Elphinstone Inlet: Why these Omani waters have a British colonial name

The English then contradicted themselves when they described the strength of these tribes in the mountains, explaining how they were independent and so strong that no one could subdue them.

As a novelist, I am more interested in looking into the names that the colonialists gave to the lands they once ruled. Notably, those names were not related to the emperor or his family, so it is essential to know them.

Who are these people? What did they do to deserve to name a place after them? They must have been impressive to have a place named after them.

The name Elphinstone was not only given to the inlet at the gate of the Strait of Hormuz. In India, a college, a street, and a suburb were also named after him —and a town in Australia. A sculpture of Elphinstone can be found in a London cathedral.

After these findings, my question evolved from who this man was to what he did. 

British governor of Mumbai

A Scotsman, Mountstuart Elphinstone, was a British governor in Bombay (Mumbai) in the 19th century.

He was not a mere military leader like his predecessors, he was also an intellectual and writer who did much to promote popular education and the local administration of laws at a time when opinion in Britain was against the education of the "natives." 

He, therefore, was acknowledged as the founder of the public education system in India. In addition, he gave the lands of the Indians seized by the British back to their original Indian owners and built a modern bungalow in Malabar that is still there to present day, which made him a cherished figure.

Elphinstone is among the names that England has glorified, not only because he served the colonial period as a representative for the Crown but because of his independent views that helped prolong his country's presence in the lands of mines and resources. 

On the one hand, he supported his country's long colonial rule in India, benefiting from its resources; on the other, he established educational institutions for the Indians and wrote quite a few books on India and Afghanistan which highlighted the culture of these countries and educated the world about them.

While he spread knowledge to the world about these countries, the books, obviously written in English, and the educational institutions he established, ultimately benefited England. 

The name of Elphinstone survived for years, unlike those who preceded or succeeded him. Even after his death, his memory did not fade away, and a sea gate on the Arabian Gulf was named after him. 

With its gray mountains, geological properties, and lines resembling a piece of art, this great region was once where Portuguese ships got lost. However, the British geographical survey of 1820 produced results and helped the British take over and control the area. 

Telegraph island

They chose Maklab Island, known today as Telegraph, to install a station to enhance the speed of telegraphic messages. It became part of the supply of the telegraph cable from London to Karachi and a retransmission station of the telegraph between 1864 and 1868 built by the British Indo-European Telegraph department. 

Telegraph replaced the British first choice in the far north-east of the Gulf after negotiations with the Persian government to run the cable between Bahrain and Musandam and Gwadar collapsed.

This region remains a rare gem, with its tribes that enjoy their independent character.  

As stated by the British Archive, the mountain summits are challenging for visitors to reach, but the local people traverse these rugged roads with ease, up and down, as they are the owners of the mountains for centuries.

I have always been fascinated by the names of places and how educated Britons still accept that colleges, villages, and other sites to hold such names, knowing that they are of military leaders who forced their presence on other peoples and their culture. 

Today, such places are being named after creative musicians, authors, and artists. 

They must have lost their admiration for what Elphinstone did, and rejected the history of their colonial past, the futility of documentation, and names.