Gwadar

Gwadar is a port on the Makran coast, set beside a broad headland joined to the mainland by a narrow sandy neck. The rocky promontory forms a distinctive hammerhead shape and shelters bays on either side. Its anchorage faces the Sea of Oman, across which lie the ports of Arabia.

In 1784 Nasir Khan of Kalat granted Gwadar to Sultan bin Ahmad, a claimant to the Omani throne. From this refuge Sultan used the port as a base for attacks on the opposite Arabian coast. He became ruler of Oman in 1792 and retained Gwadar as an Omani possession, appointing a representative to govern it. The arrangement gave the port an enduring political connection across the sea, even as the surrounding territory remained under Baluch rulers.