1.
Oman
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Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast, the Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandams coastal boundaries. From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was an empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, as its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat was the trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean, the Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said has been the hereditary leader of the country since 1970. Sultan Qaboos is the current ruler in the Middle East. Oman has modest oil reserves, ranking 25th globally, nevertheless, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A significant portion of its economy is tourism and trade of fish, dates and this sets it apart from its neighbors solely oil-dependent economies. Oman is categorized as an economy and ranks as the 74th most peaceful country in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old and this supports the proposition that early human populations moved from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene. Dereaze, located in the city of Ibri, is the oldest known settlement in the area. Archaeological remains have been discovered here from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, findings have included stone implements, animal bones, shells and fire hearths, with the latter dating back to 7615 BC as the oldest signs of human settlement in the area. Other discoveries include hand-molded pottery bearing distinguishing pre-Bronze Age marks, heavy flint implements, pointed tools, sumerian tablets refer to a country called Magan or Makan, a name believed to refer to Omans ancient copper mines. Mazoon, another used for the region, is derived from the word muzn. The present-day name of the country, Oman, is believed to originate from the Arab tribes who migrated to its territory from the Uman region of Yemen. Many such tribes settled in Oman, making a living by fishing, herding or stock breeding, from the 6th century BC to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, Oman was controlled and/or influenced by three Persian dynasties, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids. A few scholars believe that in the 6th century BC, the Achaemenids exerted a strong degree of control over the Omani peninsula, Central Oman has its own indigenous so-called Late Iron Age cultural assemblage, the Samad al-Shan
2.
Central bank
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A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries, Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists, prior to the 17th century most money was commodity money, typically gold or silver. However, promises to pay were widely circulated and accepted as value at least five hundred years earlier in both Europe and Asia. The Song dynasty was the first to issue generally circulating paper currency, in 1455, in an effort to control inflation, the succeeding Ming Dynasty ended the use of paper money and closed much of Chinese trade. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in the Dutch Republic in 1609, is considered to be the forerunner to modern central banks. The Wisselbanks innovations helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of the banking system that now plays a vital role in the worlds economy. Along with a number of local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system. Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder, and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works, the model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden and the Bank of England. Established by Dutch-Latvian Johan Palmstruch in 1668, Sveriges Riksbank is often considered by many as the worlds oldest central bank, the lenders would give the government cash and also issue notes against the government bonds, which could be lent again. A Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes. The £1. 2M was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the Navy and these modern central banking functions evolved slowly through the 18th and 19th centuries. The currency crisis of 1797, caused by panicked depositors withdrawing from the Bank led to the government suspending convertibility of notes into specie payment. The bank was accused by the bullionists of causing the exchange rate to fall from over issuing banknotes. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Bank was being treated as an organ of the state, henry Thornton, a merchant banker and monetary theorist has been described as the father of the modern central bank. An opponent of the real bills doctrine, he was a defender of the bullionist position, thorntons process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form. Until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act of 1844. Under this law, authorisation to issue new banknotes was restricted to the Bank of England, at the same time, the Bank of England was restricted to issue new banknotes only if they were 100% backed by gold or up to £14 million in government debt
3.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
4.
Indian rupee
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The Indian rupee, is the official currency of the Republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise, though as of 2011,25 paise is no more a legal tender, the issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934. The rupee is named after the coin, rupiya, first issued by Sultan Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. In 2010, a new symbol ₹, was officially adopted and it was derived from the combination of the Devanagari consonant र and the Latin capital letter R without its vertical bar. The parallel lines at the top are said to make an allusion to the tricolour Indian flag, the first series of coins with the new rupee symbol started in circulation on 8 July 2011. On 8 November 2016 the Government of India announced the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes with effect from midnight of the same day, a newly redesigned series of ₹500 banknote, in addition to a new denomination of ₹2000 banknote is in circulation since 10 November 2016. The new redesigned series is expected to be enlarged with banknotes in the denominations of ₹1000, ₹100. The word rupee was derived from the Sanskrit word रूप्यकम् or rupaya, the modern Indian rupee has a direct lineage from the rupiya, the silver coin, issued by Sher Shah Suri, continued by the Mughal rulers. Rūpa means to form or shape, example, Rūpyarūpa, rūpya — wrought silver, however, in the region of Bengal, the term taka has always been used to refer to currency. In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta noticed that people in the Bengal Sultanate referred to gold, today, the currency of Bangladesh is officially known as taka. The word taka in Bengali is also used generically to mean any money, currency. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking in Bengali may use taka to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in, thus, in the states of West Bengal and Tripura the Indian rupee is officially known টাকা. Whereas, in the states of Assam and Odisha, the Indian rupee is known by names derived from the Sanskrit word ṭaṅka, টকা in Assamese. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, Sultan Sher Shah Suri issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, the silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include, the Bank of Hindustan, the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar, historically, the rupee was a silver coin. This had severe consequences in the century when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of large quantities of silver in the United States and several European colonies resulted in a decline in the value of relative to gold
5.
