Omani Empire in the context of "Thalassocracy"

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula in West Asia. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman's coastline faces the Arabian Sea to the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The exclaves of Madha and Musandam are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, while Musandam's coastal boundaries are formed by the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. It has a population of approximately 5.46 million and an area of 309,960 km (119,680 sq mi). Muscat is the capital and largest city.

Oman is the oldest independent state in the Arab world, and has been continuously ruled by the Al Bu Said dynasty since 1744. Beginning in the 17th century, Oman became a regional power with an empire that competed with the Portuguese Empire and British Empire for influence in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence and control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to present-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar. In the 20th century, Oman had come under the influence of the British Empire while de jure remaining sovereign.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), also known simply as the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, situated at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal semi-constitutional monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as its national capital. The UAE borders Oman to the east and northeast, and Saudi Arabia to the southwest; it shares maritime borders with Qatar and Iran in the Persian Gulf, and with Oman in the Gulf of Oman. As of 2024, the UAE has an estimated population of over 10 million; Dubai is the country's largest city. Islam is the majority religion and Arabic is the official language; English is the most spoken language and the language of business.

The present-day United Arab Emirates is located within the historical region of Eastern Arabia, which was oriented to maritime trade and seafaring. The Portuguese arrived in the region around 1500 and set up bases on the territory while waging wars against the Persians. After their expulsion, the Dutch controlled the straits and established global maritime dominance. By the 19th century, with pearling becoming a major economic activity, piracy became rampant in the gulf, prompting British intervention; local sheikhdoms formed a pact with the United Kingdom to create the Trucial States, a British protectorate that was effectively shielded from attempted Saudi and Omani suzerainty. The Trucial States remained under British influence until full independence as the United Arab Emirates in 1971. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the country's first president (1971–2004), oversaw rapid development of the Emirates by investing revenues from newly found oil into healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

A thalassocracy or thalattocracy, sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples of this were the Phoenician states of Tyre, Sidon and Carthage; the Italian maritime republics of Venice and Genoa of the Mediterranean; the Omani Empire of Arabia; and the empires of Srivijaya and Majapahit in Maritime Southeast Asia. Thalassocracies can thus be distinguished from traditional empires, where a state's territories, though possibly linked principally or solely by the sea lanes, generally extend into mainland interiors in a tellurocracy ("land-based hegemony").

The term thalassocracy can also simply refer to naval supremacy, in either military or commercial senses. The ancient Greeks first used the word thalassocracy to describe the government of the Minoan civilization, whose power depended on its navy. Herodotus distinguished sea-power from land-power and spoke of the need to counter the Phoenician thalassocracy by developing a Greek "empire of the sea".

Mombasa (/mɒmˈbæsə/ mom-BASS-ə; also US: /-ˈbɑːsə/ -⁠BAH-sə) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. Buildings in the CBD are blue and white, representing the Indian Ocean. It is the country's oldest (c. 900 A.D.) and second-largest city after Nairobi, with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census.

Mombasa's location on the Indian Ocean made it a historical trading centre, and it has been controlled by many countries because of its strategic location. Kenyan school history books place the founding of Mombasa as 900 AD. It must have been already a prosperous trading town in the 12th century, as the Arab geographer al-Idrisi mentions it in 1151. It was a part of the Kilwa Sultanate from approximately the early 14th century until the dissolution of the sultanate in 1513. The oldest stone mosque in Mombasa, Mnara, was built c. 1300. The Mandhry Mosque, built in 1570, has a minaret that contains a regionally specific ogee arch. The city later came under the occupation and control of the Omani Empire in the late 17th century.

The House of Al Bu Said (Arabic: آل بوسعيد, Arabic pronunciation: [aːl buː sa.ʕiːd]), is the current ruling royal family of Oman, and former ruling house of the Omani Empire (1744–1856), Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (1856–1970) and the Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964). It was founded by Ahmad bin Said Al Busaidi on 20 November 1744 and is currently headed by Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.

The Sultanate of the Geledi (Somali: Saldanadda Geledi, Arabic: سلطنة غلدي) also known as the Gobroon dynasty, was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the late-17th century to the early 20th century. The Sultanate was governed by the Gobroon dynasty. It was established by the Geledi soldier Ibrahim Adeer, who had defeated various vassals of the Ajuran Sultanate and elevated the Gobroon to wield significant political power. Following Mahamud Ibrahim's consolidation, the dynasty reached its apex under Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, who successfully modernized the Geledi economy and eliminated regional threats with the Conquest of Bardera in 1843, and would go on to receive tribute from Said bin Sultan, the ruler of the Omani Empire. Geledi Sultans had strong regional ties and built alliances with the Pate and Witu Sultanates on the Swahili coast. Trade and Geledi power would continue to remain strong until the death of the well known Sultan Ahmed Yusuf in 1878. The sultanate was eventually incorporated into Italian Somaliland in 1911.

The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (Arabic: سلطنة مسقط وعمان, romanized: Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān), also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman (Arabic: دولة مسقط وعمان, romanized: Dawlat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān) during the rule of Taimur bin Faisal, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day Sultanate of Oman and parts of present-day United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, in the second half of the 19th century and 20th century.

In 1856, upon the death of the last ruler of the Omani Empire, Said bin Sultan, the empire split into two separate political entities: the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The former continued to be led by the Al Busaid dynasty, but transitioned into a new form of government after the palace coup of 23 July 1970 in which the sultan Said bin Taimur was immediately deposed in favour of his son Qaboos bin Said. The current Sultanate of Oman is the direct successor to the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman.

The Al Qasimi (Arabic: القاسمي, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem Arabic: القواسم and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty and tribe that rules Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, today forming two of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. They are one of the longest reigning royal families in the Arabian peninsula. Historically, they also ruled over the town of Lengeh as sheikhs for a century until its annexation by Iran in 1887.

The Qawasem were a confederation of Sunni tribes in south eastern Gulf region surrounding the cities of Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah; and faced strong rivalry with the Omani empire for naval domination along the Persian Gulf. Due to their allegiance to the Emirate of Dir'iyah, the British Empire branded them as "pirates" and fought two major military campaigns against them in 1809 and 1819.