Oman's Sur: The Dhow-Building Port That Sailed the World

This episode journeys to Sur, the ancient shipbuilding port on Oman's eastern coast. While earlier episodes explored Omani fleets and naval campaigns, we now focus on the city that built the vessels: Sur. For centuries, Sur's shipwrights constructed the iconic sambuk, baghlah, and ghajah dhows — the backbone of Oman's maritime empire. We meet the master builders, the qalaf (shipwrights), who passed down cedar-planking techniques from father to son, using no nails, only coconut-fiber lashings. We trace Sur's trade networks to Zanzibar, India, and even China, and examine its decline after the introduction of steel ships. The episode also covers the 19th-century Sur-Kutch rivalry, the role of Sur's Baluchi community, and the modern revival of dhow-building in the face of heritage preservation. Specific terms include sambuk, qalaf, Suriya, Ras al-Hadd, and the Omani dhow type ghajah. #Sur #Oman #DhowBuilding #Shipwrights #Sambuk #Baghlah #Ghajah #Qalaf #RasAlHadd #IndianOcean #MaritimeHistory #Zanzibar #Baluchi #Kutch #Heritage #History #FexingoHistory #MENA Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo