The Oman–Saudi Arabia border is 658 km (409 mi) in length and runs from the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

in the north to the tripoint with

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

in the south-west.

Description

The border starts in the north at the tripoint with the UAE; it consists of three straight lines: the first orientated NW-SE (91 km; 57 mi), the second NE-SW (233 km; 145 mi), and the third NE-SW (334 km; 207 mi), terminating at the Yemeni tripoint. The border lies entirely within the barren

Rub' al Khali The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: / . The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; ar, ٱلرُّبْع ٱلْخَالِي (), the "Empty Quarter") is the sand des ...

desert, or 'empty quarter' of Arabia. The

Umm al Samim The Umm al Samim () (also known as the Umm as Samim) is a quicksand area on the eastern edge of the Rub al'khali desert largely within Oman's borders. The waters, such as they are, drain into this brackish low-lying closed basin area off the Omani m ...

quicksand area also lies on the border, at the first ‘bend’ in the north.

History

Historically there was no clearly defined boundary in this part of the Arabian peninsula; at the start of the 20th century the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

controlled the western coast and Britain the east and south (ruled indirectly via the Sultan of Oman and local sheikhs and emirs), with the interior consisting of loosely organised Arab groupings, occasionally forming emirates, most prominent of which was the

Emirate of Nejd and Hasa The Emirate of Nejd and Hasa was the second iteration of the Third Saudi State from 1913 to 1921. It was a monarchy led by the House of Saud.Madawi Al-Rasheed. (2002). ''A History of Saudi Arabia''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University P ...

ruled by the

al-Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), and ...

family. Madawi Al-Rasheed. ''A History of Saudi Arabia''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. 40. Britain and the Ottoman Empire theoretically divided their realms of influence in Arabia via the so-called '

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

' and ' Violet lines' in 1913–14, however these agreements were rendered null and void following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During the

an Arab Revolt, supported by Britain, succeeded in removing the Ottomans from much of the Middle East; in the period following this Ibn Saud managed to expand his kingdom considerably, eventually proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Ibn Saud refused to recognise the Anglo-Ottoman lines and lay claim to large parts of the eastern Arabian hinterland (the so-called ‘Hamza line’). On 25 November 1935 British officials met with Ibn Saud in an attempt to finalise a frontier between the new kingdom and its coastal protectorates, including Oman, which was ruled by an independent sultan under heavy British influence. The conference proved abortive however and the issue remained unresolved. In 1955, following an attempt by Saudi Arabia to assert its control over the

Buraimi Oasis ar, وَاحَة ٱلْبُرَيْمِي, Wāḥat Al-Buraymī , native_name_lang = ar , image_skyline = Mezyad Fort.jpg , image_caption = Mezyad Fort in Al Ain (UAE), with Jebel Hafeet, which is partially in the Omani Governorate ...

on the Oman-UAE border, Britain stated that it would unilaterally use a slightly modified version of the 1935 'Riyadh line' henceforth. Following talks held in 1989, on 21 March 1990 a border treaty was signed between King Fahd of Saudi Arabian Oman's Sultan Qaboos at

Hafr al-Batin Hafar al-Batin ( ar, حفر الباطن '), also frequently spelled ''Hafr al-Batin'', is a Saudi Arabian city in the Eastern Province. It is located 430 km north of Riyadh, 94.2 km from the Kuwait border, and about 74.3 from the Iraq ...

, and then ratified in May 1991. This agreement finalised the border at the 1955 modified Riyadh line. On-the-ground demarcation then followed with the assistance of the German aerial photography company Hansa Luftbild, being completed in 1995.

Border crossings

The first official border crossing, at Ramlat Khaliya in the far northern section of the frontier, was opened in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oman-Saudi Arabia border Borders of Oman Borders of Saudi Arabia International borders

Description

History

Border crossings

See also

References