Arabia

Traits: Religious & Expansionist

Starting Technologies: Pottery & Ceremonial Burial

Unique Unit: Ansar Warrior

The earliest nomadic inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula were pastoralists herding sheep, goats, and camels. Some Arabs did settle in cities along the coast and near desert oases where date and cereal agriculture occurred. The major source of wealth was in trade as Arab caravans transported spices, ivory, locally sourced incents, and gold across the Arabian desert. Merchants arrived from India and China to the peninsula and the Horn of Africa, their goods were carried across the deserts, and exchanged in the markets of Europe and the Eurasian Steppe. Arabs existed as mostly raiders and merchants throughout the long history of Antiquity.

During the 7th century AD, Muhammad emerged as the prophet of the religion of Islam. Through wars of conquest, Islam unified the Arabs, Bedouins, and the town-dwellers of the oases, and within a century, spread throughout most of the present-day Arab-speaking world. The Muslim Wars of Conquest spread the world of Mohamad from Spain in the West to the Indus River in the East. Their large and mobile armies threatened the Great Walls of Constantinople many times. The greatest of their conquests was extinguishing nearly four thousand years of historical and cultural traditions of the Fertile Crescent & Persian Civilizations.

The newfound social organization and rapid expansion that followed the rise of Islam offered new possibilities for the Arabs. A blending of Classical, North African, Persian, Egyptian, and Arabic cultures and technologies lead to innovations in agricultural production and new trading opportunities, particularly in luxury goods. Islam flourished for a millennium during the entire breadth of the Middle Ages. Major disruptions to Islamic civilization development began with the Mongolian and Timurid wars of conquest.

During the Enlightenment, European sailing technology left the old Silk Road obsolete. Commerce would be dominated by emerging International Ocean Trade, leaving the previously preferred warm-sea and land-linked routes of the Silk Road unnecessarily expensive and dangerous. A steady decline in power and influence occurred under the aging Ottoman Empire. Likewise, Islamic Civilization was forgotten during the Age of Colonization and fell behind during the Era of Industrialization. The World Wars also relegated Islamic Civilization as spectators in the larger showdowns of the modern superpowers.

In the Post-Modern world, the Arab-speaking nations have found great wealth and influence due to their booming populations and access to natural resources, namely oil. Traditional Arab values have since been modified in the 20th century through the combined pressures of urbanization, industrialization, and Western influences. Today, the greatest threats to the stability and development of Arabs and the larger Civilizations of Islam are largely internal. Should the nations of the Middle East begin to work cooperatively through their long historical traditions of trade and tolerance, a new coalition of challengers could arise to redefine the world order of power and politics.

Can you unite the varied tribes, clans, and nations of the Arab-speaking peoples? Can you spread the name of the holy prophet, by word or by sword, to all corners of the world? Can you build a civilization that can stand the test of time?