Oman

Al Aybut Al Awal, in the Dhofar Governorate of Oman, a site was discovered in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools, belonging to a regionally specific African lithic industry—the late Nubian Complex—known previously only from the northeast and Horn of Africa. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old. This supports the proposition that early human populations moved from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene.

In recent years surveys have uncovered Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites on the eastern coast. Main Palaeolithic sites include Saiwan-Ghunaim in the Barr al-Hikman. Archaeological remains are particularly numerous for the Bronze Age Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq periods. At the archaeological sites of Bat, Al-Janah, and Al-Ayn wheel-turned pottery, hand-made stone vessels, metals industry artifacts, and monumental architecture have been preserved.

Sumerian tablets referred to Oman as "Magan" and in the Akkadian language "Makan", a name that links Oman's ancient copper resources. This is a clear reference to the Magan civilisation, an ancient region in what is now modern day Oman and United Arab Emirates, which was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BCE and existed until 550 BCE as a source of copper and diorite for Mesopotamia. There are six periods of human settlement with distinctive behaviours in Northern Oman before Islam, which include the Hafit period from 3,200 to 2,600 BCE, the Umm Al Nar culture from 2,600 to 2,000 BCE, and the Wadi Suq culture from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE.

During the 8th century BCE, it is believed that the Yaarub, the descendant of Qahtan, ruled the entire region of Yemen, including Oman. Wathil bin Himyar bin Abd-Shams (Saba) bin Yashjub (Yaman) bin Yarub bin Qahtan later ruled Oman. It is thus believed that the Yaarubah were the first settlers in Oman from Yemen.

In the 1970s and 1980s, scholars like John C. Wilkinson believed by virtue of oral history that in the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenids exerted control over the Omani peninsula, most likely ruling from a coastal centre such as Suhar. The northern half of Oman was presumably part of the Maka satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. …

Oman lies between latitudes 16th parallel north and 28th parallel north, and longitudes 52nd meridian east and 60th meridian east. A gravel desert plain covers most of central Oman, with mountain ranges along the north (Hajar Mountains) and southeast coast (Dhofar Mountains), where the country's main cities are located: the capital city Muscat, Sohar and Sur in the north, and Salalah in the south and Musandam. Oman's climate is hot and dry in the interior and humid along the coast.

The peninsula of Musandam (Musandem), strategically located on the Strait of Hormuz, is an exclave separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates.

Madha, another exclave, is an enclave within UAE territory located halfway between the Musandam Peninsula and the main body of Oman. Madha, part of the Musandam governorate, covers approximately 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi). Madha's boundary was settled in 1969, with the north-east corner of Madha barely 10 metres (33 ft) from the Fujairah road. Within the Madha exclave is a UAE enclave called Nahwa, belonging to the Emirate of Sharjah, situated about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the town of New Madha, and consisting of about forty houses with a clinic and telephone exchange.

The central desert of Oman is a source of meteorites for scientific analysis.

Like the rest of the Persian Gulf, Oman generally has one of the hottest climates in the world—with summer temperatures in Muscat and northern Oman averaging 30 to 40 °C (86.0 to 104.0 °F). Oman receives little rainfall, with annual rainfall in Muscat averaging 100 mm (3.9 in), occurring mostly in January. In the south, the Dhofar Mountains area near Salalah has a tropical-like climate and receives seasonal rainfall from late June to late September as a result of monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean, leaving the summer air saturated with cool moisture and heavy fog. Summer temperatures in Salalah range from 20 to 30 °C (68.0 to 86.0 °F)—relatively cool compared to northern Oman.

The mountain areas receive more rainfall, and annual rainfall on the higher parts of the Jabal Akhdar probably exceeds 400 millimetres (16 in). Low temperatures in the mountainous areas leads to snow cover once every few years. Some parts of the coast, particularly near the island of Masirah, sometimes receive no rain at all within the course of a year. …

Oman is a unitary state and an absolute monarchy, in which all legislative, executive and judiciary power ultimately rests in the hands of the hereditary Sultan. Consequently, Freedom House has routinely rated the country "Not Free".

The sultan is the head of state and directly controls the foreign affairs and defence portfolios. He has absolute power and issues laws by decree.

According to International IDEA's Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and Democracy Tracker, Oman performs in the low to mid-range on overall democratic measures, with particular weaknesses in political participation, including electoral participation and civil society.

Oman is an absolute monarchy, with the Sultan's word having the force of law. The judiciary branch is subordinate to the Sultan. According to Oman's constitution, Sharia law is one of the sources of legislation. Sharia court departments within the civil court system are responsible for family-law matters, such as divorce and inheritance.

