The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (Arabic: سلطنة مسقط وعمان, romanized: Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān), also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman (Arabic: دولة مسقط وعمان, romanized: Dawlat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān) during the rule of Taimur bin Feisal, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day Sultanate of Oman and parts of present-day United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, in the second half of the 19th century and 20th century.

Ruled by the Busaid dynasty, it was established as a result of the partition of the Omani Empire upon the death of its last ruler Said bin Sultan.

[citation needed] Though the inland territories were under nominal control of the Sultans of Muscat, they were in practice run by tribal leaders and the Imams of Oman, practitioners of the Ibadi sect of Islam.

[citation needed] The Sultanate of Muscat possessed a powerful naval force, which enabled the creation of a maritime empire dating from the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1650 through the 19th century, at times encompassing modern Oman, the United Arab Emirates, southern Balochistan, and Zanzibar and the adjacent coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.

[citation needed] In the early 1820s, the Sultanate lost most of its territories in the Persian Gulf, which became the Trucial States under British protection.

This historical split continued throughout much of the twentieth century with Sultan Taimur bin Feisal granting limited autonomy to the Imamate of Oman under the Ibadi clergy through the Treaty of Seeb in 1920.

[10] The British government, Iraq Petroleum Company and the Sultan were keen to search for oil and made early plans (1946) to establish an army that could occupy the Imamate of Oman.

The hostilities were put down in 1955, but the longer conflict would evolve into the Jebel Akhdar rebellion, where Sultan Said bin Taimur relied heavily on continued British military support.

The insurgency erupted again in 1957, when Saudi Arabia began supporting the Omani rebels, but eventually the Sultan was able to establish pre-eminence over most of the inland.

[8] The frequency of uprisings such as the Dhofar Rebellion, supported by the communist government of South Yemen,[8] motivated the British to supplant the Sultan.

On his release, Qaboos bin Said, with the help of British military forces, staged a successful palace coup and was proclaimed Sultan of Muscat and Oman in 1970.