ARABIAN PENINSULA

Flora and Fauna of the Arabian Peninsula

Although it is part of Asia, the Arabian Peninsulas flora and fauna have affinities with the western Palearctic region (which includes Europe, North Africa, and Asia north of the Himalayas), the Oriental region, and the Afrotropical region (Africa south of the Sahara Desert). The peninsula therefore has a spectacular variety of animals and plants.
The boundaries of ecoregions are rarely clear-cut, and some species are well able to adapt for life in more than one zone, but the Arabian Peninsula can be divided into five distinct major ecoregions with different flora and fauna: the Arabian Desert, including shrublands; the Gulf of Oman desert and semidesert; the southwestern Arabian mountainous woodlands; the southwestern Arabian foothills savanna; and the coastal fog desert. The island of Socotra and its small neighbors share more The Arabian gazelle is an endangered species because of hunting that continued until the late twentieth century. These animals were reared in a protected area in Oman. floral and faunal affinities with the Horn of Africa than with Arabia, but they are politically part of Yemen and are included as a tiny sixth ecoregion.

ARABIAN DESERT AND SHRUBLANDS

The desert, the largest ecoregion of the Arabian Peninsula, is dominated by the Rub al-Khali, the biggest continuous body of sand on Earth, with an area the size of Texas. The region stretches from the Gulf of Aqaba and the borders with Jordan and Iraq in the north to Qatar, Oman, and Yemen in the south. The

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GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

sand of the Rub al-Khali builds up in places to dunes 650 feet (200 m) high. The flora of the harsh sand desert core of the ecoregion is very limited, with only 37 species recorded, nearly half of which occur only around the fringes. Typical plants are saltbush, tussocks of sedge, Calligonum crinitum, and Dipterygium glaucum. Trees grow only around the margins, where several species of acacias occur along drainage lines. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Calligonum comusum shrubs grow in the sand, while in Oman woodlands of ghaf trees provide shelter from the sun and nest sites for birds. After heavy rain, the desert is transformed as the seeds of annuals that have lain dormant maybe for yearssprout and produce carpets of flowers. Spiny-tailed lizards and other reptiles are plentiful in some areas, while only birds and mammals adapted for life in an almost water-free environment thrive. Larks, wheatears, and sandgrouse share the semidesert areas with houbara bustards, and Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, and mountain gazelles are protected in Saudi Arabias Uruq Bani Maarid preserve. These gazelles and the Arabian oryx had been threatened with extermination by hunting parties in the 1970s. Other mammals of the desert and its margins include Cape hares, striped hyenas, Arabian wolves, sand cats, red foxes, and caracals. In Saudi Arabia, a network of protected areas includes the countrys first national preserve at Harrat al-Harrah, situated in the semiarid shrubland zone. In contrast to the true desert, the shrubland boasts more than 250 plant species, over 50 birds, and 22 kinds of mammals. There are also a few isolated wetlands

in the desert, such as Dawmat al-Jandl in the far north of Saudi Arabia. Although once much larger, Dawmat al-Jandl has some remaining small areas of marsh, which, along with surrounding agricultural land, are irrigated by channels from a reservoir. The reservoir has introduced fish, mostly tilapia, and the wetland also attracts coots in winter, white-winged black terns on migration, and possibly also white-headed ducks. Ruppells foxes are also resident there.

GULF OF OMAN DESERT AND SEMIDESERT

A large area of deserts and shrublands covers much of Oman and part of the United Arab Emirates. Much of the region is dominated by acacia-dotted plains, but there are also semiarid rocky mountain slopes, coastal beaches, mangrove woodlands, and small islands in the Arabian Gulf. The highest part of the region in the Al-Hajar Mountains reaches almost 9,800 feet (nearly 3,000 m). Acacia parkland on the lower slopes gives way to Euphorbia shrubs on higher slopes, then Monotheca-Olea woodland, andabove 6,560 feet (2,300 m)large juniper trees and tussock grasses. Egyptian and lappet-faced vultures breed, and there is a very small population of the Arabian tahr, a rare wild goat that has suffered at the hands of hunters. Mountain gazelles are more common. At lower altitudes, overgrazing by camels and goats has degraded much of the regions vegetation. Native mammals include very small numbers of Arabian

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ARABIAN PENINSULA

Peoples of the Arabian Peninsula

The homogeneity of the Arabs, who form the overwhelming majority of the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, is deceptive. Language unites them, but regional differences in the spoken language are evident. Migration into Arabia in the twentieth century added substantial minorities to the mix, particularly from southern Asia.
The Arabs of the peninsula include many regional ethnic variations. In much of the peninsula, tribal allegiances that have existed for two millennia are deep-rooted. In Yemen, tribes are still socially and politically important, and the small emirates of the Persian Gulf coast were originally based on tribal groups, such as the Bani Yas.

