Oman and the Portuguese

Portugal dominated the region around Muscat between 1507 and 1650, due to Oman’s strategically important position on trade routes to the east. The Ottoman Empire occupied Muscat between 1581 and 1888. Neither the Portuguese nor the Ottomans, however, controlled Oman in its entirety. By the mid-17th century, Omani tribes under the Imam’s leadership drove the Portuguese out of Muscat.