BEFORE OIL21make up less than a fifth of the total population of 2.2 million, which is
dominated by resident foreign workers. The tiny monarchy is the only
major natural gas exporter in the Gulf and surrounding region. Over
the past decade, Qataris have emerged as the wealthiest people on earth,
with per capita GDP reaching $118,000 in 2015 (see figure 1.3).^19 Aver a ge
household income for citizens was almost $300,000 in 2014, more than
triple the $80,000 earned by the average expatriate.^20 The huge size of its
resource base relative to its tiny population allows room for yet more
growth and the preservation of an independent foreign policy. Whether
Qatar can retain its individualism alongside its membership in the GCC
bloc remains in question.
OMANThe Sultanate of Oman is the Arab world’s most remote state, cut off
from the rest of the Middle East by sea and the vast sands of the
Rub‘ al- Khali desert, known as the Empty Quarter. As a result, the capital,
Muscat, has long been one of the most important regional seaports,
bringing Oman more foreign contact than its neighbors. All but a few
miles of Oman’s coast lies not on the Persian Gulf but on the Indian
Ocean, closer to global trade routes. Muscat’s inhabitants and culture
reflect this difference: Swahili and Baluchi languages are mixed with
Arabic. Omani national dress and cuisine is closer to that of Pakistan
than the Gulf. Religiously, as well, Oman is different. Its ruler and three-
quarters of its citizens belong to the enduring Ibadi sect of Islam, which
maintains numerous distinctions from the two main branches of Shi-
ism and Sunnism. Oman is the world’s only majority- Ibadi country.
Oman’s history also diverges from that of its Gulf neighbors. The
sultanate was the linchpin of a commercial empire based on trade in
African slaves. The Omani sultan governed for a time from the slav-
ing outpost of Zanzibar, an Indian Ocean island now part of Tanzania.
At its height Oman even held colonies of its own, controlling territories
on the East African coast^21 as well as parts of what are now Iran and
Pakistan.