Dhofar Governorate

The governorate of Dhofar or Zufar (in Arabic: ظفار Ẓufār) –in Spanish encyclopedias from the late s. XIX and beginning of s. XX the name of the region also appears transcribed as Zafar– it is located in the southwest of Oman and northeast of Yemen. At the end of the century XIX and beginning of the century XX its population was considered by European anthropologists to be somewhat different from the Arabian since it was included in the Mahra ethnic group that came to dominate the sultanate of Qishn and Socotra. Historically it has been the main source of the incense in the world; however, this incense today (2015) is used locally; Somalia is from the second half of s. XX the main exporter. Its historical capital is the port city of Mirbat, although since the 1970s the largest city and administrative capital of the Omani government in the region has also been the port city of Salalah. The Salalah plain was once a cultivated area with a sophisticated irrigation system. During World War I it was fertile enough to produce food and grain to supply much of the needs of the British army fighting in Mesopotamia.

It is the only part of southern Arabia directly exposed to the southeast monsoons from mid-August to late September or mid-October; he is known as the kharif. Consequently, the weather is fine during the monsoon season and a little after until the vegetation loses its greenness. The humid climate that it has temporarily contrasts with the nearby deserts of Yemen and the rest of Oman.

The Sultan of Oman Armed Forces (SAF) carried out a counterinsurgency campaign between 1965 and 1975 against the guerrillas of the National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Persian Gulf, which was supported by South Yemen and which became in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman, which was trying to depose the sultan and dominate the Strait of Hormuz, and thus control the flow of oil that went from the Persian Gulf to the West. The Sultan's forces, aided by the United Kingdom, Iran, Jordan and India, prevailed and emerged victorious in the campaign, which ended in December 1975 with the surrender of the front forces.

Dhofar Governorate consists of ten vilayats: Salalah, Taqa, Mirbat, Thumrait, Sadah, Rakhyut, Dhalkut, Muqshin, Shlaim and the Hallaniyat Islands.