The Mystery of the Arabian Peninsula - Essay Example

The Arabian Peninsula Walter Thomas ID # 1016594 The Arabian Peninsula is a terra firma of austere distinctions. Enormous oil reserves stretch out and veil under huge desolate Arabian deserts. Colossal riches, holiest places viz. Mecca and Medina, ancient Christian centers and abject poverty of a common man are the elements of the Peninsula. Wealth is exhibited in lustrous modern cities, where the itinerant tribesmen or the Bedouins in the desert adhere persistently to their primeval way of life. The wealthiest states of the world viz. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen are politically considered as a part of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia encompasses the larger part of the Peninsula where the bulk of population lives in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. The Arabian Peninsula is the aorta of Islam, a land of immense transitions with a rich though isolationist civilization. The history of the people of this regions dates back thousands of years. The majority of the inhabitants of Arabia are lineage of Shem that is the Semitic peoples. Semitic includes the Hebrews, Arabs and Arameans. To garner a financial harvest from the gargantuan oil reserves, the leadership of the Arab world has bowed to western technology. After centuries of shielding seclusion, the people of this region have stood up face-to-face with the rest of the world in the last 60 years. Most of the Arab countries have power over two thirds of the worlds oil reserves and are the key players of the OPEC. The Arab Common Market was originated in mid 60’s which is for all Arab League members. For several years, political harmony among the members was hampered by a dissection between members of pro-Western group and neutralists or pro-Soviet ones. West’s political ideologies are in conflict with the East’s culture and in recent times the schism has been between militancy and moderates. Hence good relations with the Arabian Peninsula are a prerequisite for the West in order to curb terrorism and uphold the global economy. THE ARABIAN PENINSULA The Arabian Peninsula is located in the North Africa/ Southwest Asia Realm. In some text it includes seven countries and in others they include Iraq and Jordan in the numbers. It is surrounded by the Persian Gulf to the East, the Arabian Sea to the South and the Red Sea to the West. Some recognize the Peninsula because of its distinct geographical shape; it resembles a boot. In this paper we will look at some of the regions significant contributions and history to the other Realms in the world, beginning with some identifying features of the countries that make up the Peninsula. Through out the region you can see the influence of the West but for the most part, they have maintained their cultural heritage. The Surrounding countries that we will look at include, clockwise from the Northeast; Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait is a small country at the most Northern part of the Persian Gulf, known today because of the United States participation during the Iraq invasion in 1990-91 (Desert Shield-Storm). Kuwait is a small, rich, open economy with self –reported crude oil reserves of about 96 billion barrels. Their petroleum output accounts for 95% of their GDP and accounts for 10% of the World’s reserves. Bahrain is the smallest of the territories [Kingdoms] in the AP. It has little control over the regions oil reserves and has since turned to International banking, oil refinery and petroleum processing as its global contributions. In 2002 the Amir (Sheikh Hamad) declared a constitutional monarchy and changed Bahrain’s status to Kingdom. Qatar (cut-tar), a smaller Peninsula off the Eastern coast, began as a British protectorate through the 1980s. Their economy suffered at the Amir’s hands as he was stealing its Oil reserves. His son over threw his rule and now Qatar participates in the riches as others in the region, and now it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a make up of several smaller states called Emirates; Abu-Zabay, Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah, Dubai, Umm al Qaywayn and Ra’s al Khaymah. Again its oil reserves play a significant role in its existence in the region. With reserves, that were discovered about 30 years ago, the UAE has grown to be a modern state with a high standard of living. Some of this can be seen in its high rise cities (de blij, pg 342) and the residential development “Palm Island Project” in Dubai. UAE is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the US. Oman is ruled by the son of al Said, in another overthrown acquisition. The State of Oman benefits more from trade across the Indian Ocean rather than oil and gas like its neighbors. It borders the coastal region of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf water way. Yemen is another known region because of the recent terror attacks on the US. The USS Cole attack took place in a Yemen Port. (http://www.al-bab.com/yemen/cole1.htm) Yemen geography ranges from the middle of the land mass to the south into the Red Sea. Its significances to the US terror hunts are mainly due to its relatively close location to the Horn of Africa and its known terrorist camps. Saudi Arabia is the largest of the land masses in the AP. KSA also controls 25% on the world’s oil reserves (CIA Fact Book). In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. King Abdulla, son of Adul Aziz rules the country today, and the countrys Basic Law stipulates that the throne shall remain in the hands of the aging sons and grandsons of the kingdoms founder. