OMAN STUDIES CENTRE

Oman: general reference

This page lists links which provide general information on Oman. Users should be warned that some of the information contained in these sources is not very accurate. We shall try to annotate this list to help the user to find reliable information. We certainly would welcome your comments or additions to this page. Please e-mail us at omandoc@pobox.com.

1. Major Content Providers (commercial and institutional websites)

omanet.com: The official website of the Ministry of Information, Sultanate of Oman. Launched on 18 November 1996. For other official Omani government websites, see the overview on our page of Omani Government Websites.
oman infoworld: One of the first and probably largest information sites on Oman, maintained by Dr. Ehab Moustafa, EM Consultants Company Ltd., Canada. A slightly different version of Oman Infoworld is available at http://www.msdg.com/oman on the MarketSpace Design Group server. The website is divided into four main sections - "About", Tourism, Culture and Economy - with many sub-pages (see the Index page).
oman.de: A very comprehensive website in both German and English, launched in September 1996 by Georg Popp & Andreas Röver, TiNOX GmbH, München.
arab.net: Oman: Comprehensive website on Oman with numerous mirror sites, e.g. at saud.com, salman.com, srpc.com, srmg.com, and alkhaleejiah.com. ArabNet is owned by the Saudi Research & Marketing Group.
awo.net: Oman: Mainly aimed at people looking for business information on Oman. Arab World Online LLC is a joint venture between the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) and Multitasking Online, Washington, DC. It includes a Country Profile (factsheet), US-Omani trade figures, and allows you to retrieve articles and other data on Oman from the NUSACC databases.
oman-online.com: This website was launched in May 1997 by Arabia.On.Line, but has not been further developed in 1998. Combines some information on Oman with reference tools.
omanonline.com: Commercial website registered in May 1998 and launched in August 1998, with objectives similar to oman-online.com and omaninfo.com (company directory, classifieds, job market).
omaninfo.com: Also known as Oman Information Center, this commercial website was established in October 1998 by Abdulkarim al-Hinai (akzhinai@mailexcite.com) of Unitized Computer Services, POB 414, Al-Harthy Complex, PC 118, Oman. Provides some general information on Oman, but its main aim is to provide a number of useful reference tools and directories relative to Oman.
MidNet: Sultanate of Oman: The focus is on trade and tourism. MidNet is a joint venture of ISDS Internet Software Development Services (P) Ltd., Pune, India, and Inshirah Trading, Muscat.
omzest: Sultanate of Oman: Oman information pages by the Omzest Group (Omar Zawawi Est.). Includes short pages on history, geography, education, architecture and economy/business.

2. Major Content Providers (personal homepages)

The following websites are personal homepages by Omanis which provide comprehensive information on Oman - in some cases the information is more detailed and better presented than on some "professional" websites. We wish to apologize that we had to make a selection from the many homepages by Omanis which provide data on Oman. For a full list, go to Omanis' personal homepages (most of them have some information on Oman). Some specialized pages have also been used to build the Oman A to Z page.

Nizwa Oasis: comprehensive Oman page (with focus on agriculture) by Rashid Abdullah al-Yahyai
"Window on Oman" exhibition designed by Abdulkareem Sonya al-Zadjali
Sultanate of Oman Homepage by Zahra al-Rawahi
The Sultanate of Oman by Ahmed al-Kindy
A fascinating tour in Oman by Mohamed al-Bulooshi
The Sultanate of Oman by Saleh al-Shidhani (part of his inofficial SQU homepage)
Yaqub's Oman Homepage by Yaqub al-Shaaibi
http://arch1.arc.ynu.ac.jp/~usr005/oman.html by Issa al-Harthy, Yokohama University
Muscat Information by Abhishek and Rahul Paul
The Great Rustaq by Abdulrahman al-Hatmi

3 a. General reference texts and comprehensive factsheets on Oman

Oman - a country study by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
(although not fully up-to-date, one of the very few serious pieces of information on Oman in the WWW)

The CIA World Factbook
.... 1. CIA World Factbook: latest Internet edition (updated March 1997)
.... 2. CIA World Factbook 1996: Oman (on the Washington Post server)
.... 3. CIA World FactBook 1995: Oman

U.S. Department of State Background Notes: Oman (December 1994)
.... 1. gopher://dosfan.lib.uic.edu:70/0F-1%3A3418%3AOman%2011/94
.... 2. www.tradecompass.com/library/dos/bnotes/OMAN.html
.... 3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/worldref/statedep/oman.htm

