History of the Arabs

The history of the Arabs is recorded to have begun in the mid-9th century BCE, corresponding with the earliest known attestation of Old Arabic. Tradition in the Abrahamic religions holds that Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, who was the son of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and his Egyptian concubine Hagar. The Syrian Desert, which includes an extension of the Arabian Peninsula, is the home of the first attested "Arab" groups, as well as other defined Arab groups that spread in the land and existed for millennia.

Before the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661) during the early Muslim conquests, the word "Arab" referred to any of the largely nomadic or settled Arab tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and Upper and Lower Mesopotamia. Today, "Arab" refers to a variety of large numbers of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to Arab migrations and the concurrent spread of the Arabic language throughout the region, namely the Levant and the Maghreb, following the rise of Islam in the 7th century.

During this period, they forged the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258). These Arab dynasties ruled some of the largest land empires in history, reaching southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and Sudan in the south. In 1517, the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, which went on to rule much of the Arab world until World War I. Following the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945.

Antiquity

Main articles: Prehistoric Arabia, Pre-Islamic Arabia, History of the ancient Levant, and Bedouin § History

Prehistoric Arabia

During the Neolithic period in Prehistoric Arabia, local communities lived by herding, farming, and sometimes fishing in the Syrian steppe from at least 6000 BCE. By around 850 BCE, many settlements and camps had been built. The first Arab tribes came from Bedouin groups.

Iron age

Arabs are first mentioned in Biblical and Assyrian texts from the 9th to 5th centuries BC. They lived in parts of the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. Several Arab tribes and towns are known from this time. These tribes were found throughout Mesopotamia and the Syrian Desert, sometimes together with Aramean tribes.

In the land of Laqē near Terqa, Aramaean and Arab clans worked together. When Shalmaneser III attacked Pattin in 858 BC, he fought groups that included two Arab leaders. In the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, Arabs were part of a group of allies from Syria and Israel under Gindibu, who ruled an Arab area in parts of modern Jordan and Wadi Sirhan. During the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III, Arabs were listed among the Syrians in the Assyrian system, and one Arab was even put in charge of the Sinai peninsula. Arab raiders also attacked troops in the Beqaa Valley.

A possible early group related to the Nabataeans, called the Nabayatu, is mentioned in a Babylonian letter before 648 BC. They lived near the Babylonian border and may have been linked to the city of Nabatu. During the campaigns of Ashurbanipal, most Nabayatu groups moved to the Syrian Desert, and by the 6th century they had reached areas south of Wadi Sirhan. Ashurbanipal led a campaign against Arabs in Hauran, capturing a leader named Abiyate and taking him to Assyria.

Classical kingdoms

Main articles: Qedarites, Osroene, Nabataeans, Palmyra, Emesene dynasty, Kingdom of Hatra, and Tanukhids

Ancient North Arabian texts help us understand how the Arabic language developed. These texts come from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. They show early forms of Arabic and other languages once spoken in the Arabian peninsula.

Nabataeans

Main article: Nabataean Kingdom

The Nabataeans were nomads who moved into areas left empty by the Edomites. Their early writings were in Aramaic but later changed to their own spoken language, Nabataean Arabic. This helped create some of the earliest clear Arabic writings. The Nabataean alphabet was used by Arabs further south and eventually became the modern Arabic script around the 4th century. This is shown by Safaitic writings and many Arabic names in Nabataean writings. From about the 2nd century BC, writings from Qaryat al-Faw show a dialect that is no longer considered very early Arabic, but more developed pre-classical Arabic. Five Syriac writings mentioning Arabs have been found at Sumatar Harabesi, one dating to the 2nd century AD.

In Syria

Arabs are first recorded in Palmyra in the late first millennium BC. The soldiers of the sheikh Zabdibel, who helped the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia in 217 BC, were called Arabs. After the Battle of Edessa in 260 CE, the Roman emperor Valerian was captured. Supporting Rome, the Palmyrenes united under Odaenathus and won several battles against the Sassanian armies, even reaching their capital city, Ctesiphon, twice.

Odaenathus' son Vaballathus took over in 270, with his mother Zenobia ruling. She declared the Palmyrene Empire and quickly took over much of the Near East, including Egypt and most of Asia Minor, reaching Ancyra in 271. Zenobia was defeated by Aurelian with help from Arab groups opposed to Zenobia, the Tanukhids. The Tanukhids were a group of Arab tribes living along the Euphrates who later moved into central and northern Syria. They became allies of the Romans. They rebelled against Roman rule in 378 CE under their queen, Mavia, who led her forces into Palestine, Arabia, and parts of Egypt, and also helped the Roman army.

South of the Taurus range and in the Antioch area were Arabs ruled by a leader named Aziz, who was important in the time of the last Seleucid king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus. To the east of Antioch were other Arab groups in Chalcidice led by leaders like Rhambaei, Gambarus, and Themella. Another Arab group lived in the Orontes river valley, the Emesene Arabs, who controlled Emesa and Aresutha until the 2nd century and were involved in the politics of late Seleucid kings under their leader Sempsigeramus. In the al-Zabadani area near the Qalamoun Mountains, there was an Arab group called the Zabadaioi who fought against Alexander Jannaeus between 103 and 76 BCE.

The Itureans, another Arab group known since Alexander the Great, lived in the Bekaa valley, Southern Lebanon, and the Anti-Lebanon mountains. From there, they expanded into the Phoenician coast, Aurinitis, Trachonitis, and Batanaea, getting close to Damascus. In southern Palestine, the Idumaeans lived west of the Dead Sea, and their names were a mix of Arabic and Canaanite names.

Arabs also lived in Egypt even before Christian times, in the Ptolemaic area called Arabia, in Arsinoites across the Nile, and in Thebaid.

