Oman and the Al Bu Said

Abstract

Ahmad bin Said Al Bu Said, the first ruler of the Al Bu Said dynasty, was elected Imam in 1749. He rose to power in the context of a period of civil war among the Ya'ariba rulers who had preceded him. His historical significance today has a great deal to do with the fact that he founded the dynasty that has ruled Oman ever since, for a period of more than 250 years. This should not, however, be allowed to disguise the fact that his accession to power did not inaugurate a distinctive new era in Oman social, economic and political life. Instead it marked a resumption of patterns of government and economic organisation which had been established over the preceding century, under the rule of the Ya'ariba. What Ahmad's acquisition of power in the aftermath of the Ya'ariba civil war resumed, his successors, most notably Sayyid Said until his death in 1856, then developed and extended. Thus, although this history of modern Oman follows conventions of Omani historiography regarding the accession of Ahmad bin Said and the foundation of the Al Bu Said dynasty as a significant turning point in Omani history, we begin this chapter with a short account of the principal and significant events of the preceding century, in which Oman first established itself as a regional power whose economic and political reach extended far beyond the Arabian Peninsula and into East Africa. As we shall see, the foundation for this expansion was the ability of the Ya'ariba Imams to extend their political power from the interior of the country to its coast, where they successfully confronted and expelled the Portuguese, who had established and maintained naval dominance in the Indian Ocean, including the coast of Oman, since the beginning of the sixteenth century. Ya'ariba Expansion and Portuguese Power The Portuguese had first appeared in the region in the early sixteenth century. In 1498, Portuguese ships under the command of Vasco da Gama, which had earlier been the first European ships to sail past the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, successfully crossed the Indian Ocean, from Malindi to Kozhikode (Calicut) in India. There is an oft-repeated story that Vasco da Gama was assisted in making this crossing by an Arab pilot and navigator called Ibn Majid (Ahmad ibn Majid).