The busy shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf are not a new world-historic trend. Surrounded by an arid desert, the Gulf is where traders, fishermen, and civilizations have looked not just to survival but also to fortune. Over the past 1,500 years, empires have risen and fallen around the embayment, leaving few areas unaltered in the wake of industrialization and modernization. You may be surprised, then, to find tucked away in a small cove on the northernmost point of the Arabian Peninsula, a village and people that have survived generations. Kumzar and its people have retained their way of life and their incredibly unique language in one of the most inhospitable environments. The Kumzari have survived the vast and forbidding Musandam Governate before the establishment of the nations surrounding it, staking their claim on the land against man and nature.

The Kumzari are a subgroup of the Shihuh tribe, the reclusive inhabitants of the Musandam province, and are believed to have migrated to the region in the 5th century AD. Apart from their impressive resilience to the elements, their most remarkable feature is their language. While its roots are Persian, the Kumzari language borrows from approximately 45 different languages. Such a fact sounds surprising because of their hiddenness, but as we ventured into the village, we discovered how they could have been in contact with so many people.

Anyone who has traveled to Musandam can attest to the unwelcoming environment. There is little to no farmable land; the fjords and inlets contain small beaches that lead immediately to cracked and parched earth. Color us surprised when we found that Kumzar contains one of the few freshwater wells in the region. Apparently, merchants would stop along their shipping routes in Kumzar to replenish their water and would leave behind traces of their language. Such interactions with Portuguese, English, Baloch, and Hindi speakers (among many others) lead to the adoption of words and language conventions from the world over.