The flat gravel plateau of central Oman, the Jiddat al-Harasis, with the escarpments of the Huqf and the salt flats of Umm al-Samim, between the Dhofar Najd and the inner Omani oases.
It is herders' country with a few wells. The Harasis, who speak a language close to Mahri, live here in later times; their presence in 1200 is not recorded.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known: camel herders whose names in 1200 are not recorded
- Title
- No ruler
- Since
- Not known
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- Wells and seasonal grazing
Allies and rivals
Not recorded.
How things stand that morning
Herders' range; no ruler.
Threats
- Drought
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Geography and later ethnography only.
On the map: The northern edge is the Persia map's frame; the line against the sands is arbitrary.
Primary sources for The Bedouin
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.