Arabian

The Arabs of the peninsula also live in Hadhramaut, the Najd, the Hejaz on the Red Sea, Oman and Bahrain. Before Islam the south held kingdoms such as Saba, Himyar and Hadhramaut, while the centre was largely home to nomadic tribes.

By his death in 632 the Prophet Muhammad had united the whole peninsula under Islam, and Mecca and Medina in the Hejaz became the holiest cities of the faith. From these lands Arab tribes moved north and west into the Levant, Iraq and the Maghreb, spreading the Arabic language across the region.