Travel with me in Duqm, Oman, where the vast desert meets the sea and witness a shipyard repairing enormous merchant vessels.
Oman’s nautical links and reach allowed for the establishment of a maritime empire across two continents in the 18th and 19th centuries, spanning the Makran Coast from modern day Iran and Pakistan, the south-eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and much of the east coast of Africa. This regional influence also led to interactions with European colonial powers, such as Portugal and the British Empire.