Kuria Muria
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The Khuriya Muriya Islands (also ''Kuria Muria'', ''Kooria Mooria'', ''Curia Muria'') ( ar, جزر خوريا موريا;
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
: ''Juzur Khurīyā Murīyā'' or ''Khūryān Mūryān)'' are a group of five islands in the
Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
, off the southeastern coast of
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
. The islands form part of the
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Shalim and the Hallaniyat Islands in the governorate of
Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah G ...
.


History

In antiquity the islands were called the ''Zenobii'' or ''Zenobiou Islands'' ( el, Ζηνοβίου νησία; '' la, Zenobii Insulae'') or ''Doliche'' ( el, Δολίχη). The islands were mentioned by several early writers including
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
(vi. 7. § 47) who numbered them as seven small islands lying in Khuriya Muriya Bay ( el, Σαχαλίτης κόλπος; la, Sinus Sachalites), towards the entrance of the "Persian Gulf" (most likely the modern Gulf of Aden). In 1854 the sultan of
Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was ...
(later
Muscat and Oman The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman ( ar, سلطنة مسقط وعمان, Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān), also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman () during the rule of Taimur bin Feisal, was a sovereign state that encompassed the prese ...
, now Oman) presented the islands to Queen Victoria as a gift and responsibility for the islands was granted to the Bombay government in British India. There was some concern at the time that the deed of cession was null since the sultan had no rights over the archipelago. The Red Sea and India Telegraph Company, formed in 1858, intended to use one of the islands as a base for a telegraph connection between Aden and Karachi but the project was abandoned in 1861 after sections of the cable failed. A group of Liverpool entrepreneurs were granted monopoly rights to harvest the abundant guano deposits, but after having met resistance from the local inhabitants who considered that resource theirs, and questions in the British parliament about the advisability of granting monopoly rights to anyone, the mining was abandoned after some 200,000 tons had been extracted between 1855 and 1860. During that period, the archipelago presented a busy scene, with up to 52 ships present on one occasion. When Colonel Miles visited the archipelago in 1883, less than 40 inhabitants lived on Al-Hallaniyah, the main island. The islanders lived in huts of unmortared stone with mat roofs, and at certain seasons they moved to caves. They lived on fish, shellfish and goat's milk, occasionally exchanging dried fish for dates and rice from passing ships. They fished entirely with hooks since they had neither boat nor nets. In 1886, the islands were attached administratively to Aden. Due to their remoteness, the lack of anchorages and the fact that the inhabitants continued to consider themselves subjects of the Sultan of Muscat, the islands remained un-administered and, for decades, were only sporadically visited by British officials. While technically part of Aden Colony, the islands, because of their remoteness and inaccessibly, were left to the supervision of the British Resident in the Persian Gulf. As a British possession until 1967, they were administered by the Governor of Aden until 1953, then by the British High Commissioner until 1963, and finally by the British Chief Political Resident of the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
(based in
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
). On 30 November 1967,
Lord Caradon Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon (8 October 1907 – 5 September 1990) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat who was Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and the last governor of British Cyprus. E ...
, the British Ambassador to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, announced that in accordance with the wishes of the local inhabitants, the islands would be returned to
Muscat and Oman The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman ( ar, سلطنة مسقط وعمان, Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān), also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman () during the rule of Taimur bin Feisal, was a sovereign state that encompassed the prese ...
, despite criticism from President
Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi ( ar, قحطان محمد الشعبي; 1920 – 7 July 1981) was the first President of the People's Republic of South Yemen. Al-Shaabi's National Liberation Front (NLF) political organisation wrested control of the co ...
that the islands should be transferred to the
People's Republic of South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...
.The Times, December 1, 1967 The boundary between the two countries was not formally settled until 1992 when it was agreed that the islands were on Oman's side of the line.International boundary agreement between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen,1 October 1992.
/ref>


Important Bird Area

The island group has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
breeding colonies of
red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...
s,
tropical shearwater The tropical shearwater (''Puffinus bailloni'') is a seabird in the family Procellariidae formerly considered conspecific with Audubon's shearwater (''Puffinus lherminieri''). Subspecies There are five listed subspecies of the tropical shearwa ...
s, masked boobies, Socotra cormorants,
sooty gull The sooty gull (''Ichthyaetus hemprichii'') is a species of gull in the family Laridae, also known as the Aden gull or Hemprich's gull. It is found in Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Moza ...
s, and bridled and
greater crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World ...
s. Other significant birds are resident mourning wheatears and visiting
Jouanin's petrel Jouanin's petrel (''Bulweria fallax'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is found throughout the northwestern Indian Ocean. Its natural habitats are open seas and shallow seas. It has been recorded breeding on Socotra ...
s.


Islands


See also

*
Al-Hallaniyah Al Hallaniyah ( ara, الحلانية) is the largest and most populated of the Khuriya Muriya Islands, which belong to Oman. It is located in the center of the group, eight kilometers east of ''Al-Sawda'', the closest island, and the second large ...
*
Masirah Island Masirah Island ( ar, جَزِيْرَة مَصِيْرَة, Jazīrat Maṣīrah), also referred to as Mazeira Island or ''Wilāyat Maṣīrah'' ( ar, وِلَايَة مَصِيْرَة), is an island off the east coast of mainland Oman in the ...


References


Further reading

* * * Mackintosh-Smith, Tim: Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah


External links

*
WorldStatesmen - OmanNautical Information (Sailing Directions)
{{Coord, 17, 30, N, 56, 00, E, type:isle, display=title Islands of Oman Disputed islands Territorial disputes of Yemen Territorial disputes of Oman Oman–Yemen relations Seabird colonies Important Bird Areas of Oman Important Bird Areas of Indian Ocean islands