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lives in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. It is home to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, both of which are in Saudi Arabia. The Ancient history of the AP was, until recent time, limited and in some cases inaccurate. In the 20th century, however, archaeological exploration has added considerably to the knowledge of the area. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the Peninsula into neighboring areas. About 3500 BC, Semitic-speaking peoples of Arabian origin migrated into the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, supplanted the Sumerians, and became the Assyro-Babylonians (see Babylonia and Assyria). Some archeologists argue that another group of Semites left Arabia about 2500 BC during the Early Bronze Age and settled along the Levant, mixing in with the local populations there some of these migrants became the Amorites and Canaanites of later times. Some archeologists argue that the migration instead came from the northern Levant. Other archeologists argue that there was no migration, and that the outside influences found in the indigenous Levantine population resulted from trade. "According to this, Arabia was originally a land of great fertility and the first home of the Semitic peoples. Through the millennia it has been undergoing a process of steady desiccation, a drying up of wealth and waterways and a spread of the desert at the expense of the cultivable land. Recent history shows that Britain played a major influence in many of the AP countries. Arabian Peninsula is a great desert Peninsula in extreme southwestern Asia, bounded on the north by Jordan and Iraq, on the east by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the south by the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and on the west by the Red Sea. The climate is extremely arid, few places receiving more than 178 mm (7 in) of rain a year and no permanent streams exist. Summer temperatures reach as high as 54.4 C (130 F) in some areas. Various minerals, including gold, silver, sulfur, and salt, are produced. The region, however, owes its modern economic life to the vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas, found largely in the area around the Persian Gulf. Major cities include Riyadh, Mecca, Aden, Jeddah, Sanaa (Sana’a), Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait. The Peninsula is essentially a vast plateau, rimmed on the west and south by mountains and sloping gently east to the Persian Gulf. It contains some of the largest sandy desert areas in the world, notably the Rub´ al Khali (Empty Quarter) in the south and An Nafud in the north. The majority of the Arabian population is sedentary, concentrated around oases, notably in the Nejd (central Arabia) and the Hejaz (along the northeast coast of the Red Sea). Agriculture is the main occupation, with dates, grains, and fruits the chief crops; pastoral nomads raise goats, cattle, sheep, and poultry. Until the mid-20th cent., when oil was discovered in East Arabia, the Peninsulas main exports were hides, wool, coffee, spices, camels, and the famed, highly bred Arabian horses; in West Arabia pearls were exported. Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world, in addition to great amounts of natural gas. Saudi Arabia is the worlds leading exporter of oil. Until the early 1970s, oil firms from the United States, Britain, and to a lesser extent Japan, had a monopoly on drilling concessions. However, the Arabian nations acquired much greater control over oil exploration, production, and price controls after 1970. Modern technology and the huge wealth generated by oil resources have profoundly altered traditional life in Arabia. Flourishing private enterprise, new transportation links, rapidly growing cities, a large foreign labor presence, and rising education and living standards characterize much of the Peninsula. Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula; now used also for populations of countries whose primary language is Arabic. Socially, Arabs are divided into the settled fellahin (villagers) and the nomadic Bedouin. The invasions of Muslims from Arabia in the 6th and 7th century diffused the Arabic language and Islam, the Arabic religion. At its peak the Arab empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean across North Africa and the Middle East to central Asia. A great Arab civilization emerged in which education, literature, philosophy; medicine, mathematics, and science were highly developed. The waves of Arab conquest across the East and into Europe widened the scope of their civilization and contributed greatly to world development. In Europe the Arab conquests were particularly important in Sicily, from the 9th to late 11th cent., and in Spain, in the civilization of the Moors. Christian scholars in those two lands gained much from Islamic knowledge, and scholasticism and the beginnings of modern Western science were derived in part from the Arabs. The Arabs also introduced Europe to the Greek philosophers, whose writings they had already translated into Arabic. The emergence of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century and of the Ottoman Turks in the 13th century ended the specifically Arab dominance in Islam, though Muslim culture still remained on the old Arab foundations. For the Muslims of classical times, Islam was the one true, final, and universal religion. Ultimately all mankind would adopt it; in the meantime, they must be made to recognize the supremacy of the Muslims and the paramount of the Muslim state. The world was divided into two--the house of Islam, where the true faith prevailed and the Muslim caliph ruled, and the house of war, where un-subjugated infidels still remained. Between the two there was a perpetual and inevitable state of war, which might be interrupted by a truce but could never be ended by a peace. It would end only when the whole world was brought into the house of Islam. To achieve this, the waging of jihad usually translated as "holy war"--was a religious obligation, incumbent on every individual Muslim in defense and on the community as a whole in an offensive war. In either case, it was a prime responsibility of their sovereign. In the Muslim world, there was only one state, the caliphate, and only one sovereign, the caliph, the rightful, lawful chief of the Islamic community and the head of the house of Islam. 1 Several of the Arab countries control two thirds of the worlds oil reserves and are members of OPEC. The Arab Common Market was established in 1965 and is open to all Arab League members. The common market agreement provides for the eventual abolition of customs duties on natural resources and agricultural products, free movement of capital and labor among member countries, and coordination of economic development. For many years, closer political unity among members was hampered by a division between pro-Western member countries and neutralist or pro-Soviet ones; more recently the division has been between militant Islamic fundamentalists and Arab moderates. The extraction and refining of oil and gas are the major industrial activities in the Arabian Peninsula. The region also has an active construction sector, with many cities reflecting the wealth generated by the oil industry. The service sector is dominated by financial and technical institutions, which, like the construction sector, mainly serve the oil industry. Traditional handicrafts such as carpet-weaving are found in rural areas. In summary the AP plays a significant role in the economies of the world. It controls 25% of the world’s fossil fuels and controls the global market of it costs. The AP’s contribution to education, writing and art reflects back to its ancient existence. Today it continues to be a factor in policy and participation of the Western Countries. Both reducing terror around the world and contributing the global economics is a driving factor in a necessity for the West to maintain good relations. Eventually the AP’s oil reserves will expire and the relationship with the West, and the rest of the world, will determine its survival. World Top 10 - Oil Reserves Countries Country Billion BBL Saudi Arabia 261.8 Canada 180.0 Iraq 112.5 U.A.E. 97.8 Kuwait 96.5 Iran 89.7 Venezuela 77.8 Russia 60.0 Libya 29.5 Nigeria 24.0 Source: www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-oil-reserves-countries-map.html Annotated Bibliography Bernard Lewis (2002), The Arabs in History, Oxford University Press, USA; 6New Ed edition This book scrutinizes the significant issues of Arab growth and development - their individuality, the national revitalization which paved way for the formation of the Islamic state. Nowadays, I believe that the Arab world which is facing deep societal and political challenges, the book has structured an indispensable prologue to the Arab world and its history. According to him, in the ancient times Arabia was fertile land the first home of the Semitic people, which is quite true. Through the thousands of centuries, it has been experiencing a process of steady parchedness, a drying up of prosperity and watercourses and spreading of the desert at the cost of the agricultural land. The waning output of the Peninsula, alongwith the increase in the number of the inhabitants, consequently resulted in an inveterate phase of invasions of the neighboring countries by the Semitic peoples of the Peninsula. It was these predicament that carried the Assyrians, Arameans, Canaanites (as well as the Phoenicians), and lastly the Arabs themselves into the Fertile Areas of the Arabian Peninsula like Yemen. Philip Khuri Hitti (2002), History of the Arabs, Revised: 10th Edition by Walid Khalidi. Philip Khuri Hitti