Oman

Oman 100 Baisa 1995
Front: H. M. Sultan Qaboos bin Said and a falaj
Back: Wildlife, including an oryx.

Qaboos bin Said Al Said born 18 November 1940 in Salalah is the Sultan of Oman. He rose to power after overthrowing his father, Sa‘id ibn Taymur, in a palace coup in 1970. He is the 14th descendant of the Al Bu Sa‘idi dynasty. He received his primary and secondary education in Salalah and at Pune, India and attended a private educational establishment in England from the age of sixteen. At 20 he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After graduating from Sandhurst, he joined a British Infantry regiment, The Cameronians, and served in the 1st Battalion in Germany for one year. He also held a staff appointment with the British Army.


In 1976 Qaboos ibn Sa‘id married his cousin, Kamila, née Sayyidah Nawwal bint Tariq (born 1951), daughter of HH Sayyid Tariq ibn Taymur, soon ended in divorce. He is an avid fan and promoter of classical music.

Oman
According to UNESCO some 3,000 qanat systems, called Aflaj (plural) of Falaj (singular), are still in use in Oman today. Nizwa, the former capital city of Oman, was built around a falaj which is in use to this day. In July 2006, five representative examples of this irrigation system were inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

Information and Image Obtained From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia