Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said (79) passed away after more than four decades as the country's ruler, though a murky succession process means that the identity of the next sultan may not be known for days.
The late sultan was born on November 18, 1940, in Salalah, the capital of Oman's southern province of Dhofar.
Qaboos is a direct descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which created the sultanate in the 1600s after expelling the Portuguese from Muscat, now Oman's capital.
Sultan Qaboos was educated in India and at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
After completing his military training with the British army in Germany, he studied local government and embarked on a global cultural tour. He returned to Oman in 1964, and spent most of his time thereafter studying Islamic law and Omani history.
When Sultan Qaboos seized power from his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, Oman was an isolated and impoverished state.
Over the course of Sultan Qaboos's five-decade rule, he was credited with using Oman's oil wealth to transform the sparsely populated Gulf nation into a rich country with a vibrant tourism industry and high standards of living.
"Sultan Qaboos will first and foremost be remembered for initiating the 'Omani Renaissance', undertaking social, economic, educational, and cultural reforms as well as opening Oman up to the world," Jeffrey Lefebvre, associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, told.