is one of the worlds leading historians of the Arab world, who has given an idyllic introduction to the history of Arabs and their culture and traditions en masse. This unswerving review of the Arabians and the Arabic-speaking people unfolds one of the wealthiest and most enlightening vistas in history, speaking about the rise of Islam in the Middle Ages, its triumphs and victories, its Kingdom, its time of prominence and of crumble. In the face of recent events in the Middle East, the Arab history is little known to the West even though the Western culture has been profoundly influenced by Arabic history. I would say it’s a good reading for the people who are inquisitive about the magnificence and historic realities of the Arab world. HALIM BARAKAT Berkeley: The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State, 1993. This across-the-board assessment of Arab culture and social system provides an exclusive chance to understand the Arab world from an Arabian viewpoint. Halim Barakat is an expatriate Syrian who is a scholar as well as a novelist who has emphasized on the transformation and diverse models that have depicted the Middle East since the middle of the nineteenth century. The Arab world is not the one wrought by Islam, nor one merely elucidated by reference to the sectarian discord of a "mosaic" society. As an alternative, Barakat uncovers a society that is exceedingly complex, with many and various challenging schism. Arguing from a standpoint that is both fundamental and decisive, the author is unswerving to the betterment of human conditions in the Arab world. Youssef M. Choueiri, ‘Arab Nationalism: Nation and State in the Arab World’ The book talks about the strategic importance of the Arabian Peninsula on geographical basis. The author discusses about the largest oil reserves which serves as the driving force of the world economy and have often been the site of European rivalries and super power efforts to link their destiny to it. Furthermore the book discusses about the Arab nationalism both as a doctrine and as a historical movement. The excerpts from the influence of the Ottoman Empire and the indulgence of the West in the political life of the Arab world are the key areas of discussion. It can be easily said that the book gives a good review over the political vista of the Arab World across the board. Article by Rhodes Fred, POWER, POLITICS AND THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ARABIAN OIL, Jan 1, 2007 The article is a book review of ‘Power; Politics and the Hidden History of Arabian Oil’ by Aileen Keating which features the history of Arabia. Arabian Peninsulas history is viewed as a dynamic progression evolving from the interface and intrigues of local sheikhdoms and states, majestic powers, and oil companies. It is a story of aims and aspirations, intrigue and stratagem, folly and drama, conflicts and clashes and even some humorous intermission. The book begins with the dusk of World War I, where at that time it was commonly accepted by the connoisseurs that there was no oil in Arabia. In early 20th century Frank Holmes, a New Zealand engineer told the world about the immense Arabian oilfield and No one believed him. When Holmes was successful in finding out oil in 1932, UK and USA tousled to fix their shattering mistake of judgement. In the wake of industrialisation and colonial enmity, the destiny of Arabian Peninsula was drastically transformed at every sphere of life. Citations A. T. Mahan, "The Persian Gulf and International Relations," National Review (September 1902): 26-45, especially p. 39: "The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen . . " reprinted in A. T. Mahan, Retrospect and Prospect ( London, 1903) B. Lewis and P. M. Holt, eds., Historians of the Middle East (London, 1962), pp. 1-3, where some of these points are discussed. C. Forster, the Historical Geography of Arabia (1985) Collins, John M., Military Geography for Professionals and the Public, Virginia: Brassey’s Inc., 1999. ISBN 1-57906-002-1. It is also available online at http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/book_titles.htm. Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Geography of the Arabian Peninsula". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/m_wap/hd_m_wap.htm (October 2001) F. Stark, The Southern Gates of Arabia (1972); K. S. Salibi, History of Arabia (1980) H.J. DeBlij and Peter O. Muller. Geography – Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0471119466 I. R. Netton, Arabia and the Gulf: From Traditional Society to Modern States (1986). M. E. Yapp, The Making of the Modern Middle East, 1792-1923 (London, 1987), and The Near East Since the First World War (London, 1991). S. M. Zwemer, Arabia: The Cradle of Islam (1980) T. E. Lawrence, Revolt in the Desert (1927); The World Fact book, Washington, DC: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/index.html V. Chirol, The Middle Eastern Question (London, 1903), especially pp. 1-6. See also R. H. Davison, "Where Is the Middle East?" Foreign Affairs (July 1960): 665-75 http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east.html) Read More

