Empire · 1650–1964 · Middle East & South Asia

Omani Empire (Muscat, Oman and Zanzibar)

Also known as Oman, Muscat and Oman, Zanzibar, Sultanate of Zanzibar

In 1650 Imam Sultan bin Saif of the Yaruba dynasty drove the Portuguese out of Muscat, and Omani fleets went on to seize Portuguese strongholds on the East African coast, taking Fort Jesus at Mombasa in 1698. Under the Al Said dynasty, founded by Ahmad bin Said in 1744, Oman built a maritime trading empire across the western Indian Ocean.

Said bin Sultan moved his main court to Zanzibar around 1840, where clove plantations worked by enslaved Africans and the caravan trade in ivory and slaves made the island rich. After his death in 1856 his sons split the realm into the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, both increasingly under British influence. Zanzibar's sultan was overthrown in a revolution in 1964, while the Al Said dynasty continued to rule Oman.

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Years

1650–1964

Capital

Nizwa and Rustaq under the Yaruba imams; Muscat from 1792; Zanzibar became the sultan's main seat in the 1830s–1840

Greatest extent

1850, about 350,000 km²

Region

Middle East & South Asia

Rough estimate: Oman plus Zanzibar, Pemba and the Swahili coast; no scholarly area figure found