Indian anna
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An anna was a currency unit formerly used in India and Pakistan, equal to 1/16 rupee. It was subdivided into 4 paisa or 12 pies, the term belonged to the Muslim monetary system. The ānā was demonetised as a unit when India decimalised its currency in 1957. It was replaced by the 5-paise coin, which was discontinued in 1994. Even today, though, a 50 paise coin is colloquially referred to as 8 ānās. There was a coin of one ānā, and also half-ānās of copper, the term ānā is frequently used to express a fraction of 1/16. Additionally, ānā denominated postage stamps used during the British Indian period, Indian coinage British Indian coins History of the rupee
6.
Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties
7.
Muttrah
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Muttrah, administratively a district, is located in the Muscat province of Oman. Before the discovery of oil, Muttrah was the center of commerce in Oman and it is still a center of commerce as one of the largest sea ports of the region is located there. Other landmarks include Souq Muttrah, a bazaar and Sour Al-Lawatiah. To the south lies Muscat District, Muttrah had an estimated population of about 8,000 people when diplomat Edmund Roberts visited in the early 1830s. The district population was 200,578 estimated for 2014, up from 234,225,124 of the 2016 Census count, in the mid 19th century, Muttrah had a vessel repair industry. Al Dhalam Souq is the name for the Muttrah Souq. The Muttrah Souq is perhaps one of the oldest marketplaces in the Arab world and it is located adjacent to the harbour of Muscat harbor and has seen immense trade in the age of sail, being strategically located on the way to India and China. It has been named after darkness because of the stalls and lanes where the sunrays do not infiltrate during the day. The market was a source of supply for Omanis where they can buy their needs in the 1960s when life requirements were simpler than today, most of the goods were imported, in addition to local products like textiles, fruit, vegetables and dates. The market becomes more crowded and active during Eid seasons when Omanis come from all over the country to buy garments, the main thoroughfare of the souk carries mainly household goods, shoes and ready-made garments. Further inside, you can enjoy the mixed smells of frankincense, perfume oils, fresh jasmine, shoppers can even get their hands on old Arabian muskets at these souqs. Other things sold at the souq include Omani pots, paintings, hookah pipes, framed khanjars, leatherwork, commonly called the Muscat Port, Port Sultan Qaboos is one of the main commercial ports in Oman. It is Omans premier maritime gateway, enjoying a prime location in the politically stable sultanate, situated in a natural harbour 250 km south of the Strait of Hormuz on the Indian Ocean coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Port Sultan Qaboos location makes it a hub, not only for the Persian Gulf but also the Indian sub-continent and markets in East. The location of Port Sultan Qaboos offers considerable savings in steaming time when compared to other ports, the ports tariff compares very favorably with others across the region. The already impressive infrastructure, skilled manpower, fast and efficient handling operations, the rulers son Sayyid Said continued to expand maritime commerce although it again went into decline after his death in 1856. Maritime activity was limited to the import of items, mainly from India by old-style wooden dhows. Ships had to anchor offshore and sometimes wait for days before cargo could be unloaded manually into small boats
8.
Royal Opera House Muscat
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The Royal Opera House Muscat is Omans premier venue for musical arts and culture. The opera house is located in Shati Al-Qurm district of Muscat, built on the royal orders of Sultan Qaboos of Oman, the Royal Opera House reflects contemporary Omani architecture, and has a capacity to accommodate maximum of 1,100 people. The ruler of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said has been always a fan of classical music, in 2001, the sultan ordered the building of an opera house. Initially called House of Musical Arts, the name Royal Opera House Muscat was finally chosen and this opera house, which was built by Carillion Alawi, became the first in the world equipped with Radio Marconis multimedia interactive display seatback system, Mode23. It was officially opened on October 12,2011, with a production of the opera Turandot, the opera house had an impressive first season, with performances by Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, and soprano Renée Fleming. There have been some Arab artists performing at the house as well such as Majida El Roumi as well as a tribute in honour of legendary Arab singer Um Kalthoum. In March 2013, Indian violin icon Dr L. Subramanyam performed at the opera house, Royal Opera House Muscat - Official website
9.
