 In the mid-18th century, Ahmed bin Sa'id Al Bu Said, who came from a small village in the interior of Oman, expelled the Persian colonizers from Oman and became the elected Imam of Oman, with Rustaq as its capital.Upon Imam Ahmed's death in 1783, the sovereignty of Oman was divided between the coastal side, which followed a hereditary line of succession ruled by Albusaidi Sultans in Muscat, and the interior of Oman, which retained the elective Imamate and later moved its capital from Rustaq to Nizwa.The British empire was keen to dominate southeast Arabia to stifle the growing dominance of other European powers and to weaken the Omani empire during the 18th century.