Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mained all but inaccessible from the land for centuries, and the Arab tribes from Yemen
who supposedly first settled the area almost certainly approached from the sea.
A small port in the 14th and 15th centuries, Muscat gained importance as a freshwater
staging post, but it was eclipsed by the busier port of Sohar - something the people of So-
har's Batinah region hope may well happen again. By the beginning of the 16th century,
Muscat was a trading port in its own right, used by merchant ships bound for India. Inevit-
ably it attracted the attention of the Portuguese, who conquered the town in 1507. The city
walls were constructed at this time (a refurbished set remains in the same positions), but
neither they nor the two Portuguese forts of Mirani and Jalali could prevent the Omani re-
conquest of the town in 1650 - an event that effectively ended the Portuguese era in the
Gulf.
Muscat became a backwater for much of the 20th century and the city gates remained
resolutely locked and bolted against the encroachments of the outside world until 1970.
Under the auspices of the current Sultan Qaboos, the city reawakened. To facilitate the
growing number of cars needing access to the city, a hole was driven through the city
walls. Goods and services flooded in and Muscat flooded out to occupy the surrounding
coastline. Touchingly, the city gates continued to be locked at a specific time every even-
ing, despite the adjacent hole in the wall, until the gates were replaced with an archway. In
many respects, that little act of remembrance is a fitting metaphor for a city that has given
access to modern conveniences while it continues to keep the integrity of its traditional
character.