n its oil reserves play a significant role in its existence in the region. With reserves, that were discovered about 30 years ago, the UAE has grown to be a modern state with a high standard of living. Some of this can be seen in its high rise cities (de blij, pg 342) and the residential development “Palm Island Project” in Dubai. UAE is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the US. Oman is ruled by the son of al Said, in another overthrown acquisition. The State of Oman benefits more from trade across the Indian Ocean rather than oil and gas like its neighbors.

It borders the coastal region of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf water way. Yemen is another known region because of the recent terror attacks on the US. The USS Cole attack took place in a Yemen Port. (http://www.al-bab.com/yemen/cole1.htm) Yemen geography ranges from the middle of the land mass to the south into the Red Sea. Its significances to the US terror hunts are mainly due to its relatively close location to the Horn of Africa and its known terrorist camps. Saudi Arabia is the largest of the land masses in the AP.

KSA also controls 25% on the world’s oil reserves (CIA Fact Book). In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. King Abdulla, son of Adul Aziz rules the country today, and the countrys Basic Law stipulates that the throne shall remain in the hands of the aging sons and grandsons of the kingdoms founder. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lives in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. It is home to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, both of which are in Saudi Arabia.

The Ancient history of the AP was, until recent time, limited and in some cases inaccurate. In the 20th century, however, archaeological exploration has added considerably to the knowledge of the area. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the Peninsula into neighboring areas. About 3500 BC, Semitic-speaking peoples of Arabian origin migrated into the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, supplanted the Sumerians, and became the Assyro-Babylonians (see Babylonia and Assyria).

Some archeologists argue that another group of Semites left Arabia about 2500 BC during the Early Bronze Age and settled along the Levant, mixing in with the local populations there some of these migrants became the Amorites and Canaanites of later times. Some archeologists argue that the migration instead came from the northern Levant. Other archeologists argue that there was no migration, and that the outside influences found in the indigenous Levantine population resulted from trade. "According to this, Arabia was originally a land of great fertility and the first home of the Semitic peoples.

Through the millennia it has been undergoing a process of steady desiccation, a drying up of wealth and waterways and a spread of the desert at the expense of the cultivable land. Recent history shows that Britain played a major influence in many of the AP countries. Arabian Peninsula is a great desert Peninsula in extreme southwestern Asia, bounded on the north by Jordan and Iraq, on the east by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the south by the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and on the west by the Red Sea.

The climate is extremely arid, few places receiving more than 178 mm (7 in) of rain a year and no permanent streams exist. Summer temperatures reach as high as 54.4 C (130 F) in some areas. Various minerals, including gold, silver, sulfur, and salt, are produced. The region, however, owes its modern economic life to the vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas, found largely in the area around the Persian Gulf. Major cities include Riyadh, Mecca, Aden, Jeddah, Sanaa (Sana’a), Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait.

The Peninsula is essentially a vast plateau, rimmed on the west and south by mountains and sloping gently east to the Persian Gulf. It contains some of the largest sandy desert areas in the world, notably the Rub´ al Khali (Empty Quarter) in the south and An Nafud in the north.

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