Arabs

Arabs are a cultural and ethnic group native to certain regions of the Middle East. Their history stretches back to 3000 BCE to nomadic tribes living on the Arabian Peninsula. Arabs were the first adopters of Islam, an Abrahamic religion now practiced worldwide.

Early Arabic History

The first Arabs were nomadic tribes that inhabited the vast Arabian Peninsula. Because of their sparse lifestyle, little is known about their culture. They left no structures or writing for archaeologists to study, and their people traveled only with what could be carried by pack animals. However, the Arabian nomads were referenced in the writings of the Assyrians and other sedentary Middle Eastern cultures.

Arabic poetry detailing the existence and lifestyle of the early Arabic nomads was passed down through oral history until Arabic scholars recorded it in the eighth and ninth centuries CE. Arabic scholars of that period revered the lifestyle of the early nomads, which influenced their philosophy and military tactics for centuries to come.

The Arab people were unified in a series of civil wars led by a man named Muhammad, a charismatic religious leader. Muhammad was born to a wealthy merchant family in about 570 CE. He grew up in Mecca, a major Arabic trade hub. Muhammad believed that he was the newest prophet after Jesus Christ and founded Islam, an Abrahamic religion based on his word. His followers, called Muslims, spread the religion to nearby cities and successfully conquered the entire Arabian Peninsula.

From Muhammad to the Ottomans

After Muhammad’s death, several figures vied for control of his fledgling Arab empire. His father-in-law, Abu Bakr, won the resulting civil war and began sending raids beyond Arabia. The Arabs continued to rapidly conquer other areas and expand their reach. They conquered various places throughout the next several years, including Syria, Palestine, Damascus, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

From a new position of profound strength, the Arab people turned their armies towards Persia. Located in modern-day Iran, Persia was one of the richest empires of its time. Although the battles took almost a decade, the Arab people were able to bring all of Persia under their control by 642 CE. Then, they quickly conquered large parts of Greece, including the famous province of Alexandria. By that time, a large portion of the Middle East was controlled by an Islamic theocracy, led by a caliph, who served as both head of state and head of the Islamic religion.

About the year 1000 CE, the Arabic caliphate faced its first serious challenger. Large armies of European Crusaders began arriving from the West. Major Christian powers had declared a holy war in an attempt to reclaim much of the traditional Christian holy land. The European Crusaders recaptured Jerusalem by 1099. The two factions battled over their shared holy land for many years. The Arabic caliphate finally reconquered Jerusalem in 1187. However, the Arabs would not finish driving out the various Crusader armies until 1291.

The weakened Arabic empire was then targeted by the powerful Mongol army, which had been conquering Asia and the Middle East at an unprecedented rate. The Mongols sacked Baghdad, the capital of the caliphate, in 1258. That administration quickly collapsed, and although the Mongols would eventually be integrated into Arabic Muslim society, the empire would never quite recover.

At that time, different sects of the Islamic faith began to separate. A reformist preacher, Muhammad ibn 'Abd-al-Wahhab, began to gather followers throughout central Arabia. He preached extremely conservative Islam and claimed that he was bringing the religion back to its original form. Throughout his lifetime 'Abd-al-Wahhab took control of most of Arabia and founded the conservative Wahhabi Islamic movement, which has persisted to the modern day.

The Safavid family took power after the Mongols' retreat and attempted to reestablish an Arabian empire. However, they were checked by the Ottoman Turks, who had founded their own caliphate. The Safavids managed to secure control of Arabia but lost Baghdad and all of modern Iraq to the Ottomans. They ruled until 1732, when their empire collapsed into several smaller tribal groups.

The Ottomans capitalized on this and claimed large parts of Arabia for themselves. While the Ottoman Empire contained large numbers of Arabian peoples, its ruling class was Turkish. They spoke a different language and belonged to a distinctly different culture. The Ottomans ruled much of Arabia until World War I. They backed the Central Powers, primarily due to heavy pressure from Germany. After losing the war, they were treated unfavorably by the victors. The Ottoman Empire was divided into several smaller states. Many of these states make up the modern Middle East, including Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. However, these divisions were badly conceived. They separated populations that had been traditionally unified and lumped historically warring peoples together. Many experts believe that this has contributed to the region’s instability.

