Sur ( ar, صُوْر, Ṣūr) is the capital city of Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate, and the former capital of Ash Sharqiyah Region in northeastern

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, on the coast of the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ar, خليج عمان ''khalīj ʿumān''; fa, دریای عمان ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ar, خلیج مکران ''khalīj makrān''; fa, دریای مکرا� ...

. It is located about southeast of the Omani capital

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was ...

. Historically, the city is known for being an important destination point for sailors. Today, the sea still plays an important part of life in Sur.

Geography

Nearby villages include Dughmur and Qalhat.

History

By the 6th century, Sur was an established centre for trade with

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim ...

commented on his visit to this "roadstead of a large village on the seashore." In the

16th century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th centur ...

, it was under Portuguese rule but was liberated by the Omani

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

Nasir ibn Murshid and underwent an economic revival, as a trade centre with

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and East Africa. This continued until the mid-19th century, when the British outlawed the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. The city was further ruined by the opening of the Suez Canal, which saw it lose trade with India.

Education

The main college in Sur is the Sur College of Applied Sciences. The college has over 4000 students and offers degrees in Business, Communication, Information Technology and Design and Applied Biotechnology. It is considered one of the better institutions of higher learning in Oman. The second college is Sur University College. There is an Indian school, Indian School Sur which offers classes up to Grade 12.

Shipbuilding

It is one of the famous cities in the Persian Gulf region in building wooden ships. Its historical location gives it the hand to monitor the Gulf of Oman and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. Many ships have been built in this city, like the sambuk and

ghanjah A ghanjah or ganja ( ar, غنجه), also known as kotiya in India, is a large wooden trading dhow, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel. Description The ghanjah dhows had a curved prow with a characteristic trefoil ornament carved on top of the ...

. They formerly went as far as China,

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and many other countries. These vessels were also used in

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium ca ...

fishing.

Climate

Sur experiences a hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

with very little rainfall and high temperatures. Because of its coastal location, Sur's night-time temperatures are never very low. There is no distinct wetter season, but March tends to be the wettest month, and September the driest. Occasionally, Sur gets battered by cyclones. In 2007,

Cyclone Gonu Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. The second named tropical cyclone of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Gonu developed from a persist ...

battered the city, and in 2010, Sur was hit by Cyclone Phet.

Gallery

File:Street along beach, Sur (2) (41956565651).jpg, A street along the beach of the

, with the Eastern Hajar Mountains in the background File:Sur lighthouse.jpg, Sur Lighthouse File:Dhow Sur Oman.jpg, A docked

dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically sp ...

with Al-Ayjah Watchtower on top of the hill in the background File:SurOman.jpg, Watchtowers on hills overlooking the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

File:Hanging bridge at Sur city.jpg, Hanging bridge at Sur city during the night

Notable people

Suhail Bahwan Saud Bahwan (Mohammed Saud Bahwan) (born 1938/39) is an Omani billionaire businessman. Early life and career Bahwan began as a small-scale trader in Sur, with one dhow, inherited from his father, doing business between Oman and India. In 196 ...

(born 1938/39), Omani billionaire businessman * Salim Rashid Suri (circa 1910-1979), Omani musician * Ahmed Mubarak Al-Mahaijri (born 1985), Omani footballer

References

External links

World66
* http://www.surcity.net * http://www.surcity.net/en *
Sur in Oman, overview of a ship building town
{{Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate Populated places in Oman Populated coastal places in Oman