Oman

Oman is a country in Arabia.

The sea is on two sides. Inland there are mountains and a big sandy desert. The capital city is called Muscat.

Oman sits on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, where the Persian Gulf meets the Arabian Sea. It has long coasts, rugged mountains and, inland, part of the Rub' al-Khali, the Empty Quarter, one of the great sand deserts.

It is hot almost everywhere, and very little rain falls. Muscat, the capital, lies on the northern coast between the sea and the mountains. About 5.4 million people lived in Oman in 2026, and about half of Oman's people are under 30.

Oman lies at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Much of the interior falls within the Rub' al-Khali, a sandy, treeless and largely waterless region now crossed by oil and gas pipelines, while the coasts are far more hospitable: the fertile Al-Batinah plain in the north and the Dhofar region in the south. A small exclave on the Musandam Peninsula gives Oman its only Persian Gulf frontage, and the main shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz lie in its territorial waters.

Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information counted about 5,398,645 people at the end of June 2026, Omanis and foreign residents together; about half are under 30. Oman is a sultanate ruled by the Al Bu Said dynasty; Sultan Haitham bin Tariq has reigned since January 2020.

Muscat is the capital city.

It sits between the sea and the mountains. Old forts made of stone and mud stand in Oman. Long ago, ships sailed from its ports.

Muscat and its neighbor Matrah are old ports that have grown together into one big city. Muscat's market, or souk, is full of things made by Omani craftspeople, such as silver jewelry and carved wood.

Oman has many old forts. Bahla Fort, built of mud brick on stone, is a World Heritage Site. On the east coast, the old port of Qalhat traded dates, horses and pearls 500 to 1,000 years ago. In the far south, near the city of Salalah, are the ruins of ports that once shipped frankincense.

Muscat and Matrah, both ancient ports, have merged into one metropolitan area at the eastern end of Al-Batinah, the most densely populated part of the country, home to about one-fourth of the population. Sur, farther east, is still known for fishing and boatbuilding, and Salalah is the provincial capital of Dhofar.

UNESCO lists five sites in Oman. Bahla Fort (1987), with walls and towers of mud brick on stone foundations, was capital of the Banu Nebhan from the 12th to the late 15th century. The prehistoric settlements of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn were inscribed in 1988. The Land of Frankincense (2000) includes the ports of Khor Rori and Al Baleed, the inland outpost of Shisr and the frankincense trees of Wadi Dawka. The Aflaj Irrigation Systems (2006) represent more than 3,000 working channels, and the Ancient City of Qalhat (2018) was a port of the Kingdom of Hormuz from the 11th to 16th centuries.

Oman is very hot in summer.

It hardly ever rains. Tall, rocky mountains run along the north. In the south, summer winds bring rain.

The Hajar Mountains run along the north of Oman, parallel to the coast. Their highest peak, Jebel Shams, whose name means Sun Mountain, is the highest point in the country. Inland, the land drops away into the sands of the Empty Quarter.

Oman has no lakes or rivers that last all year. Rain is rare, about 100 millimeters a year on average, a little more in the mountains. In summer Muscat often reaches 43 °C. Far to the south, in Dhofar, summer monsoon winds water the coastal plain and wooded mountains and keep the city of Salalah milder.

Northern Oman has three main zones: the long Al-Batinah coastal plain on the Gulf of Oman; the high Hajar Mountains, much of them above 1,460 m, running from Musandam to near Cape al-Hadd, the easternmost tip of Arabia, and split by the Wadi Samail; and an inland plateau falling southwest into the Rub' al-Khali. Jebel Shams is the country's highest point. Dhofar, separated from the north by hundreds of kilometers of desert, has a fertile coastal plain behind which wooded mountains rise to about 1,500 m.

There are no permanent bodies of fresh water; streams run only after storms. Rainfall averages only about 100 mm a year. Muscat often reaches 43 °C in summer with high humidity, and winter lows average about 17 °C. The southwest summer monsoon makes Salalah's climate more temperate than the north's. Because rain is so scarce, farming depends on aflaj, ancient channels, often underground, that carry water from wells near the mountains.

White antelopes called Arabian oryx live in Oman's desert.

They have long, straight horns. Sea turtles swim along the coast. Lots of birds visit too.

The Arabian oryx is a white antelope with long, straight horns. It died out in the wild in 1972, but oryx bred in captivity were returned to Oman's desert in 1982, and today they live in protected areas. Oman's government protects rare plants and animals in nature reserves.

Green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles swim in the warm seas off Oman. The country also has a great many kinds of birds. Britannica calls Oman's birdlife extraordinarily varied.

Vegetation is sparse outside irrigated land, and acacias make up most of it. Plant species are protected in nature preserves, the government also protects rare animal species, and Britannica calls Oman's birdlife extraordinarily diverse.

UNESCO records that the Arabian oryx became extinct in the wild in 1972 and was reintroduced in Oman in 1982, forming the first free-ranging herd since then; the IUCN Red List lists Oman among the countries where captive-bred oryx have been returned. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1994, became in 2007 the first site ever deleted from the List, after Oman reduced the protected area by 90 percent. Offshore, the IUCN ranges of the green and hawksbill sea turtles include Oman's waters.

About 5.4 million people live in Oman.

Most people speak Arabic. A favorite meal is rice with lamb or fish, and dates. After the meal, some families burn sweet-smelling frankincense.

About 5.4 million people lived in Oman in 2026. Arabic is the official language, and many people also speak English, Persian, Urdu or Swahili. Many people from South Asia and other countries live and work in Oman, especially in Muscat.

A typical meal is rice with spiced lamb or fish, dates, and coffee or tea. Frankincense, which comes from trees that grow in Oman, is often burned at the end of a meal. Popular sports include football and traditional races of camels and of wooden sailing boats called dhows.

More than half of Oman's population is Arab; Baloch families live near the Al-Batinah coast, and Muscat-Matrah has long had Persian and South Asian communities, among them the Liwatiyyah, originally from Sindh. The jibalis of the Dhofar mountains speak older South Arabian dialects, quite different from the North Arabian–derived dialects elsewhere. Arabic is official, and English, Persian, Urdu and Swahili are also spoken. The great majority of Omanis are Muslims, most of them Ibadi, a branch close to Sunni Islam in belief and ritual; there are also Sunni and Shia Muslims and a few Hindus. Since the 1980s, a policy called Omanization has aimed to reduce reliance on foreign workers.

Meals center on rice, spiced lamb or fish, dates and coffee or tea, with frankincense, native to Oman, burned afterward. Many men wear the dishdashah, a woven cotton robe, with a light turban. Artisans are known for woodcarving, weaving and silver- and goldsmithing. Dhow racing, camel racing and Arabian horse racing are popular, and Oman first competed at the Olympics in 1984.