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Arabia

Peninsula between the Gulf and the Red Sea, in southwest Asia; area 2,600,000 sq km/1,000,000 sq mi. The length from north to south is about 2,400 km/1,490 mi and the greatest width about 1,600 km/994 mi. The peninsula contains the world's richest gas reserves and half the world's oil reserves. It comprises the states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

History

Conquered in part by the Romans, the Christian Abyssinians, and the Persians, the Arabian civilization was revived by Muhammad during the 7th century, but in the new empire created by militant Islam, Arabia became a subordinate state, and its cities were eclipsed by Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo. The British established protectorates in the Gulf from the end of the 18th century: Muscat in 1798; the Trucial States and Bahrain in 1820; Aden in 1839; Kuwait in 1899; and Saudia Arabia in 1915. The British finally left the peninsula in 1971.

Nominally part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century to 1919, until the 20th century the interior was unknown to Europeans. Nationalism began actively to emerge at the period of World War I (1914-18), and the oil discoveries from 1953 gave the peninsula significant economic power.

Physical A sandy coastal plain of varying width borders the Red Sea, behind which a mountain chain rises to about 2,000-2,500 m/6,600-8,200 ft. Behind this range is the plateau of the Nejd, averaging 1,000 m/3,300 ft. The interior comprises a vast desert area: part of the Al-Hamad (Syrian) Desert in the far north, An Nafud in northern Saudi Arabia, and Rub' al Khālī in southern Saudi Arabia.

Topography and rainfall Arabia is bounded on two and a half sides by the sea, but on the north and northeast it passes imperceptibly into Syria and Iraq. Nearly half of it, mostly in the interior, is desert. Behind a narrow coastal plain ranges of mountains run along the west and south sides of the country, and the land slopes down from these to the Gulf and the Euphrates in a plain broken by a few hills. No one description applies to the whole land. In the southwest the mountains reach 4,000 m/13,123 ft and cause much rainfall during the summer, though snow never falls; along the south rain falls during the summer on the hills and in places the vegetation is semi-tropical.

In Oman, where the mountains reach 3,000 m/9,842 ft, water is more plentiful and agriculture prospers in parts. In the north, where the hills are not so high, rain seldom falls and water is only to be found under the old drainage channels where rivers once ran. A sudden storm may cause a flash flood. Where water is near the surface oases occur. An exception is the Shammar Hills, the highest point of which is over 1,800 m/5,905 ft. This is high enough to produce precipitation and even snow; and, as the groundwater is near the surface, agriculture is easy. In places sand dunes cover vast areas, but the sand absorbs what moisture there is and in the spring produces grazing for the herds.

Population The people of Arabia mostly share a common Arab ethnicity and a common culture based on the Arabic language and the Muslim religious faith. Much of the population is located in the coastlands (the ancient ‘Arabia Felix’), where there is greater scope for agriculture (often relying on irrigation), as well as for industry and trade which increased very substantially with the discovery and exploitation of the vast oil reserves in the second half of the 20th century. Some of the Arabs in the north and interior (the ancient ‘Arabia Deserta’) retain their traditional nomadic life, each group having its own area for its seasonal movement in search of pasture for herds of domestic animals, including sheep, goats, donkeys and camels. This area may be very extensive, for example from the centre of the peninsula in winter to the north of Syria in summer. Political boundaries do not take into account nomadic wanderings and this way of life is on the decline.

Before Muhammad There were several flourishing pre-Islamic kingdoms in the southwest, trading in frankincense and spices by the 4th century BC and controlling the trade route up the coast of the Red Sea.

Caliph rule and growing independence The flight of Muhammad to Medina in 622 marked the beginning of the Muslim era; within a generation all Arabia was converted to Islam. This provided the main impetus for the Arabs to unite the peninsula and to expand outwards. For two and a half centuries all Arabia was subject to the caliphs, but in 897 a Zaidi sect established a state in Yemen which, with many vicissitudes, lasted until 1962. Hadhramaut has, until recently, been virtually autonomous. Omanis ruled, at one time, both Oman and Zanzibar, but in 1832 the sultan went to Zanzibar and in 1856 the two

territories were divided. In 899 the Karmathians founded a state in Al-Hasa. The Hejaz was practically independent under the sherifs of Mecca unless Egypt interfered.

Turkish rule When the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt the Hejaz submitted to them in 1517; the Turks appointed a Turkish governor beside the sherif and exercised a loose suzerainty over the north of Arabia. In 1546 they obtained a foothold in Yemen but could not destroy the Zaidi state, although in 1871 they captured San'a and established themselves more firmly. From 1792 Turks and Wahabis strove to gain possession of Al-Hasa, opposite Bahrain, until in 1871 the Turks Gained the ascendancy. In 1900 the Turks held the flanks of the peninsula and in addition had a faithful ally in Rashid of Ha'il, in the Jabal Shammar region.

Saud and Rashid families In 1747 Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahab of the family of Saud established authority over Nejd. The Saud family grew so strong and the Turks so helpless that Mehmet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, interfered and sent an army against them. After some reverses his son, Ibrahim, defeated the Wahabis completely, but after his departure their power was restored in 1818, and by 1833 it was as strong as ever. The rest of the century was filled with conflict between the family of Saud in Riyadh and that of Rashid in Hail. In 1891 the Wahabi power was broken and the ruling family driven into exile. In 1902 Ibn Saud recaptured Riyadh, in 1913 he took Al-Hasa from the Turks, and in 1923 he put an end to the dynasty of Rashid.

Claims of the sherif of Mecca There was another

factor in Arab politics. By virtue of descent from Muhammad Hussein, a descendant of the prophet, the sherif of Mecca claimed a high place in the hierarchy of Islam. In 1916 the sherif, with British help, rebelled against the Turks and seized Medina. He made a series of attacks on the pilgrim railway, again with British help, and protected the flank of English field marshal Allenby's advance on Damascus. The sherif proclaimed himself king of the Hejaz in 1916, and caliph in 1924, when the Turks dethroned the last Ottoman sultan.

Ibn Saud and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia This last claim annoyed Ibn Saud, whose policy could not be reconciled with that of the sherif. Britain favoured the sherif and the government of India backed Ibn Saud. In 1919 the Wahabis defeated the sherif's army, and in 1924 they conquered the Hejaz, causing first the sherif and then his son to abdicate. Ibn Saud was now sultan of Nejd and king of the Hejaz, and in 1927 he was hailed as king of Nejd. The combined kingdom became Saudi Arabia in 1932.

The works of author-explorers such as Gertrude Bell, T E Lawrence, H St John Philby, Freya Stark, Charles Doughty, and Wilfred Thesiger have played a significant part in making Arabian landscapes and life more widely known.

Bedouin bin Laden, Osama Buraida Doughty, Charles Montagu Hejaz

Ibn Saud Nejd Saudi Arabia Thomas, Bertram Sydney