Oman was an important maritime nation controlling parts of East Africa from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century and trading in slaves. At its peak the Omani Empire included some areas of India and Pakistan, as well as Mombasa and Zanzibar. During the reign of Sultan Said Bin Taimur from 1932, Oman went through a period of isolation from the outside world. After a coup in 1970, the Sultan's son, who became Sultan Qaboos Bin Said , undertook to modernize Oman while retaining as much as possible of its traditional character . The Omani economy depends on its oil and gas revenues .
Oman is a relatively small oil producer in the Gulf but oil is important to the Omani economy.
The country has many small oil fields and some of the pipelines have to pass through the mountain ranges, all of which make the extraction of oil expensive. Oman has recently revived its ancient mining industry. New deposits of gold, copper and silver are being worked. Other resources are asbestos, limestone, marble, gypsum, chromite, iron, lead, manganese and zinc. Alfalfa, wheat, onions, bananas, coconuts, date palms, limes, mangoes and walnuts are grown.