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ARABIAN PENINSULA

Flora and Fauna of the Arabian PeninsulaAlthough it is part of Asia, the Arabian Peninsula’s flora and fauna have affinities withthe western Palearctic region (which includes Europe, North Africa, and Asia north ofthe Himalayas), the Oriental region, and the Afrotropical region (Africa south of theSahara 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

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

The Arabian gazelle is an endangered species because of huntingthat continued until the late twentieth century. These animals were reared in a protected area in Oman.

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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 Dipterygiumglaucum. 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 years—sprout 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 Arabia’s 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

country’s 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. Ruppell’s 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-Oleawoodland, and—above 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 region’s vegetation.

Native mammals include very small numbers of Arabian

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ARABIAN PENINSULA

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.

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

Peoples of the Arabian PeninsulaThe homogeneity of the Arabs, who form the overwhelming majority of the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, is deceptive. Language unites them, but regionaldifferences in the spoken language are evident. Migration into Arabia in the twentiethcentury added substantial minorities to the mix, particularly from southern Asia.

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 nation’s

population or more. Oman is also home to descendants of Indian

merchants from Sind. Called the Liwatiyah, Oman’s 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

Socotra’s own unwritten language.

AFRICAN INFLUENCES

Oman has a small population of Swahili speakers from eastern

Africa, a reminder of Oman’s 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,

A nomadic Bahraini Bedouin Arab woman spins wool in her tent.

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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.

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 Oman’s 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 Oman’s strength as a maritime power.

SOUTHERN ASIAN, WESTERN, AND OTHERSETTLERS

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