Timeline of Muscat, Oman

Prior to 20th century

550 BCE - Achaemenids in power (approximate date).

4th century CE - Yemeni Arabs in power.

633 CE - Regional Islamization.

1507 - City taken by Portuguese forces under command of Afonso de Albuquerque.

1522 - Uprising against Portuguese rule.

1546 - City attacked by Ottoman forces.

1552 - Capture of Muscat (1552) by Ottoman forces.

1581 - City sacked by Ottmans.

1586-1588 - Fort São João and Fort Capitan built.

1624 - Construction begins of "earthen land wall" around city.

1640 - City attacked by forces of Nasir bin Murshid.

1648 - City occupied by Persians.

1650 - City taken by forces of Sultan bin Saif; Portuguese ousted.

1670 - Dutch East India Company factory established.

1738 - Muscat occupied by forces of Muhammad Taqi Khan of Fars.

1740s - Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi in power.

1780s - Al Bu Sa'id capital relocated to Muscat by Hamad bin Said.

1798 - British East India Company active (approximate date).

1806 - Said bin Sultan in power.

1820 - Muscat becomes capital of the newly formed Sultanate of Muscat and Oman.

1832 - Capital of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman relocated from Muscat to colonial Zanzibar by Said bin Sultan.

1845 - Bait al-Falaj Fort built.

1856 - Thuwaini bin Said becomes sultan.

1890 - "Cyclonic storm;" flooding.

1893 - Hospital established.

1894 - French consulate established.

1895 - City besieged.

20th century

1928 - Al-Sa'idiyah School established.

1929 - Vehicular road into city built "by the hacking out of a one-lane track through the mountains."

1932 - Said bin Taimur becomes sultan.

1939 - Municipal council established.

1943 - Bombing of ship in harbor by Japanese forces.

1948 - British Bank of the Middle East branch in business.

1949 - Municipal Law for the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman issued.

1951 - Indian consulate established.

1952 - Population: 4,200 in town (approximate estimate).

1962 - Muttrah-Muscat road paved.

1963 - Slavery abolished.

1967 - Petroleum Development Oman headquartered in Muscat.

1968 - Electric power plant commissioned in Riyam.

1970 - Qaboos bin Said al Said in power.

1972

June: Muttrah and Muscat merge to form the Muscat Municipality.

Al Alam Palace built.

1973

Seeb Airport opens.

British School – Muscat established.

1974

Port Sultan Qaboos built in Muttrah.

Museum of Omani Heritage opens.

1975

Office of municipality president established.

Times of Oman newspaper begins publication.

1981

Oman Daily Observer newspaper begins publication.

Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and Ministry of Petroleum built.

1984 - Muscat Governorate established.

1985

Gulf Cooperation Council meets in Muscat.

Al-Bustan Palace Hotel in business.

Oman Natural History Museum opens.

1986 - Sultan Qaboos University opens.

1987 - Royal Hospital built.

1988

Muscat Securities Market established.

Alwatan newspaper in publication.

French embassy built.

1990 - Oman Children's Museum established.

1992 - Omani French Museum established.

1993

40,856 in city.

Dam and Oman International Bank built.

Oman Society for Fine Arts established.

1995 - Oman Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre established.

1996 - National Hospitality Institute headquartered in city.

1998 - Bait al Zubair museum opens.

21st century

2001

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque built.

Muscat Gate Museum opens.

Population: 685,676 in governorate.

2003 - Chedi Hotel in business.

2006 - Bait Al Baranda (house museum) opens.[1][2]

2010 - Al-Musannah Sports City opens.

2011

Protest in People's Square (Muscat)

Royal Opera House Muscat opens in Shati Al-Qurm.

2012 - Muscat Expressway built.

2013 - Fish souk rebuilt.