Kuwaiti dinar
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The Kuwaiti dinar is the currency of Kuwait. It is sub-divided into 1,000 fils, the Kuwaiti dinar is the worlds highest-valued currency unit. The dinar was introduced in 1960 to replace the Gulf rupee and it was initially equivalent to one pound sterling. As the rupee was fixed at 1 shilling 6 pence, that resulted in a rate of 13 1⁄3 rupees to the dinar. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Iraqi dinar replaced the Kuwaiti dinar as the currency, after liberation, the Kuwaiti dinar was restored as the countrys currency and a new banknote series was introduced, allowing the previous notes, including those stolen, to be demonetized. The following coins were first introduced in 1961,1 fils 2 fils 5 fils 10 fils 20 fils 50 fils 100 fils Six series of the Kuwaiti dinar banknote have been printed. The first series was issued following the pronouncement of the Kuwaiti Currency Law in 1960 and this series was in circulation from 1 April 1961 to 1 February 1982 and consisted of denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,5 and 10 and 20 dinars. This second series was withdrawn on 1 February 1982, the third series was issued on 20 February 1980, after the accession to the throne of late Emir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, in denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,5 and 10 dinars. A20 dinars banknote was introduced later on 9 February 1986, as a result of the state of emergency after the Invasion of Kuwait, this series was ruled invalid with effect from 30 September 1991. Significant quantities of these notes were stolen by Iraqi forces and some had appeared on the numismatic market. This fourth series was legal tender until 16 February 1995, denominations were 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,5,10 and 20 dinar. The fifth series of Kuwaiti banknotes were in use from 3 April 1994, denominations were as in the fourth series. Central Bank of Kuwait brought the series of Kuwaiti banknotes into circulation on 29 June 2014. Some of the bills are coarse so that the blind can identify them by touch. In both 1993 and 2001, the Central Bank of Kuwait issued commemorative 1-dinar polymer banknotes to celebrate its Liberation from Iraq, the first commemorative note, dated 26 February 1993, was issued to celebrate the second anniversary of the Liberation. The front features the map of the State of Kuwait, the emblem of Kuwait and on the left and right side of the note is the list of nations that assisted in its Liberation, in both English and Arabic. The second commemorative note, dated 26 February 2001, was issued to celebrate the anniversary of the Liberation. One feature from the note is an optically variable device patch that shows a fingerprint, even though they were denominated as 1 dinar, both of the commemorative notes state that they were not legal tender. 100 From 18 March 1975 to 4 January 2003, the dinar was pegged to a currency basket
10.
Bahraini dinar
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The dinar is the currency of Bahrain. It is divided into 1000 fils, the name dinar derives from the Roman denarius. The dinar was introduced in 1965, replacing the Gulf rupee at a rate of 10 rupees =1 dinar, the Bahraini dinar is abbreviated. د. ب or BD. It is usually represented with three decimal places denoting the fils, in 1965, coins were introduced in denominations of 1,5,10,25,50 and 100 fils. The 1,5 and 10 fils were struck in bronze, the 1 fils coin was not produced after 1966 and no longer circulates. In 1992, brass replaced bronze in the 5 and 10 fils, a bimetallic 500 fils followed in 2000. The Central Bank of Bahrain discontinued the Bimetallic 500 fils after the revolution of Bahrain on 14 Feb 2011, for a wider history surrounding currency in the region, see The History of British Currency in the Middle East. On October 16,1965, the Bahrain Currency Board introduced notes in denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,5 and 10 dinars, a 100-fils note was introduced on September 2,1967. In 1973, the Bahrain Monetary Agency took over the issuance of paper money, on September 7,2006, the Bahrain Monetary Agency was renamed the Central Bank of Bahrain. On March 17,2008, the Central Bank of Bahrain introduced a new family of notes reflecting Bahrains heritage as well as its modern development. Saudi riyals are also acceptable in Bahrain, with the exception of the Saudi 500 riyal note which is accepted in major supermarkets, airports. In December 1980, the dinar was pegged to the IMFs special drawing rights. In practice, it is fixed at $1 USD =0.376 BD and this rate was made official in 2001. Before Maltas adoption of the euro on 1 January 2008, it was the currency unit after the Kuwaiti dinar. After Malta adopted the euro, the became the second highest-valued currency unit
11.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
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