Oman's Sohar: The Port That Rivaled Baghdad

Long before Muscat became Oman's commercial heart, Sohar was the greatest port in the Indian Ocean—a city of shipwrights, pearl divers, and merchants trading with China, East Africa, and the Persian Gulf. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Sohar's golden age under the early Abbasid Caliphate, when it was said to be richer than Baghdad itself. They trace its rise as a hub for copper from Magan, frankincense from Dhofar, and slaves from Zanzibar, and its decline after the Buyid invasion and the Portuguese bombardment. Along the way, they meet the legendary sailor Ahmad ibn Majid, the Lion of the Sea, who navigated Vasco da Gama to India, and visit the ruins of Sohar's ancient copper smelters, whose slag heaps still mark the landscape. The episode also touches on the 10th-century geographer al-Muqaddasi, who described Sohar's markets overflowing with pearls and ambergris, and the city's role in the spread of Ibadi Islam. A story of boom, bust, and resilience, Sohar's forgotten empire shaped the Indian Ocean world for centuries. #Sohar #Oman #IndianOceanTrade #AbbasidCaliphate #AhmadibnMajid #VascoDaGama #Magan #Frankincense #PearlDiving #CopperSmelting #IbadiIslam #AlMuqaddasi #Buyid #PortugueseEmpire #MaritimeHistory #NavalHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo