نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [ظ‎‎٧‎٦‎٠] (١٨١٤/١٥٣٧)

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outflow of their mercantile enterprise towards the Persian Gulf,
did not confine their attention to its northern shore. On its way
to Ormuz, in 1506, a naval squadron, under the redoubtable
Albuquerque, appeared off the Arab shores of Oman, bombarded
or demanded immediate submission from every port encountered,
and presently anchored off the capital town Muscat, situated in a
/ ^land-locked cove, at a distance of about 80|) miles down the coast
from Cape Musandim, and ak4ess than half that distance from the
opposite Persian shore. 1 The inhabitants of Muscat, who professed
themselves subjects of the King of Ormuz, at first temporised,
but, thinking that the quality of the great admiral’s soldiers was
probably not better than that of his guns, which were far from
first rate, then ventured upon an ill-judged resistance. Albu
querque had no mercy. He landed his troops ; the miserable
defences were carried by storm ; and the town, as a punishment
for its contumacy, was given to the flames. Prom that time till
1650, the Portuguese remained in constant, though not undisputed
possession of Muscat. 2 In the latter year the Arabs, recovering
their strength, succeeded in ousting the intruder, whose prestige
was now universally on the decline; after which they overran the
shores of the Persian Gulf, scoured the seas with their buccaneering
craft, established a foothold as far south as Zanzibar, and so
terrified the King of Persia, that he made an offer to the English
East India Company to give them the same privileges at Muscat
as at Bunder Abbas, if they would co-operate with him in the
reduction of the pirate stronghold. The Company, having at
that time neither troops nor ships to spare for the operation,
returned an indecisive answer. The Arabs now became very
powerful; but in the second quarter of the eighteenth century
were cowed into temporary submission by the iron hand of Nadir
Sprenger, Die alte Geographic Araliens, 1875 ; Major Mockler and Colonel S. B.
Miles, Administration Report of Persian Gulf, 1882, 1883.
Prior to the appearance of the Portuguese, Oman had been g’overned for a
period of nearly 900 years by a succession of independent rulers, entitled Imam,
who owed their elevation to the popular choice, irrespective of family descent.
This system continued down to the time of Nasir bin Murshid (1618-1644 A.D.),
after whom the succession was vested in a single ruling family.
In 1546 Muscat was bombarded by the Turks. In 1552 a powerful Turkish
fleet under Piri Pasha anchored in the bay, and, after a protracted siege, took
the town. In 1580 Muscat was taken and sacked by an Arab expedition from
Aden under Mir Ali Beg. But after each of these vicissitudes the Portuguese
either remained or returned.
*