In Mesopotamia

Further north, the Osroeni Arabs controlled the city of Edessa from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century CE. The Kingdom of Hatra was ruled by an Arab dynasty from the 2nd century CE, with rulers calling themselves "King of the Arabs." The Osroeni and Hatrans were part of many Arab groups in upper Mesopotamia, including the Praetavi of Singara and the Arabs of Adiabene. The Sasanians called this area Arbayistan, meaning "land of the Arabs."

Late kingdoms

Further information: Lakhmids, Ghassanids, and Kindites

Many Arab groups and kingdoms grew during middle and late Antiquity. These included tribes and kingdoms that controlled large areas of the Arabian Peninsula, Levant, and Mesopotamia.

In central Arabia and Iraq, the Lakhmids took over from the Tanukhids and became allies of the Sasanians by 300 CE. They ruled from their capital Al-Hirah and acted as a buffer between the Sasanians and the Romans and other nomadic Arab tribes further south. Their Ghassanid allies did the same for the Byzantines after settling in Syria between 250 and 300 CE. The Ghassanids came from Yemen because of conflicts between South Arabian kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. It is unclear if the Ghassanids spoke Arabic or a South Semitic language like those in Yemen at the time. After settling in the Levant around 300 CE, the Ghassanids became allies of the Romans, along with other Arab tribes such as the Banu Amilah and Banu Judham.

Greeks and Romans called all the desert nomads in the Near East Arabi. The Romans called Yemen "Arabia Felix." They called the nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea," after the city of Petra, and called the unconquered deserts to the south and east "Arabia Magna."

The Kingdom of Kinda was another Arab group in central Arabia, starting in 450 CE as a confederation of the Ma'ad tribes led by the Kindites. The Kindites originally came from Yemen along with the Ghassanids, where they served as helpers for the Sabaean and Himyarite kings, but were stopped in Eastern Arabia by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They went back to Yemen and joined the Himyarites, who made them a vassal kingdom ruling Central Arabia from "Qaryah Dhat Kahl" (now Qaryat al-Faw). The Lakhmids and Kindites fought for control of Central Arabian tribes, with the Lakhmids destroying Kinda in 540 after their main ally Himyar fell. The Persian Sassanids ended the Lakhmid dynasty in 602, first using puppet kings and then taking direct control. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula until they were destroyed by the Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir and his son 'Amr.

Medieval period

Further information: Caliphate and Early Muslim conquests

Rashidun Caliphate (632–661)

Main article: Rashidun Caliphate

After Muhammad passed away in 632, people joined together because of their shared beliefs. They began expanding into lands controlled by other empires, creating what is called the Rashidun Caliphate. The capital was first in Medina, but later moved to Kufa.

Umayyad Caliphate (661–750)

Main article: Umayyad Caliphate

See also: Caliphate of Córdoba and Al-Andalus

See also: Abbadid, Taifa, Nasrid dynasty (Sistan), Zengid dynasty, and Ikhshidid dynasty

In 661, new leaders called the Umayyads took over. They made their home city, Damascus, the capital. They built important cities in many places.

One leader made Arabic the main language, which helped spread the language and culture. Later, some people felt unfair treatment, but a new leader tried to make things fair for everyone. Eventually, another group, the Abbasids, took over and moved the capital to Baghdad.

The Umayyads also expanded their lands into North Africa. They built up trade, culture, and learning in places like Al-Andalus. After the Umayyads lost power, the area in Spain became its own state, the Emirate of Córdoba, which later grew into the Caliphate of Córdoba. This time was rich in learning and building beautiful structures. When the Umayyads in Spain fell in 1031, the land split into smaller kingdoms.

Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 & 1261–1517)

Main article: Abbasid Caliphate

The Abbasids were from the family of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. They took over from the Umayyads and made Baghdad their capital in 762. The Abbasids were supported by many different people, not just Arabs.

This time is called the Islamic Golden Age because it was a time of great learning in science, medicine, and more. They built a famous place called the "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad for sharing knowledge. Other places like Cairo and Córdoba were also centers of learning.

The Abbasids ruled for many years, but later lost control. Their power came back for a short time but ended when Mongols captured Baghdad in 1258. Some Abbasid family members went to Cairo, where they continued to support learning and arts.

Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171)

Main article: Fatimid Caliphate

The Fatimid caliphate began in the early 10th century. Their capital was in Egypt. They were known for their support of learning and building beautiful structures, like mosques and universities.

In the 11th century, many Arab tribes moved into a region called the Maghreb. They were sent by the Fatimids to deal with another group, the Berbers. Their move helped spread Arab culture to the area.

Under the Ottoman Empire (1517-1923)

Main articles: Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Caliphate

From 1517 to 1918, many Arab lands were ruled by the Ottoman Empire from Turkey. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire fell, and its lands were divided between the British and French.

Modern period

Most Arabs today live in the Arab world, which includes 22 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa. These areas are all modern nations that became important political groups.

In 1948, Britain left Palestine, leading to a war that caused many Palestinian Arabs to move to nearby countries. These events are remembered by Palestinians as the Nakba, meaning "catastrophe." Many Palestinians are still far from their homes.

The Arab League was created on March 22, 1945, in Cairo. It started with six countries and now has 21 members, working to help each other.

Many Arab countries make money by selling oil. In 1960, several countries, including Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, formed a group called OPEC. In 1973, OPEC stopped sending oil to America during a war, hoping to change America's support for Israel.

In 2011, the Arab Spring began in Tunisia and spread across many Arab countries. People in these places stood up for their rights and wanted changes in their governments. This led to several conflicts, including the Syrian civil war. Today, about 50 million people from Arab countries live outside their home countries.