KHURIYA MURIYA

also spelled Kuria Muria, island group of Oman, in the Arabian Sea, situated 25 miles (40 km) off the country's southeastern coast. The five islands, composed largely of granite and representing the peaks of a submarine ridge, total 28 square miles (73 square km) in area. West to east they are Al-Hasikiyah, As-Sawda', Al-Hallaniyah, Qarzawit, and Al-Qibliyah. Al-Hallaniyah, the largest of the islands, is the only one inhabited. All of the islands' inhabitants left in 1818 because of pirate raids; later the islands fell under the control of Arabs on the mainland and then of the sultan of Oman. In 1854 the sultan ceded them to the British, who included them in their colony of Aden in 1937. The islands were retroceded to Oman in 1967. Their few present-day inhabitants are mostly fishermen who use inflated skins for craft as in ancient times. Pop. (1967 est.) 85.