They began as tribes of the desert — and gave the world a language of heaven, a religion followed by nearly two billion people, and the libraries that carried science through the Middle Ages. The Arabs are at once a people, a language, and a civilization; their story runs from the incense caravans of pre-Islamic Arabia to the skyscrapers of the Gulf.
Mecca ★ Medina Damascus Baghdad Cairo Córdoba Heartland and golden-age cities — stylized map 1st millennium BCE Caravan kingdoms 622 The Hijra 711 Tariq crosses to Iberia 1258 Baghdad sacked 1916 Sykes-Picot Origins · golden age · today Centuries of rule: how long each power lasted Abbasid caliphate 508 years Ottoman rule (Arab lands) 400 years Umayyad caliphate 89 years Rashidun caliphate 29 years Five centuries of Abbasids; four of Ottomans Origins Before Islam, Arabia was a world of tribes and caravans. By the 1st millennium BCE, its caravan kingdoms were already rich: the kingdom of Saba, the Sheba of legend, was trading frankincense and myrrh by the 8th century BCE. In the north, the Nabataeans carved Petra from rose-red rock and taxed the spice roads. Mecca, a harsh desert town, prospered on the caravan trade and the Kaaba, the cube-shaped shrine that already drew pilgrims long before Muhammad.
