Ṣuḥār

Suhar stands on Oman's Batinah coast, where a fertile plain meets the sea routes of the Indian Ocean. In the early Islamic centuries it was among the great ports of the region. Medieval writers described a prosperous city of numerous houses, and finds of Omani copperwork, glass and Chinese ceramics show the range of its connections. Its harbour linked the products of the interior to merchants sailing across the Arabian Sea.

The town's fortunes changed as shipping and political power shifted. By the later Middle Ages, ports on the Persian side of the Gulf had gained importance, while Suhar's earlier prominence diminished. In 1507 the Portuguese commander Afonso de Albuquerque reached the town during his campaign along the Omani coast. The Portuguese held a fort here, but its shallow approaches made Suhar less suitable than Muscat for their larger ships. Persian and Portuguese forces contested the position in the early seventeenth century. Imam Nasir ibn Murshid of the Yaruba brought much of Oman together and challenged Portuguese control. His forces recovered Suhar in 1643. The fortress remained a visible reminder of the struggle for the Batinah coast, even as Muscat grew in importance as Oman's principal maritime centre.