At the bottom of the Persian Gulf, controlling the Western approaches to the waterway now so crucial to the wellbeing and existence of the Western world, stands the virtually unknown country of Oman. Once, two hundred years ago, the legendary seafaring empire of Muscat and Oman, it stretched from Mozambique and Zanzibar to Pakistan. Today, it is a vast land span of a thousand miles of sea line with a small population of approximately 1.5 million Omanis and about 100,000 Pakistani and Indian laborers.

Only ten years ago—in 1969 and 70—Oman was one of the most backward countries in the entire world. The old sultan kept his people in medieval times. The gates to Muscat, which lies in an easily encompassable half-moon surrounded by jagged mountains, were closed every night at seven, and anyone caught outside was summarily shot, for why would he be outside if he were not making trouble? Poverty was Oriental in its intensity, and the modern world—whether sun glasses or cigarettes or bicycles or the most minimal of health care and education—was banned, often on pain of death.