Arabian Peninsula

From Hobson's Choice

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A landmass of Asia enclosed by the Syrian Desert (north), the Persian Gulf (east), the Arabian Sea (south), and the Red Sea (west).

It is governed by the following nations:

Iraq (al-'Iraq)
Jordan (al-'Urdun)
Kuwait
Oman ('Uman)
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen (al-Yaman)

And in the Persian Gulf, there is the island nation of Bahrain.

1 Background
2 Notes
3 See Also
4 External Links

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Background

The Arabian Peninsula is an immense landmass dominated by an immense desert and a rugged western corderilla. Islam originated in the latter, in a region known as the Hijaz (Hejaz). In the extreme south, a small mountain range runs along the Arabian sea coast and rises steeply before ending in the Wadi Hadramawt of Yemen. Until quite recently, the population of the Peninsula was concentrated overwhelmingly in the towns of the corderillas mentioned, in Yemen or the Saudi provinces of Asir and Jizan. Ecologically, the peninsula has been more radically altered by the application of mechanical energy than perhaps anywhere else on earth.

Roof in Sa'na, Yemen

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Northern Yemen

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See other images here

While the popular image of the Peninsula is of vast regions of bitterly arid desert, this actually applies to a large region of the east. Parts of the Persian Gulf coast are sandy deserts, and of course the immense Rub al-Khali ("Empty Quarter") in the southeastern part of Saudi Arabia is almost entirely uninhabitable. However, the southeast includes some highlands that are quite moist and heavily cultivated.

Around 1500 BCE, it is widely believed the camel was domesticated, which made communications within the Peninsula practical. Also, around this time commerce between the lands under Egyptian rule and South Arabia became commonplace, leading to a strong Egyptian influence on the culture of South Arabia.

Acheological remains of ancient Arabian poleis in Marib, Timna, Uzal, Shabwa, and Muza show an ancient civilization in the Southwest based on exploitation of metals (copper) and intermittent deluges (wadis).^[1] For some reason, nearly all information about these ancient states comes from references in Mediterranean writers, e.g., Stabo, Pliny.

Around the 2nd century CE, the Peninsula entered a dark age; commerce along the corderilla gradually declined.

Shortly before the advent of Islam, the economy and political fortunes of the region revived. The area became a three-way struggle for hegemony between the Sassanids, the Azumites, and the Himyaritic Kingdom (of the extreme southwest of Yemen). Eventually, all of these powers collapsed, giving way to autonomy by the major urban centers. This allowed the radical social reforms advocated by Islam.

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Notes

↑ See map (Wikipedia). Timna was the capital of the ancient Qataban Empire; it is supposed to have been a rival to the nearby Sa'ba (Sheba) empire sometime after the 3rd cent. BCE. Marib was the capital of the Sa'ba state, which is understood to have existed by 1000 BCE at the latest, and survived well into the 3rd century CE. Uzal is believed to be the ancient name of San'a. See Charles Aithie, Patricia Aithie, Yemen: Jewel of Arabia Stacey International (2001); and Daniel T. Potts, Araby the Blest: Studies in Arabian Archaeology, Museum Tusculanum Press (1988).

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