ABSTRACT
Oman is often regarded as a country uniquely distinguished from the rest of peninsular Arabia by geology, topography, history, society, culture and even by the specific sect of Islam practised. Often described as an island, bounded by the Indian Ocean and the Empty Quarters (Rub al-Khali), Oman derives most of the characteristics from her central mountain spine, known as the Oman Mountains. This spine literally severs the country into a landlocked interior and a narrow but long coastal strip. While the coast developed as a seafaring, outward-looking, cosmopolitan entity, the interior (a’Dakhaliya), often described as the ‘real’ Oman,1 evolved into an introverted society and culture practising its unique form of Islam, Ibadhism.2 The settlement pattern carried on the distinction;
while the Batinah coast developed as an almost continuous strip of connected settlements from Shinas to Muscat, the interior was always characterised by isolated oasis settlements like Nizwa, Bahla and Manah (Figure 10.1).
