There have been discoveries of Palaeolithic stone tools in caves in southern and central Oman, and in the United Arab Emirates close to the Straits of Hormuz at the outlet of the Persian Gulf. These stone tools, some up to 125,000 years old, resemble those made by humans in Africa around the same period. This is the southern route ‘out of Africa’.

During early history Oman was known as the Land of Frankincense. Sumerians traded with Oman, and the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, controlled and/or influenced the Omani peninsula. This influential control was most likely exerted from a coastal center such as Sohar. The Frankincense Trailis a site in Oman on the Incense Road. The site includes frankincense trees, Khor Rori and the remains of a caravan oasis. The Frankincense Trail has been declared aUNESCO World Heritage Site.

From the 3rd century B.C. to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century A.D, Oman was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties, the Parthians (Whites) and the Sassanids.

Oman adopted Islam in the 7th century, during the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad. Ibadism became the dominant religious sect in Oman by the 8th century; Ibadhism is known for its "moderate conservatism

"Ruins at Khor Rori"

Between 967 and 1053, Oman was part of the domain of the Iranian Buyyids: The Buyyids were Persian people, inhabiting the mountainous regions of northern Persia on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Between 1053 and 1154, Oman was part of the Great Seljuk Turk Empire.

In 1154, the indigenous Nabhani dynasty took control of Oman, and the Nabhani kings ruled Oman until 1470, with an interruption of 37 years between 1406 and 1443.

The capital Muscat was taken by the Portuguese on 1 April 1515, and was held until 26 January 1650, although the Ottomans controlled Muscat between 1550–1551 and 1581–1588. In about the year 1600, Nabhani rule was temporarily restored to Oman, although that lasted only to 1624, when fifth imamate, which is also known as the Yarubid Imamate. The Yarubid recaptured Muscat from the Portuguese in 1650 after a colonial presence on the northeastern coast of Oman dating to 1508.

The Yarubid dynasty expanded, acquiring former Portuguese colonies in East Africa - including Zanzibar.

The Iranians had occupied the coast before—indeed the coast was often the possession of various empires. These empires brought order to the religious and ethnic diversity of the population of this cosmopolitan region. Yet the intervention on behalf of an unpopular dynasty brought about a revolt. The leader of the revolt, Ahmad ibn Said al Said, was elected sultan of Muscat upon the expulsion of the Iranians. During the period of Al Said dynasty of sultan Said ibn sultan Al Said rule (1806-1856), Oman cultivated in its East African colocnie.

Oman held territories on the island of Zanzibar on the Swahili Coast, the area along the coast of the African Great Lakes region known as Zanj includingMombasa and Dar es Salaam, and (until 1958) in Gwadar (in present-day Pakistan) on the coast of the Arabian Sea.

The freedom from the Portuguese was however shortlived as the Omanis annexed Zanzibar and many coastal towns to their empire that was ruled from Muscat. In the 18th century, Zanzibar and Pemba were subject to the sultans of Muscat and Oman. In 1832 the Omani sultan Sayyid Said (1787-1856) established his residence on Zanzibar, where he promoted the production of cloves and palm oil and carried on an active slave trade with the interior. Although Sayyid Said had full control of Zanzibar Island as early as 1822, Pemba was to a great extent ruled by the Mazruis of Mombasa.

British and German Era and Oman Empire in East Africa The 18th century was an era where Germans and British were looking for colonies throughout the world and East Africa was not an exception. Upon his death, Sayyid Said had controlled a large empire but his successors did not have a legal claim to the lands they controlled commercially, and did not have the power to keep the Germans and British from annexing them when the www.academia.edu The partition of Africa following the Berlin Confrence of 1884 offered the Sultan a claim to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba and a coastal strip of 10 miles on the mainland of East Africa.

The British and Germans came into agreement with the Sultan to sell his posses sion on the mainland and by the end of 19th century very little remained in his control. The Germans, who were first in colonizing Tanzania agreed with the British to exchange Zanzibar with Heligoland and though the Sultan was still ruling, it was a de facto British colony. Zanzibar of that time included the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Latham and surrounding islets and theoretically it included the coastal strip of Kenya. Mombasa and the coastal strip of Kenya was handed to the new independent government of Kenya as late as 1963. The Zanzibar Revolution saw the 1964 overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar.