Oman proper

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Oman proper (Arabic: عُمان الوسطى‎ [ʿUmān al-Wusṭā]) refers a historical area within the present-day Sultanate of Oman. It lay inland from Muscat beyond the Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountains) and was centered on the city of Nizwa in the area of the current region of Ad Dakhiliyah. Along with Muscat and Dhofar, it was a constituent part of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman but with the 1970 palace coup, the term Oman alone was applied to the entire country.

[edit] History

Oman proper was ruled by Ibadite imams who exercised spiritual and often temporal authority over the region. There were often tensions between these imams and the sultans of Muscat and in 1913, the election of Salim ibn Rashid al-Kharusi as imam led to the proclamation of the Imamate of Oman (Arabic: إمامة عُمان [Imāmat ʿUmān]) with its capital at Nizwa. In 1954, a new imam, Ghalib bin Ali, attempted to gain further Omani independence from Muscat, an effort that took Sultan Said Bin Taimur of Muscat and his British suzerains five years to suppress. In 1957, Nizwa was taken, the imam was overthrown and exiled, and his position was abolished. In 1959, the last forces of the Imamate were defeated and the name of the whole of Muscat and Oman was changed to the Sultanate of Oman.

In current usage, Oman proper can also refer to the whole of the present-day sultanate minus the exclaves of Musandam and Madha.

State of Oman postage stamp with the capital of Nizwa shown as "Nazwa"

[edit] Postal history

Following its overthrow, the Imamate of Oman issued postage stamps of dubious postal value under the name of the State of Oman (Arabic: دولة عُمان [Dawlat ʿUmān]).