—
'Oman in the geographical sense. —'Oman Proper is a small plain with several towns
which lies, almost encircled by hills, in the heart of the south-eastern corner of Arabia ;
here probably the name 'Oman had its origin. The word 'Oman however is now (and
has for a long time been) employed, with a wider but still purely geographical meaning,
to designate the whole projecting butt of the Arabian continent which is enclosed be
tween the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the Indian Ocean and the Ruba'-al-Khali or Great Desert of
southern Arabia. Upon the coast the geographical 'Oman is considered to end north
westwards with the district of Sabakhat Matti, ♦ and southwards somewhere between
Ras-al-Hadd and the district of Dhufar.
'O/tidn in the political sense and its divisions. —The political Oman has the same inland
boundary, namely, the Ruba'-al-Khali desert, as the geographical; but upon the sea ita
extent is somewhat greater. On the north-west it is bounded at the coast by Khor-al-
'Odaid, and it thus includes the districts of Mijan and 'Aqal which are beyond Sabakhat
Matti: on the south it takes in the entire maritime district of Dhufar.
The large tract thus constituted is divided chiefly between the 'Oman Sultanate and
Trucial' Oman, of which the boundaries are more precisely explained in the articles under
those names; but there is also a small tract between the two, consisting chiefly of the
districts of Jau and Mahidhah, which is not subject to any recognised ruler and may
therefore be styled Independent 'Oman.
'OMAN (Pbomontory and Gulf of)—
The sense in which the term " 'Oman Promontory " is used throughout the present
Gazetteer may here be explained. It is used to describe that great projection of the
Arabian coast of which the point nearly blocks the entrance of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and of
which the base is a line running from Abu Dhabi Town to the Baraimi Oasis and thence
to the town of Sohar. The point and eastern side of the promontory consist of a range of
mountains which are a continuation of those forming the Western Hajar of the 'Oman
Sultanate; the western side is flat and open. The political distribution of the promon
tory is rather complex. The district of Ruus-al-Jibal at its extremity is an isolated
possession of the 'Oman Sultanate, divided on the eastern face of the promontory from
the Batinah district of the Sultanate by the Shamailiyah District of Trucial 'Oman.
The whole western face belongs to Trucial 'Oman ; but in the heart of the promontory,
at or near its base, are the Jau and Mahadhah districts, which are not subject either to
the Sultan or to any of the Trucial Shaikhs of 'Oman.
The expression " Gulf of 'Oman " also requires explanation. In this Gazetteer it is
employed, in harmony with general European usage, to denote the arm of the Indian
Ocean or Arabian Sea which forms the approach to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Its outer limit
mav be taken as a line joining Gwatar in Persian Makran to Ras-al-Hadd on the Arabian
coast; and at the inner end it may be considered to pass into the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in the neigh
bourhood of Ras Musandam. The terms Bahr 'Oman, and Darya-i-'Oman are current
locally, but it is not clear that they are consistently used, or that they refer with precision
to the sea of which the limits have just been specified.
'OMAN PROPER—
The most central district of the 'Oman Sultanate, enclosed by the district of Dhahirah
01 the west, that of Western Hajar on the north, and that of Sharqiyah on the east;
on the south it merges in the Ruba'-al-Khali desert. The term 'Oman, now so wide in
its application, appears to have belonged originally to this inland plateau, and from it,
as was not unnatural, to have spread to the whole principality ; until the removal of the
capital to Rustaq, and eventually to the coast, 'Oman Proper was the principal seat of
political power as well as the most prosperous and civilised district in 'Oman.
Boundaries. —'Oman Proper is enclosed on the north by the lofty range of Jabal
Akhdhar and on the west by Jabal-al-Kor and Haddah, off shoots of the Hajar hill sys
tem : on the east it is not divided from Sharqiyah by any marked natural feature, unless
it be Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. 'Andam, and similarly on the south there is no perceptible land mark between
it and the desert.
• Some authorities would carry the geographical Oman so far as to include the Mijan tract which lies imme
diately beyond SabSkhat Matti; but the next district on the west, that of 'Aqal, is certainly outside Oman in tnia