Ottoman Empire to the Modern Era

After the defeat and division of the Ottoman Empire, much of Arabia was divided into separate nations. Twenty-two modern Arab states belong to the League of Arab States (LAS), including Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. While notable Middle Eastern nations, neither Iran nor Israel is considered an Arab state.

Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco are among the most famous and successful modern Arab nations. Egypt has a long and storied history, stretching back to before the building of its famous pyramids. It has been ruled by pharaohs, kings, Romans, and Ottoman Turks. The nation’s most recent iteration began when the Ottoman Empire was dissolved in 1922. It was ruled by a monarchy started by King Fu'ad II and continued by his son. The monarchy was overthrown by the Free Officers Movement in 1952, which declared Egypt a republic. Egypt remained a republic until March 1979, when radical jihadists assassinated President Anwar al-Sadat. President Hosni Mubarak was elected following the assassination and ruled until he was deposed by a military coup in 2011, which triggered the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring was a series of widespread protests throughout the Arab world, during which millions of protesters engaged in civil resistance and disobedience to secure free elections, freedom of speech, steady employment, and more favorable economic policies.

The territory that makes up the modern state of Iraq was also part of the Ottoman Empire. It was conquered during World War I by the British, who received authority from the League of Nations to continue governing the territory. In 1921, the British forcibly established a monarchy to govern the Kingdom of Iraq in their stead. Ten years later, they officially granted the monarchy independence under the agreement that the monarchy would continue to trade heavily with Britain. While this made the Iraqi government wealthy, it was extremely unpopular with the Iraqi people, who viewed their government as corroborating with oppressive imperialists. The Iraqi people revolted several times; many revolts were put down by British reinforcements. The people of Iraq did not succeed at overthrowing the monarchy until 1958, after which the nation was ruled by a series of unstable governments. The last of these, a military dictatorship led by General Saddam Hussein, was overthrown by an American-led international coalition in 2003. According to the country's constitution, it is governed by a provincial, democratic government, but the country continually battles militaristic jihadist groups within its borders.

Modern Saudi Arabia was originally ruled by the Al Saud family. When the territory was conquered by the Ottomans, the Al Saud family was exiled. Ten years later, Ibn Saud took control of the city of Riyadh, ending his family’s exile and bringing his family back into Saudi Arabian politics. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Al Saud family reconquered its former territory and formed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In 1938, the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) discovered large stores of oil in Saudi Arabia. The oil was extremely valuable but controlled primarily by the United States. Over the next several decades, the Saudi royal family worked to lessen American control over the kingdom’s oil stores. In 1916, they became founding members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a powerful cartel created to manipulate the price of oil for the benefit of oil-exporting nations. Saudi Arabia eventually became the most dominant member of OPEC and gained an incredible amount of control over the world’s oil supplies. Saudi Arabia utilized this power by leading an oil boycott against Western nations that supported Israel in 1973, causing the price of oil to quadruple.

While Morocco was effectively independent prior to the outbreak of World War I, France and Spain had agreed secretly to colonize the valuable nation. Germany, however, publically began negotiations for Morocco to support Germany. An international conference was held, and it was agreed that Morocco would officially retain its independence. However, in a contradictory moment, France received ultimate authority over the Moroccan government. In the long term, this effectively delivered Morocco into French control. France elected to give Spain control of the northernmost ten percent of Morocco.

Morocco remained a French and Spanish colony until 1956, when a violent independence movement finally erupted into a full-blown armed rebellion. The French voluntarily acknowledged Moroccan sovereignty, and the nation became a constitutional monarchy. Since then, Morocco has engaged in various border disputes, including the Western Sahara conflict with the Sahrawi Republic and ongoing tension with Algeria. The Moroccan government believes that it has a historic right to control the Western Sahara, colonized by Spain during Morocco’s colonial period. The area is home to phosphate deposits, making it extremely valuable.

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