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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XIII. THE ORIENT AGAINST THE OCCIDENT: RISE AND SPREAD OF ISLAM, 622-1058 A.D.

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Arabia and the Arabs   * Mohammed: Prophet and Statesman, 622-632 A.D.   * Islam and the Koran   * Expansion of Islam in Asia and Egypt   * Expansion of Islam in North Africa and Spain   * The Caliphate and its Disruption, 632-1058 A.D.   * Arabian Civilization   * The Influence of Islam

 

ARABIA AND THE ARABS

THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

Arabia, a vast peninsula between the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, forms the link between Asia and Africa. It is connected with Asia by the arid plains extending northward to the Euphrates; with Africa, by the equally arid isthmus of Suez. Though the country is more than one- third the size of the United States (excluding Alaska), it has never supported a large population. The interior, except for occasional oases, is a desert, inhabited only by wandering tribes. Along the southern and western coasts, between the mountains and the sea, the soil is generally fertile, the climate temperate, and the rainfall sufficient. Here the chief cities and towns are located.

INHABITANTS OF ARABIA

The original home of the Semites is believed to have been Arabia. Some Semitic peoples appear to have migrated northward to Babylonia and Syria, while others crossed the Red Sea to Abyssinia. Physically, the Arabs are an attractive people, with well-shaped, muscular figures, handsome, bronzed faces, brilliant, black eyes, and all the organs of sense exquisitely acute. Simple and abstemious in their habits, they lead healthy lives and often reach an extreme yet vigorous old age.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy