Mirbat

Coordinates: 16 ° 59 '  N , 54 ° 42'  E

Mirbat​

Oman

Mirbat ( Arabic مرباط, DMG Mirbāṭ ) is a coastal city and an administrative district ( Wilaya ) in the Dhofar Governorate in the southwest of the Sultanate of Oman .

history

Early Islamic times to modern times

Since the 10th century Mirbat was an important trading center and gained in importance as Zohar in northern Oman lost in importance. Its main commercial product was frankincense . For a long time it was in the shadow of al-Balid , about 50 km to the south, but its importance diminished with the withdrawal of the Portuguese occupiers. Mirbat was able to assert itself as the last and only trading center in Dhofar. Since the sea route through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea was made unsafe by pirates between 1600 and 1800 , many caravans started from Mirbat to transport the precious incense resin through the great sand dune desert to Saudi Arabia .

Modern history: The Battle of Mirbat

In recent history, the Battle of Mirbat marks the turning point in the Dhofar uprising . In the early morning of July 19, 1972 at 5 a.m., a rebel army of around 250 attacked the base, which was only occupied by 9 men. After heavy defensive fire, the air force intervened in the form of three BAC 167 Strikemasters . In addition, reinforcements were flown in with helicopters. This enabled the rebels to be driven out. In the defensive battle 2 British SAS soldiers and 1 government soldier and 38 rebels were killed. The rebel army did not recover from this defeat and in 1975 the Dhofar war was declared over. Allegedly, this battle is said to have been the last battle in the world in which a place was defended from a fort.

Geography / location / traffic connections

The place Mirbat is located approx. 75 km east of Salala at the end of the well-developed main road No. 49.

The Wilaya Mirbat is located in the eastern part of the Dhofar Governorate. It borders in the east on the Wilaya Sadah , in the west on the Wilaya Taqa , in the north on the Jabal Samhan massif and in the south on the Arabian Sea . The Wilaya of Mirbat includes the Niyaba of Tawi Attair (English Tawi Ateer), which with its 116 villages is one of the largest in the entire Dhofar governorate.

Attractions

Mirbat: mausoleum of Sheikh Muhammad bin Ali al-Alawi

• Before entering the town there is a junction to the mausoleum of Sheikh Muhammad bin Ali al-Alawi, who immigrated from Hadramaut in southern Yemen and died here in 1161 . The tomb has two pointed domes and shines in pure white. Only Muslims are allowed to enter the sanctuary . A large cemetery is adjacent to the building. The tombstones are often just plain, weathered pieces of rock. They are typical of the prevailing Sunni direction of Islam.

Mirbat: Exit from town

• Mirbat means "horse market". A horse sculpture has been erected at the entrance to the village, indicating this importance.
• In Mirbat there is a small fort built in 1806 that has a lot in common with the nearby fort in Taqah . The fort served the Wali as a fortified place to live and work.

Mirbat: adobe house

• Some traditional trading houses in the city center, which have an architecture influenced by South Yemen, are worth seeing. All houses are built almost rectangular and divided on two floors around an inner courtyard, which serves as a light and air shaft. The roof terraces are bordered with stepped pyramid battlements. Some houses are equipped with a defense tower. The plastering is typical of the South Yemeni architectural style. Depressions were pressed into the damp plaster for decoration. In addition, some of the facades show sketches from maritime and commercial life at the time. All of these houses are obviously uninhabited and are slowly decaying.
• From Mirbat you can take a trip to Jebel Samhan , which is the highest mountain in Dhofar at 1,800 m. You can drive directly to the summit plateau by car. There you have a good view of Mirbat and the sea. From there, you can make further detours to Wadi Darbat and the sinkhole of Tawi Attair.

Demographics

According to official information, the population in the Mirbat administrative district grew by an average of 3.4% annually between 2003 and 2008, with the CAGR of the proportion of residents increasing by 2.2% and the CAGR of the proportion of foreigners increasing by 10.1%. The numbers in detail:

Wilaya Mirbat	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003
Total population	13,919	19,043	17,706	17,083	16.306	15,889	15,361	14,987
including residents	11,491	14,795	14,409	14,066	13,760	13,441	13,129	12,947
including foreigners	2,428	4,248	3,297	3,017	2,546	2,448	2,232	2,040
Quota of foreigners	17.4%	22.3%	18.6%	17.7%	15.6%	15.4%	14.5%	13.6%

economy

Mirbat: harbor view

The main source of income for the villagers is fishing. There are rich fishing grounds for Indian sardines (Sardinella longiceps) off the coast . The sun-dried fish serve as high-protein cattle feed. However, overfishing of the abalone in the past has led to a drastic decline in this species of mollusc . Therefore, a feasibility study has been carried out by the government to investigate the possibility of abalone breeding so that natural occurrences can recover. Since the sea off Mirbat is teeming with fish, the coral reefs have become a popular vacation spot for divers. The government is striving to expand tourism in this area cautiously, which, however, should not be easy in view of the peripheral location.

Footnotes

1. ↑ See website on the “Battle of Mirbat” ( memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
2. ↑ See Franzisky, Peter / Kabasci, Kirstin : Oman, 4th, actual. Ed., Bielefeld: Reise Know-How Verlag, 2005, p. 548.
3. ↑ See Teupel, Michael : Oman: Das Sultanat, Hamburg: traveldiary.de Reiseliteratur-Verlag Jens Freyler; 2006, p. 99.
4. ↑ See Franzisky, Peter / Kabasci, Kirstin : Oman, 4th, actual. Ed., Bielefeld: Reise Know-How Verlag, 2005, p. 549 f.
5. ↑ Much incense about nothing in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung of November 13, 2011, page V1
6. ↑ See Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of National Economy : Statistical Year Book, Thirty-Ninth Issue - November 2011, section 2-8, p. 12; Data based on the 2010 census.
7. ↑ See Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of National Economy : Statistical Year Book, Thirty-Seventh Issue - November 2009, section 2-8, p. 63; Update of the census of December 7, 2003 on a mid-year basis.
8. ↑ See Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of National Economy : Statistical Year Book, Thirty-Sixth Issue - October 2008, section 2-2; Update of the census of December 7, 2003 on a mid-year basis.
9. ↑ See Mahgouba, Osman / Kadima, Isam T./Al-Jufailib, Saud M./Al-Saqrya, Naseeb M./Annamalaia, Kanthi / Ritchie, Andrew (2005): Evaluation of sun-dried sardines as a protein supplement for Omani sheep, in: Animal Feed Science and Technology, Vol. 120, Issues 3-4, 28 May 2005, Pages 245-257.
10. ↑ See Governorate of Dhofar ( Memento from May 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).