[edit]
Archaeology[edit]
Archaeologists excavating a Middle Stone Age complex
At Aybut Al-Auwal ("First Aybut") in Wadi Aybut (west-central Nejd), a site was discovered in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools belonging to a regionally specific lithic industry, the late Nubian Complex, known previously only from Northeast Africa. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old. This provides evidence for a distinct Middle Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia around the earlier part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5. Bronze Age sites of the Dhofar Survey include tomb complexes found at Hodor (al-Hudfir).
Antiquity[edit]
A tall frankincense tree (Boswellia sacra) stands out among the scenery
Dhofar was a major exporter of frankincense in ancient times, with some of it being traded as far as China.
Al-Baleed (also spelled Al Blaid), an area near Salalah which contains numerous archeological finds, used to serve as the home of the Manjawi Civilization from the 12th to 16th centuries.
The Shahri people are believed to be the original inhabitants of Dhofar.[citation needed]
Middle Ages[edit]
Venetian merchant Marco Polo wrote of Dhofar in The Travels of Marco Polo (c. 1300), stating:
Dufar is a great and noble and fine city. The people are Saracens [Muslims] and have a Count for their chief who is subject to the Soldan [Sultan] of Aden. Much white incense is produced here, and I will tell you how it grows. The trees are like small fir trees; these are notched with a knife in several places, and from these notches the incense is exuded. Sometimes it flows from the tree without any notch; this is by reason of the great heat of the sun there. This Dhafar is supposed to be the Sephar of Genesis, x. 30.
Prior to Omani rule, Dhofar was part of the sultanate of Kathiri, and was later mostly controlled by the tribes of Al-Hakli (Qara), thus given the name "Qara Mountain Range".
19th century[edit]
In the early 19th century, the region was ruled by Muhammed Aqil and an American locally known as Abdullah Lorleyd and relied on the Mahra for support, but remained loyal to the sultans of Muscat.
A historical political précis on Dhofar produced by the British Government indicate that in 1876, a man named Sayyid Fadhl bin Alawi, who had arrived in Dhofar from Mecca in August 1875, had established himself as the de facto ruler of Dhofar. He claimed allegiance to the Ottomans, however, it was unknown if he was acting under their directive. With the help of Dhofari tribes he carried out warfare against the Bedouins of the interior. He was expelled by local sheikhs in January 1879.
20th century[edit]
Dhofar is extensively detailed in the 1917 publication Gazetteer of Arabia, produced by the Government in British India and mostly based on information gathered by J.G. Lorimer's in his 1908 and 1915 handbook Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia. In it, Dhofar's boundaries are given as between the Samhan hills (Jebel Samhan) and the sea, from Ra's Risut eastwards for 30 miles to Khor Rori. Colloquially, the term Dhofar was used to describe the villages of Al Haffah and Salalah, which housed about two-thirds of Dhofar's population at that time; however, on an official capacity, the term was understood to refer to the entire region of Dhofar, much like in the modern sense. Dhofar's physical geography was noted as consisting mainly of barren plains, a mountain range and several valleys, the most important of which was Wadi Raikut.
Communication outside of Dhofar was made difficult on account of the rugged landscape and the fact that no large harbors existed on the coast, though Mirbat and Risut were said to offer good anchorage for smaller vessels. The mountain paths were, for all intents and purposes, inaccessible during the rainy season. Aside from camels, no other transport animals were widely used. Frankincense was said to comprise the bulk of economic trade, with 9,000 cwt. being sent to Mumbai annually. Other exports were hides, sheep-skins, gums and beeswax. Among the chief imports were khat (which was mistaken for tobacco) from Mukalla and rice, sugar, dates and cloths from Mumbai.
Gordon Noel Jackson's 1943 essay on Dhofar provides a historical glimpse into the administration of the region:
The administration of the Dhufar Province is in the hands of the Sultan of Muscat himself. He appears to regard Dhufar more as a private estate than as a Province of his Sultanate and maintains a separate treasury. According to an article published some 65 years ago in the Nehla, a superior Arabic magazine of the last century, Sayyid Turki, the present Sultan's grandfather, established his rule there at the invitation of the Sayyids of Salalah to forestall the unwelcome interest of the Turks. He entrusted the task of establishing Muscat authority to one Sulaiman bin Suwailim, a former slave, and supplied him with a small body of soldiers to secure the towns from the tribesmen. Sulaiman bin Suwailim built a fort on the site of the present palace which was later seized and looted by the Kathiri, but it was not long before Muscat authority was re-established. His father took little interest in the Province but Sayyid Said bin Taimur, the present Sultan, has now been in residence there for over a year, has a trained agricultural adviser and an engineer with him and is making great strides in developing the agricultural resources.
Sugar cane grown using the Rizat irrigation system in Dhofar Governorate, dated 1948
During World War I it was fertile enough to produce food and grain to supply a large proportion of the requirement of the British Army fighting in Mesopotamia.[citation needed]
A counter-insurgency campaign—the Omani Civil War (1963-76)—was fought here by the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces against guerrilla fighters of the nationalist Dhofar Liberation Front and later the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Persian Gulf (PFLOAG). This latter group was supported by Communist South Yemen and several other socialist states, including East Germany. It aimed to depose the Sultan's government, who was assisted by the United Kingdom, Iran, and officers and doctors from Pakistan and India. The rebellion failed, and once the campaign was declared over in December 1975, the active remainder of PFLOAG forces surrendered.
