'Military Report and Route Book. The Arabian States of the Persian Gulf. 1939' [‎92v] (184/328)

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SECTION F.
MUSCAT AND OMAN.
CHAPTER T.
H istory, A dministration and P opulation,
1. General. —The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman is a
sovereign state, the independence of which Great Britain
and France undertook to respect in 1862.
Since 1916 the authority of the Sultan of Muscat and
Oman has been lim.ted to his capital and a narrow
strip along the coast from Shinas in western Hajar to
Salala in Dhofar on the southern coast of Arabia. He
further controls an area at the northern extremity of
the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and Gwadur on the south coast of
Baluchistan, near the Iranian frontier. The tribes of
the interior, in other words the greater proportion of
the inhabitants, do not acknowledge his sway and liv<'
in practical independnce of him under their own chiefs.
If they acknowledge anyone, it is the Iman of Oman.
There are now, however, indications that the Sultan is
endeavouring to extend his influence over these tribes
of the hinterland. But how far he will be successful is
still (1939) uncertain.
The strategical importance of Muscat and Oman is
its long coast line on the flanks of the oil tanker route
from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and near the main shipping route
to Karachi and Bombay ; the control held by the Sultan
over landing grounds on the Royal 'Air Force route
rom Iraq and India to Aden ; the fact that the recrea
tiona: base of the R. N. Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Division is situated
a i. in the Sultan's territory at the northern
extremity of the Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. where it commands the
entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; and the possibility of
oi being found in Oman by Petroleum Concessions, Ltd,
a Company with British interests.
The town oi Muscat itself is important as a cable
station on the cable route between Karachi and
Bushire. The fact that there is a R. A. F. wireless