The Arab world (Arabic: الوطن العربي al-watam al-ʿarabī or Arabic: العالم العربي al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī ) refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.[1]
The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast, with a combined population of around 280 million people.[1]
The sentiment of Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab countries, a project known as Pan-Arabism.[2][3] The popular protests throughout the Arab world of late 2010 to early 2011 are directed against the governments and the associated political corruption, paired with the demand for more democratic rights.
The term "Arab world" is usually rejected by those living in the region who do not consider themselves Arabs, like non-Semitic people such as the Kurds, and is resisted even more strongly by ethnic Berbers, because it implies that the entire region is Arab in its identity, population, and origin, whereas history stipulates that the original homeland of the Arabs is limited to the Arabian peninsula in Asia. The term is also rejected by some minorities originating from old historical populations such as Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs, because they have been in the region for a long time and are thought to be the first peoples to settle in some regions, such as Iraq and Syria.
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The linguistic and political denotation inherent in the term Arab is generally dominant over genealogical considerations. Thus, individuals with little or no direct ancestry from the Arabian Peninsula could identify themselves or be considered as Arabs, partially by virtue of their home language (see Arab identity). Such an identity however, is disputed by many peoples. Egyptians for example, may or may not identify themselves as Arabs.
Although no globally-accepted definition of the Arab world exists,[1] all countries that are members of the Arab League are generally acknowledged as being part of the Arab world.[1][4]
The Arab League is a regional organisation that aims (among other things) to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries and sets out the following definition of an Arab:
| “ | An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.[5] | ” |
This standard territorial definition is sometimes seen to be inappropriate[6] or problematic,[7] and may be supplemented with certain additional elements (see ancillary linguistic definition below).[8]
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As an alternative to,[9] or in combination with,[1] the standard territorial definition, the Arab world may be defined as consisting of peoples and states united to at least some degree by Arabic language, culture or geographic contiguity,[10] or those states or territories in which the majority of the population speaks Arabic, and thus may also include populations of the Arab diaspora.[1]
When an ancillary linguistic definition is used in combination with the standard territorial definition, various parameters may be applied to determine whether a state or territory should be included in this alternative definition of the Arab world. These parameters may be applied to the states and territories of the Arab League (which constitute the Arab world under the standard definition) and to other states and territories. Typical parameters that may be applied include: whether Arabic is widely spoken; whether Arabic is an official or national language; or whether an Arabic cognate language is widely spoken. These are considered below.
Arabic is spoken as both an official and majority language by most Arab League states.
Several states have declared Arabic to be an official or national language, although Arabic is not widely spoken. As members of the Arab League, however, they are considered part of the Arab world under the standard territorial definition.
Somalia has two official languages, Arabic and Somali, both of which belong to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family. Although Arabic is spoken by many in the north, Somali is the more widely used language and contains many Arabic loan words.[11]
Similarly, Djibouti has two official languages, Arabic and French. It also has several formally recognised national languages; besides Somali, many people speak Afar, which is also an Afro-Asiatic language. The majority of the population speaks Somali and Afar, although Arabic is also widely used for trade and other activities.[12]
Comoros has three official languages: Arabic, Comorian and French. Comorian is the most widely spoken language, with Arabic having a religious significance, and French being associated with the educational system.
Chad, Eritrea and Israel all recognise Arabic as an official language, but none of them is a member-state of the Arab League. Although Eritrea has observer status at the Arab League, and has a large number of Arabic speakers, both Eritrea and Chad are not commonly considered parts of the Arab world.
Israel is a self-professed Jewish state and is not, therefore, part of the Arab world. However, according to some definitions,[8][13] the population of Arab citizens of Israel may be considered a constituent part of the Arab world.
Iran has about 5 million Arabic speakers. Iranian Arabs are mainly found in Al-Ahwaz, a southwestern region in the Khuzestan province; others inhabit the Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces as well as the city of Qom. Mali and Senegal recognize Hassaniya, the Arabic dialect of the Moorish ethnic minority, as a national language.[14] Also Cyprus recognised Cypriot Maronite Arabic under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and Malta has an official language, Maltese, akin to Maghrebi Arabic, but is not part of the Arab world.
