Al Bu Sa'id Dynasty

Ahmad ibn Sa'id, who had been governor of Suhar, Oman, in the 1740s under the Persian Ya'rubids, managed to displace the Ya'rubids by about 1749 and become imam of Oman and of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Kilwa, in East Africa. His successors—known as sayyids, or, later, as sultans—expanded their possessions