ArabWorld Factbook: Oman
Explore Oman - official Omani text by GTO
AWO Country Profile: Oman a factsheet by Arab World Online LLC (AWO.Net)
Oman entry in the Encyclopedia of the Orient, CiAS Centre d'Information Arabe Scandinave, Norway
Encarta info sheet on Oman by Encarta World Atlas Online
Basic Country Facts: Oman by ArabicNews
Oman by ABC News
Oman by E-Conflict (Eradicate Conflict)
Country Information for Oman from the SESRTCIC Info Base (Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries = SESRTCIC)
Oman information by Access to Arabia (includes many useful names and addresses, but is not always up-to-date)

3 b. Shorter Factsheets on Oman

There are many factsheets on Oman available in the WWW, however not always accurate. Most of them derive from the same source and are based on the CIA factbook which is also available from dozens of different sites.

Oman World Factbook 1995, mirrored at Tübingen University
NATO factsheet on Oman
Oman factsheet (by an Arab-Israeli peace group)
Oman factsheet (by Dutch source)
http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/oman.htm by Atlapedia (Latimer Clarke Corp. Pty Ltd)
http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~marneu/noframe/laeoma.htm
Oman Page of the MidEast Directory (very little information plus two dead links)
Oman factsheet, by Gold Stag Communications
Het sultanaat Oman, a Dutch factsheet on Oman, also at http://www.vum.be/dsifoman1b.html
Oman factsheet by RHDC International, Inc.

4. Official Documents on Oman (Laws, agreements, speeches, etc.)

Basic Law of Oman (Royal Decree No. 101/96, unofficial translation, 31 K)
List of teaties between Oman and Australia
U.S. Secretary of State speeches on Oman
Agreement between the United Kingdom and Oman for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (1996, no text)

5. Miscellaneous general sites and articles on Oman

Oman National Day 1996 Photo Reportage by Ammar Abd Rabbo
Nigel D. Purchon's impressions of a trip to Nizwa with 5 photographs, more photos here.
Paul's travel page: Oman in general by Paul G. Janssen, including Wahiba Sands and Rustaq.
Washington Post Info Page on Oman with access to Washington Post stories and Associated Press news on Oman
Cool site from Oman (by Ahmed bin Suhail al-Haabsi)
Oman Photo Gallery (by Saeed al-Mawali, Iowa State University)
Guide to Oman (Welcome to Oman) by Sayyid Juland bin Jaifer Al Said
Sultanate of Oman by Sebastian Good
India's relations with Oman
Journey to Oman and Yemen: land of frankincense and myrrh by Jerry Farlow
The Sultanate of Oman by ThePeace@hotmail.com
Oman country profile: demography / population growth
Oman information page (I) (in Japanese)
Oman information page (II) (in Japanese)
Oman page (by students Kevin Pizer and Raf Szytuzla)
Voyage au pays de Sinbad by Thierry Raffin
Omani Arab: Joshua Project 2000 (Evangelization project)
Nance Profile: Oman (Evangelization project)
Prayer profile: The Omani Arab of Oman (Evangelization project)

6. Directories of addresses (etc.) in Oman

See also special pages such as Tourism (hotels, travel agents), Companies (businesses, banks, etc.), Business promotion (commercial directories, etc.), Omani government websites and Personal homepages (directory of Omani URLs and e-mail addresses).

Banks in Oman by awo.net (Arab World Online LLC)
Embassies and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (by ArabBiz)
Ministries & other government bodies in Oman by awo.net (Arab World Online LLC)
Omani Diplomatic and Consular Missions abroad by the Ministry of Information
Embassies of Oman by Embassies Worldwide (Erik de Jong)
Fax Directory of Oman by World Telecom
Oman Yellow Pages (to start in June 1998)

7. Newspapers and News Services

Oman News Agency (ONA) with news in Arabic (and in the future also in English)
al-Watan - the first Omani newspaper on the Web!
'Uman (in Arabic) - the other daily Arabic Oman newspaper
Oman Daily Observer - Oman's first English newspaper on the Web
Times of Oman - Oman's longest established English newspaper
Oman news from AFP Worldwide Newswatch
Washington Post gives access to Washington Post stories and AP news on Oman

8. Information services (other than non-profit)

PRS Political Risk Services Group Inc. sell information on almost any country. An order form for Oman data can be found at http://www.countrydata.com/polsmom.html.

9. Sites providing further Oman links

For more lists of Oman-related links, check our page Lists of Oman-oriented links. However, you will not find anything new by following these links: all of them have been checked and have been incorportated into our Oman Studies Centre's website.

revised 22 November 1998