While ultimate power is concentrated in the Sultan and Oman does not have an official separation of powers, the late Sultan Qaboos declined to grant the full title Minister of Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance to the ministers exercising those responsibilities, preferring to keep them within the Royal Domain. The current Sultan Haitham has granted the ministers responsible of those portfolios the full titles, whilst elevating the defence portfolio to that of a deputy prime minister. Since 1970 all legislation has been promulgated through royal decrees, including the 1996 Basic Law. The Sultan appoints the ministers, the judges, and can grant pardons and commute sentences. The Sultan's authority is inviolable and the Sultan expects total subordination to his will.

The administration of justice is highly personalised, with limited due process protections, especially in political and security-related cases. The Basic Statute of the State is supposedly the cornerstone of the Omani legal system and it operates as a constitution for the country. The Basic Statute was issued in 1996 and thus far has been amended only twice: in 2011, in response to protests; and in 2021, to create the position of Crown Prince of Oman.

Though Oman's legal code theoretically protects civil liberties and personal freedoms, both are regularly ignored by the regime. …

Oman's Basic Statute of the State expresses in Article 11 that the "national economy is based on justice and the principles of a free economy". By regional standards, Oman has a relatively diversified economy, but remains dependent on oil exports. In terms of monetary value, mineral fuels accounted for 82.2 percent of total product exports in 2018. Tourism is the fastest-growing industry in Oman. Other sources of income, agriculture and industry, are small in comparison and account for less than 1% of the country's exports, but diversification is seen as a priority by the government. Agriculture, often subsistence in its character, produces dates, limes, grains and vegetables, but with less than 1% of the country under cultivation, Oman is likely to remain a net importer of food.

Oman's socio-economic structure is described as being hyper-centralised rentier welfare state. The largest 10 percent of corporations in Oman are the employers of almost 80 percent of Omani nationals in the private sector. Half of the private sector jobs are classified as elementary. One third of employed Omanis are in the private sector, while the remaining majority are in the public sector. A hyper-centralised structure produces a monopoly-like economy.

Since a slump in oil prices in 1998, Oman has made active plans to diversify its economy and is placing a greater emphasis on other areas of industry, namely tourism and infrastructure. Oman had a 2020 Vision to diversify the economy established in 1995, which targeted a decrease in oil's share to less than 10 percent of GDP by 2020, but it was rendered obsolete in 2011. Oman then established 2040 Vision. A free-trade agreement with the United States took effect 1 January 2009, which eliminated tariff barriers on all consumer and industrial products and provided strong protections for foreign businesses investing in Oman. Tourism, another source of Oman's revenue, is on the rise.

Oman's foreign workers send an estimated US$10 billion annually to their home states in Asia and Africa, more than half of them earning a monthly wage of less than US$400. The largest foreign community is from the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab, representing more than half of the entire workforce in Oman. …

By 2020, Oman's population exceeded 4.5 million. The total fertility rate in 2020 was estimated to be 2.8 children born per woman; this rate has been rapidly decreasing in recent years. About half of the population lives in Muscat and the Batinah coastal plain northwest of the capital. Omanis are entirely Arab, with certain groups of Baluchi and African descent. Around 20 percent of Omanis are of Baloch descent whose ancestors migrated to Oman centuries ago, and are now considered native.

Omani society is largely tribal and encompasses three major identities: that of the tribe, the Muslim faith and maritime trade. The first two identities are closely tied to tradition and are especially prevalent in the interior of the country, owing to lengthy periods of isolation. The third identity pertains mostly to Muscat and the coastal areas of Oman, and is reflected by business, trade, and the origins of certain Omanis, who trace their roots to Baloch, Al-Lawatia, Persia and historical Omani Zanzibar. Omanis of Balochi descent typically use the surname/nisba Al-Balushi. Gwadar, a region of Balochistan, was a Colony of Oman for more than a century. In the 1960s, Pakistan took over the land, with many Omanis still there.

Arabic is the official and most widely spoken language of Oman. It belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. There are several dialects of Arabic spoken, all part of the Peninsular Arabic family: Dhofari Arabic (also known as Dhofari, Zofari) is spoken in Salalah and the surrounding coastal regions (the Dhofar Governorate); Gulf Arabic is spoken in parts bordering the UAE; whereas Omani Arabic, distinct from the Gulf Arabic of eastern Arabia and Bahrain, is spoken in Central Oman, although with recent oil wealth and mobility has spread over other parts of the Sultanate.

According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the main languages spoken in Oman besides Arabic are English, Malayalam, Baluchi (Southern Baluchi), Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi, Tulu and various other Indian languages, due to the influx of Pakistani migrants and foreign workers. English is widely spoken in the business community and is taught at school from an early age. Almost all signs and writings appear in both Arabic and English at tourist sites. …