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60 free Oman trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fifty questions on the Sultanate of Oman, from the ones every traveller learns on day one to the ones only a Gulf historian would know. Geography covers Muscat, the Musandam exclave on the Strait of Hormuz, the tiny Madha enclave with a UAE enclave inside it, Jebel Shams, the Sharqiya Sands and the monsoon that turns Salalah green every summer. History runs from the Bronze Age copper land the Sumerians called Magan, through the Portuguese fortresses, the Yaruba imams who chased Portugal off the Swahili coast, the empire that moved its capital to Zanzibar, the Jebel Akhdar and Dhofar wars, and the 1970 palace coup that put Sultan Qaboos on the throne for almost fifty years. The rest is the Oman people actually notice: a currency worth more than a US dollar, a flag with a dagger on it, frankincense, halwa, dhow building, the Grand Mosque's carpet and chandelier, and two Gulf Cup titles. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its cities, rulers and landmarks, and the sentence that establishes it is quoted under each explanation. Good for a pub quiz, a geography classroom or a pre-trip warm-up.
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Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Oman?
Muscat
The city sits on the Gulf of Oman close to the Strait of Hormuz, and about half of all Omanis live in and around it and the Batinah coast.
Q 02Oman shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and which other country?
Saudi Arabia
Iran and Pakistan are only maritime neighbours across the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.
Q 03Which Omani exclave sits on the Strait of Hormuz, cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE?
Musandam
The peninsula's fjord-like inlets face Iran across one of the world's busiest oil shipping lanes.
Q 04Inside Oman's Madha exclave lies Nahwa, a small enclave belonging to which UAE emirate?
Sharjah
Nahwa is an enclave within an enclave: about forty houses, a clinic and a telephone exchange, wholly surrounded by Omani land that is itself surrounded by the UAE.
Q 05Oman's ruling dynasty has held power continuously since which year?
1744
Ahmad bin Said Al Busaidi was elected imam that year, ending a civil war and Persian occupation, and his descendants still rule.
Q 06Ancient Sumerian tablets referred to Oman by what name, linked to its copper?
Magan
Dilmun is usually identified with Bahrain and Punt with the Horn of Africa; the Akkadians called Oman Makan.
Q 07Which European power governed coastal Oman for 143 years from 1507?
Portugal
Afonso de Albuquerque took the capital a decade after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape; the twin Al Jalali and Al Mirani forts above Muscat harbour are their legacy.
Q 08Fort Jesus, which fell to Omani forces in 1698 after a two-year siege, guarded which East African port?
Mombasa
The Yaruba imams pursued the Portuguese all the way down the Swahili coast and absorbed their East African possessions.
Q 09In 1837 the Omani ruler Said bin Sultan moved his capital to which island?
Zanzibar
Zanzibar's clove plantations and slave market made it the richest part of the empire; in 1856 Britain arbitrated the split into two separate sultanates.
Q 10Gwadar, an Omani possession for over a century, was sold in 1958 for US$3 million to which country?
Pakistan
The port is now the anchor of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and Baloch families who trace their roots to Gwadar are still part of Omani society.
Q 11The 1920 Treaty of Seeb split Oman between the coastal sultanate and an interior ruled by whom?
An elected Imam
The elective Ibadi imamate had reappeared in cycles for over a thousand years; the treaty was brokered by Britain, which then had no interest in the interior.
Q 12The 1950s war in which British troops helped the Sultan crush the Imamate is named after which Hajar range massif?
Jebel Akhdar
The interior's forces retreated to the 'Green Mountain' plateau, which was finally taken in a surprise operation in January 1959.
Q 13Sultan Said bin Taimur was deposed in a bloodless coup by which relative?
His son
Q 21The Omani rial is subdivided into how many baisa?
1,000
Only a handful of currencies split into a thousand subunits, and the rial is the third most valuable currency unit in the world after the Kuwaiti and Bahraini dinars.
Q 22Since 1986 the Omani rial has been pegged so that one rial buys roughly how many US dollars?
2.60
Before 1970 Oman used the Gulf rupee; the short-lived Saidi rial that replaced it was pegged to the pound sterling.
Q 23What traditional weapon appears on Oman's national flag and forms part of men's formal dress?
A khanjar dagger
The emblem shows the curved dagger over two crossed swords; the flag's white, red and green stripes date from 1970 and were widened in 1995.
Qaboos had been kept under virtual house arrest in Salalah after returning from Sandhurst; the coup had British backing.
Q 14What was the country's official name before Sultan Qaboos shortened it soon after taking power?
Muscat and Oman
Dropping 'Muscat and' was meant to end the divide between the coast and the interior that had defined the country for centuries.
Q 15Slavery in Oman was outlawed as late as which year?
1970
It happened in the first months of Qaboos's reign; Oman joined the United Nations the following year.
Q 16Sultan Qaboos ruled from 1970 until his death in which year?
2020
He was the Arab world's longest-serving ruler when he died and was succeeded by his cousin Haitham bin Tariq.
Q 17Who succeeded Qaboos as Sultan of Oman?
Haitham bin Tariq
Qaboos had no children, so his first cousin took the throne; the two men were also brothers-in-law, since Qaboos had briefly been married to Haitham's half-sister.
Q 18Sultan Qaboos was born in 1940 in which southern Omani city?
Salalah
His father Said bin Taimur lived there from 1932 to 1970 rather than in Muscat, and the 1970 coup took place in the Salalah palace.
Q 19Before taking the throne, Sultan Qaboos graduated from which military academy?
Sandhurst
He was posted to the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Germany for a year, then toured the world before his father recalled him.
Q 20Which branch of Islam do most Omanis follow, one that is rare almost everywhere else?
Ibadi
Ibadism grew out of the early Kharijite movement in Basra and returned to Oman with scholars fleeing the Umayyad governor of Iraq.
Q 24Before Qaboos took power, what did Oman's national flag look like?
Plain red
Qaboos added the white and green bands and the dynasty's badge after the coup; the middle red band was slimmer than the others until 1995.
Q 25Oman's highest peak, Jebel Shams, rises above 3,000 metres. What does its name mean?
Mountain of Sun
Its North Summit is a restricted military base, so trekkers use the slightly lower South Summit; the 'Green Mountain' is neighbouring Jebel Akhdar.
Q 26Oman's Dhofar coast turns green each summer thanks to a monsoon season known locally as what?
Khareef
The word literally means 'autumn' in Arabic, but around Salalah it means the June-to-September fog and drizzle that draw hundreds of thousands of Gulf tourists.
Q 27Which aromatic resin, harvested in Dhofar, gives its name to an Omani UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Frankincense
The Land of Frankincense listing covers the trees, the ancient port of Khor Rori and a caravan oasis on the incense route; Somalia actually has the larger forests.
Q 28Which Omani fortress, added in 1987, was the country's first UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Bahla Fort
The mud-brick fort at the foot of Jebel Akhdar sat on the World Heritage in Danger list until 2004; the Nabhani kings once ruled from Bahla.
Q 29Which Omani site became the first ever to be deleted from UNESCO's World Heritage List, in 2007?
Arabian Oryx Sanctuary
The government cut the reserve's area by 90 percent to make room for oil prospecting, and UNESCO removed it outright.
Q 30Nizwa's traditional aflaj irrigation channels, listed by UNESCO in 2006, are known by what name?
Falaj Daris
Nizwa was Oman's capital in the 6th and 7th centuries and its round-towered fort, built in 1668, is the country's most visited monument.