| Pos | Country | Population | World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt | 80,776,815 | 16 |
| 2 | Algeria | 36,423,000 | 34 |
| 3 | Iraq | 34,400,000 | 37 |
| 4 | Morocco | 32,393,100 | 39 |
| 5 | Sudan | 30,894,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia | 27,136,977 | 45 |
| 7 | Yemen | 23,580,000 | 49 |
| 8 | Syria | 22,505,000 | 55 |
| 9 | Tunisia | 10,432,500 | 77 |
| 10 | Somalia | 9,359,000 | 85 |
| 13 | United Arab Emirates | 8,264,070 | 93 |
| 11 | Libya | 6.597.960 | 103 |
| 12 | Jordan | 6,407,085 | 106 |
| 14 | Lebanon | 4,224,000 | 125 |
| 15 | Palestinian territories | 4,136,540 (Disputed) | 126 |
| 17 | Mauritania | 3,340,627 | 134 |
| 16 | Kuwait | 2,818,000 | 138 |
| 18 | Oman | 2,773,479 | 139 |
| 19 | Qatar | 1,699,435 | 149 |
| 20 | Bahrain | 1,234,571 | 155 |
| 21 | Djibouti | 864,000 | 159 |
| 22 | Comoros | 691,000 | 163 |
| Total | Arab League | 355,251,539 |
| Rank | Country | Area (km2)[Note 1] | Area (sq mi) | % of Total | Notes |
| 1 | Algeria | 2,381,741 | 919,595 | 18.1% | Largest country in Africa and in the Arab world. |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 2,149,690 | 830,000 | 16.4% | Largest country in the Middle East. |
| 3 | Sudan | 1,861,484 | 718,723 | 14.2% | Formerly the largest country in Africa. |
| 4 | Libya | 1,759,540 | 679,360 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Mauritania | 1,025,520 | 395,960 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Egypt | 1,002,000 | 387,000 | 7.6% | Excluding the Hala'ib Triangle (20,580 km2/7,950 sq mi). |
| 7 | Somalia | 637,657 | 246,201 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Yemen | 527,968 | 203,850 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Morocco | 446,550 | 172,410 | 3.4% | Does not include Western Sahara (266,000 km2/103,000 sq mi). |
| 10 | Iraq | 435,244 | 168,049 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | Oman | 309,500 | 119,500 | 2.4% | |
| 12 | Syria | 185,180 | 71,500 | 1.4% | Including the part of the Golan Heights (1,200 km2/460 sq mi) currently administered by Israel. |
| 13 | Tunisia | 163,610 | 63,170 | 1.2% | |
| 14 | Jordan | 89,342 | 34,495 | 0.7% | |
| 15 | United Arab Emirates | 83,600 | 32,300 | 0.6% | |
| 16 | Djibouti | 23,200 | 9,000 | 0.1% | |
| 17 | Kuwait | 17,818 | 6,880 | 0.1% | |
| 18 | Qatar | 11,586 | 4,473 | 0.08% | |
| 19 | Lebanon | 10,452 | 4,036 | 0.08% | |
| 20 | Palestine | 6,020 | 2,320 | 0.05% | |
| 21 | Comoros | 2,235 | 863 | 0.01% | |
| 22 | Bahrain | 758 | 293 | 0.005% |
| Rank | Country | Density (/km2) |
Density (/mi2) |
Area (km2) |
Area (mi2) |
Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bahrain | 1,646 | 4,263 | 750 | 290 | 1,234,596 | [4] |
| 2 | Palestinian territories | 681 | 1,764 | 6,020 | 2,320 | 4,100,000 | [16] |
| 3 | Lebanon | 404 | 1,046 | 10,452 | 4,036 | 4,224,000 | |
| 4 | Comoros | 302 | 782 | 2,235 | 863 | 676,000 | |
| 5 | Kuwait | 200 | 518 | 17,818 | 6,880 | 3,566,437 | |
| 6 | Qatar | 128 | 332 | 11,000 | 4,200 | 1,409,000 | |
| 7 | Syria | 118 | 306 | 185,180 | 71,500 | 21,906,000 | |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | 99 | 256 | 83,600 | 32,300 | 8,264,070 | [17] |
| 9 | Egypt | 81 | 210 | 1,001,449 | 386,662 | 80,436,072 | [18] |
| 10 | Morocco | 73 | 189 | 446,550 | 172,410 | 32,287,474 | [19] |
| 11 | Jordan | 71 | 184 | 89,342 | 34,495 | 6,316,000 | |
| 12 | Iraq | 70 | 181 | 438,317 | 169,235 | 30,747,000 | |
| 13 | Tunisia | 63 | 163 | 163,610 | 63,170 | 10,327,800 | [20] |
| 14 | Yemen | 45 | 117 | 527,968 | 203,850 | 23,580,000 | |
| 15 | Djibouti | 37 | 96 | 23,200 | 9,000 | 864,000 | |
| 16 | Sudan | 17 | 44 | 1,886,068 | 728,215 | 31,894,000 | [21] |
| 17 | Algeria | 15 | 39 | 2,381,741 | 919,595 | 34,895,000 | |
| 18 | Somalia | 14 | 36 | 637,657 | 246,201 | 9,133,000 | |
| 19 | Saudi Arabia | 12 | 31 | 2,149,690 | 830,000 | 28,146,658 | |
| 20 | Oman | 9.2 | 24 | 309,500 | 119,500 | 2,845,000 | |
| 21 | Libya | 3.6 | 9.3 | 1,759,540 | 679,360 | 6,420,000 | |
| 22 | Mauritania | 3.2 | 8.3 | 1,025,520 | 395,960 | 3,291,000 |
The Arabic language forms the unifying feature of the Arab world. Though different areas use local varieties of Arabic, all share in the use of the modern standardized language, derived from Classical Arabic (symptomatic of Arabic diglossia). This contrasts with the situation in the wider Islamic world, where in contiguous Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Arabic maintains its use in a similar script and retains its cultural prestige primarily as the language of religion and theological scholarship, but where Arabic is not spoken as a vernacular.
