A Study of the Status of Qalhat, the Commercial Gate and Port of the Persian Gulf, on the Coast of Oman in the 16th Century

The harbors of the coasts of Oman always hosted the ships which did business on the way from the Persian Gulf to India and East Africa. The port of Qalhat was one of the most famous and important cities of this region between the fifth and tenth centuries ( AH) due to the greater presence of Iranians and the large volume of financial transactions there. The main focus of this study is to introduce this port and examine its period of economic life and place in the commercial transactions in the Persian Gulf. The required data for this study were collected following a descriptive-analytic method and using library sources. The findings of the study indicate that the port of Qalhat flourished and prospered between the seventh and tenth centuries during the reign of Ormus ( Hormuz) kings and played such a significant role in procuring goods and financial transactions at that time that it has been referred to as the second capital of the Ormus Kingdom. At the outset of the 10th century, upon the landing of the Portuguese on the coasts of Oman and their destruction of this port, its commercial status declined, and it gradually disappeared from the economic scene of Oman and the Persian Gulf.