Ar-Ru'ays Cape

Ar-Ru’ays Cape opens toward the Gulf of Oman, the arm of the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. Iran and Pakistan face it from the north, Oman borders it to the south, and the United Arab Emirates lie along its western shore. Arabian, Iranian, Indian, Pakistani, and European geographers have used different names for these waters, especially Makran Sea and Akhzar Sea.

Until the eighteenth century, Makran Sea was a common designation on maps and in travel accounts. The coast around Muscat points toward a chain of ports and anchorages that linked Oman with the wider western Indian Ocean. Maritime trade made the gulf a corridor between the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian coast, and routes continuing toward India.

Its identity therefore rests on navigation and commercial contact as much as on the physical boundary between sea and arid shore. The gulf’s western side meets the Strait of Hormuz, a route through which a large share of world liquefied natural gas and oil passes. Ports at Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, Chabahar, and Muttrah show how anchorages on several shores shared the work of trade.