Oman
Oman names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Oman GULF OF, an arm of the Arabian Sea
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GULF OF, an arm of the Arabian Sea, between Oman and the S. coast of Persia. It is connected with the Persian Gulf by the Strait of Ormuz. OMAR I., Caliph of the Mussulmans, the successor of Abu-Bekr, and fatherin-law of Mohammed. He began his reign A. D. 634, and is conspicuous among the conquerors who chiefly contributed to the spread of Ilsamism. His generals drove the Greeks out of Syria and Phœnicia; and the Caliph himself took possession of Jerusalem in 638, till it was reconquered by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the end of the 11th century. Amru, one of his generals, defeated the troops of Heraclius, near Antioch, in 641. Memphis and Alexandria surrendered; all Egypt and a part of Libya were conquered from the Romans; and the famous library, which had been founded at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, is said to have been burnt by the express order of Omar I. Having fixed his residence at Medina, he was there assassinated by a Persian slave, in the 10th year of his reign, A. D. 643. He refused to appoint a successor; and thus the caliphate became elective. He introduced the system of standing armies, and a police force. OMAR II., the eighth Caliph of the Ommiades, great-grandson of the preceding, and succeeded Solyman in 717. He laid siege to Constantinople, but was forced to raise it, on account of a violent storm, which destroyed a great part of his fleet. He was poisoned in 720.
Oman or MUSKAT, a sultanate in Arabia (British Protectorate)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or MUSKAT, a sultanate in Arabia (British Protectorate), partly on the Persian Gulf, partly on the Indian Ocean; area, estimated at 82,000 square miles; pop. about 500,000. The chief features of the country are stretches of barren sand or rock, mountains reaching the height of 10,000 feet; fertile valleys and plains, yielding abundance of grain, sugar, fruits, cotton, coffee, etc., Oman being the richest part of the Arabian peninsula both in agricultural products and in mineral treasures. The inhabitants are very superstitious and immoral. They are mostly Arabs. The form of government is a monarchy (the ruler being styled Imam), limited by a powerful aristocracy with hereditary privileges. Zanzibar and its dependencies formerly belonged to Oman. The capital is Muskat. Pop. 24,000. Since 1913 the interior has been in a state of continuous revolt. The Sultan's power really only extends along the sea-coast.
Oman CHARLES WILLIAM CHADWICK, British historian
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES WILLIAM CHADWICK, British historian, born in India, 1860; graduate of Oxford; became deputy professor of modern history there in 1900. In 1905 he was elected to the British Academy of Sciences Among his best known works are: Short History of the Byzantine Empire ( 1892); " A History of Europe, 476 to 918" (1893) Art of War in the Middle Ages" (1898); and a "History of England" (6 vols., 1905).
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 that the Sultan's power "really only extends along the sea-coast" and that the interior had been in revolt since 1913, it was describing a country split between the coastal sultanate at Muscat and an inland Ibadi imamate — a division settled only by force in the Jebel Akhdar campaigns of 1955-59, followed by the long Dhofar rebellion that ended in 1975. Oil was found in commercial quantity in the early 1960s and exports began in 1967, and in 1970 Sultan Qaboos bin Said deposed his father and opened up a country that had almost no paved roads or modern schools; the state was renamed the Sultanate of Oman. Qaboos ruled until his death in January 2020 and was succeeded by his cousin Haitham bin Tariq. The population of "about 500,000" is now several million, and Britain's special treaty role has long since lapsed. Charles Oman, the historian described here as a deputy professor, went on to hold the Chichele chair at Oxford, was knighted, and died in 1946.
Written for this edition, 2026.