KHAWR FAKKAN

also spelled Khor Fakkan, Khawr Al-fakkan, or Fakkan, exclave and port town, Ash-Shariqah emirate, United Arab Emirates. It is on the east coast of the Oman promontory, facing the Gulf of Oman; the port and its hinterland divide the emirate of Al-Fujayrah into its two major portions. Situated on a natural cove (Arabic: khawr), Khawr Fakkan was an important port in medieval times. It defied the conquering forces of Afonso de Albuquerque, viceroy and governor of Portuguese India, who reduced it in 1507. In the following two centuries, it was fought over by the Portuguese, Omanis, and Persians, the Omanis finally prevailing. The sheikh of Ash-Shariqah, then a nominal ally of the sultan of Muscat and Oman, took advantage of the sultan's absence in his African possessions (1832) to seize Khawr Fakkan and most of the surrounding Shumayliyah district. When Al-Fujayrah was recognized in 1952 by Britain (then protector of the Trucial States) as a separate state, most of the district passed to Al-Fujayrah, but the Khawr Fakkan area remained part of Ash-Shariqah. In addition to its frontiers with Al-Fujayrah, it borders a small section of the Ra's al-Khaymah emirate at the west, while in the south there is a section of undetermined sovereignty claimed by the sultanate of Oman. Khawr Fakkan has one of the few natural harbours in the United Arab Emirates, and certainly the best in Ash-Shariqah emirate, but, both because of its isolation and for political reasons, few investments in port improvements have been made there, notably a container port. Modernization has been confined chiefly to Ash-Shariqah town, the capital of the emirate, on the Persian Gulf. Despite this neglect, it was estimated that when the United Arab Emirates attained independence (1971), Khawr Fakkan was the busiest port in Ash-Shariqah emirate. It specialized in the smuggling of gold and luxury goods across the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to Indian and Pakistani ports. It now has a cement factory and pipe works. From 1964 Ash-Shariqah supplemented its then-meagre revenues by issuing many postage stamps labeled Khor Fakkan; virtually all of these were printed for sale to collectors and served no legitimate postal purposes. Stamp issues of individual emirates and their dependencies were superseded by the creation of a central United Arab Emirates post office department in 1972. Pop. (1980) 10,790.