THE ARABS
In Saudi Arabia, there are distinctions among the peoples of the central region of Nejd and the western region of Hejaz and the more ethnically mixed peoples from the marginal regions, including the Bedouins of the desert who maintain a nomadic lifestyle. Bedouin Arabs in Saudi Arabia number around 700,000 and form two groups: nomadic herders, such as the Rwala and Dhafir tribes as well as the Baqqarah (who keep cattle rather than sheep), and settled Bedouin who have become farmers. Settled Bedouin, known as fellahin, live along the margins of the desert and in the larger oases. As in the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, the Arab population of Saudi Arabia has been enlarged and influenced by migrants from other Arabic countries. Yemenis, Egyptians, Palestinians, and Lebanese are all significant in terms of numbers or economic importance. The peoples of southern Yemen are predominantly descended from nomadic Arabs of the central Arabian Peninsula, while northern Yemenis are thought to descend from peoples who migrated into Arabia from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) over two thousand years ago. Omani Arabs are relatively homogenous, although the mountain people of the southern province of Dhofar may be descended from northern Yemenis. Descendants of local Arabs are a minority in all the small countries of the Persian Gulf region, where migrants from other Arab nations, peoples from southern Asia, and workers from Western countries have settled. Gulf Arabs speak a dialect of Arabic that is slightly different from that of Hejaz and Nejd, but the written language is the same.

A nomadic Bahraini Bedouin Arab woman spins wool in her tent. northern coast of Oman. After oil was discovered in Oman in 1964, more Baluchis migrated from Pakistan, and the Baluchi community in Oman now forms around one-tenth of the nations population or more. Oman is also home to descendants of Indian merchants from Sind. Called the Liwatiyah, Omans ethnic Sindhi community has lived in the country for centuries. The Mahra are a small minority in southern Saudi Arabia, western Oman, on the Yemeni island of Socotra, and particularly in eastern Yemen. Some still speak their own language, which derives from the ancient Himyaritic language of southern Arabia. The Mahra are ethnically different from other peoples of the region and may originate from the East Indies (modern Indonesia) or even Australasia. The Mahra in Socotra live mainly in the mountains. Socotra is also home to nomadic Arabs and African fishers. The island is a linguistic jigsaw: some Socotrans speak the Mahra language, most speak Arabic, and others retain Socotras own unwritten language.

AFRICAN INFLUENCES BALUCHIS, SINDHIS, AND THE MAHRA

Oman once had an Indian Ocean empire that included parts of eastern Africa and settlements along the coast of Baluchistan, now a province of Pakistan. The association between Oman and Baluchistan resulted in an ethnic Baluchi population along the Oman has a small population of Swahili speakers from eastern Africa, a reminder of Omans nineteenth-century trade with that region. Some Swahili speakers came from Zanzibar (until 1861 an Omani possession) when the island gained independence from the British in the 1960s. Migrants from Somalia, Eritrea,

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HISTORY AND MOVEMENT OF PEOPLES

and Ethiopia settled in the northern coastal plain of Yemen after the 1950s. The Yemeni Akhdam group are Afro-Arabs who descend from earlier migrants from Africa and intermarried with local Arab populations. Many Africans, however, entered the Arabian Peninsula by means of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean as part of the Islamic slave trade, which also traded in white Europeans as well as black Africans. Every year, several million Muslim pilgrims journey to the Saudi Arabian holy places in Mecca and Medina. Some pilgrims never return home but settle in the holy cities. Their numbers include black Africans. Saudi Arabia is also home to between 40,000 and 50,000 Somalis who descend from migrants who came from Africa in the thirteenth century and who converted to Islam by the sixteenth century.

SOUTHERN ASIAN, WESTERN, AND OTHER SETTLERS

The discovery of oil in the region in the twentieth century brought many thousands of economic migrants to the Arabian Peninsula. People from Europe and North America came to work in the expanding oil and natural gas industries. Some brought their families, but most Westerners are temporary residents; however, a very small number of Europeans have settled in the United Arab Emirates. Economic immigrants from India and Pakistan form the largest ethnic minority in the Arabian Peninsula. South Asians are now an essential element of the labor force in all the countries of the region except Yemen. Indians and Pakistanis undertake many jobs, including hospital and domestic staff, manual laborers, retailers and merchants, banking staff, and owners of many service enterprises. Most South Asians living and working in the region are Muslims, although there is a Hindu minority. Although many South Asian workers are temporary residents in the peninsula, others have settled, particularly in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. South Asians make up about 50 percent of the population in the United Arab Emirates, 36 percent in Qatar, 25 percent in Oman, and 19 percent in Bahrain. Temporary migrants from the Philippines are also active in the service industries in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. C. CARPENTER

IRANIANS
Iranians have settled along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf for centuries. In some Gulf states, they are an important minority: in Qatar and Bahrain, Iranians account for 10 percent and 8 percent of the population, respectively. There are also large numbers of Iranians living and working in the United Arab Emirates. The Kumzari people, a small, largely Arabic ethnic minority who live in Omans northern Musandam Peninsula, speak a language that is related to Farsi (Persian) but includes some elements of Arabic, Baluchi, Urdu, and English. Their dialect dates from the time of Omans strength as a maritime power.

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