The majority of people in the Arab World adhere to Islam and the religion has official status in most countries. Shariah law exists partially in the legal system in some countries, especially in the Arabian peninsula, while others are secular. The majority of the Arab countries adhere to Sunni Islam. Iraq and Bahrain, however, are Shia majority countries, while Lebanon, Yemen, and Kuwait have large Shia minorities. In Saudi Arabia, the eastern province Al-Hasa region has Shia minority and the southern province city Najran has an Ismalia Shiite minority also. Ibadi Islam is practised in Oman and Ibadis make up 75% population of the country.
There are sizable numbers of Christians, living primarily in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and Sudan. Formerly, there were significant minorities of Jews throughout the Arab World. However, the Partition of Palestine, and establishment of Israel prompted their subsequent mass emigration and expulsion within a few decades. Today small Jewish communities remain, ranging anywhere from ten in Bahrain, to more than 1,000 in Tunisia and 7,000 in Morocco. Overall, Arabs make up about one quarter of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, a group sometimes referred to as the Islamic world.
According to UNESCO, the average rate of adult literacy (ages 15 and older) in this region is 76.9%. In Mauritania and Yemen, the rate is lower than the average, at barely over 50 %. On the other hand, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan record a high adult literacy rate of over 90%. The average rate of adult literacy shows steady improvement, and the absolute number of adult illiterates fell from 64 million to around 58 million between 1990 and 2000-2004. Overall, the gender disparity in adult literacy is high in this region, and of the illiteracy rate, women account for two-thirds, with only 69 literate women for every 100 literate men. The average GPI (Gender Parity Index) for adult literacy is 0.72, and gender disparity can be observed in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Above all, the GPI of Yemen is only 0.46 in a 53% adult literacy rate.[22] According to a UN survey, in the Arab world, the average person reads four pages a year and one new title is published each year for every 12,000 people.[23] The Arab Thought Foundation reports that just above 8% of people in Arab countries aspire to get an education.[23]
Literacy rate is higher among the youth than adults. Youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) in the Arab region increased from 63.9 to 76.3 % from 1990 to 2002. The average rate of GCC States Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was 94 %, followed by the Maghreb at 83.2% and the Mashriq at 73.6 %. However, more than one third of youth remain illiterate in the Arab least developed countries (Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen).[24] In 2004, the regional average of youth literacy is 89.9% for male and 80.1 % for female.[25]
The average population growth rate in Arab countries is 2.3%.
The United Nations published an Arab human development report in 2002, 2003 and 2004. These reports, written by researchers from the Arab world, address some sensitive issues in the development of Arab countries: women empowerment, availability of education and information among others.
Women in the Arab world are still denied equality of opportunity, although their disempowerment is a critical factor crippling the Arab nations' quest to return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture, according to a new United Nations-sponsored report in 2008.[26]
Within the most common definition of the Arab World, there are substantial populations who are not Arab either by ethnic or linguistic affiliation, and who often or generally do not consider themselves Arab as such. Nevertheless, most are as indigenous to their areas and many, if not most, actually resided in the area before the arrival of true Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula during which the spread of Islam took place. Certain populations have expressed resentment towards the term "Arab World," and believe that their national and political rights have been unjustly brushed aside by modern governments' focus on Pan-Arabism and promoting an Arab identity.
The Arabs historically originate as a Central Semitic group in the Arabian peninsula. Their expansion beyond Arabia and the Syrian desert is due to the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. Egypt was conquered in AD 639, and gradually Arabized during the medieval period. A distinctively Egyptian Arabic language emerged by the 16th century. The Maghreb was also conquered in the 7th century, and gradually Arabized under the Fatimids. Islam was brought to Sudan from Egypt during the 8th to 11th centuries, and the culture of Northern Sudan today is a mixture of Arab and Nubian elements (Southern Sudan is predominantly Christian and divided between regional languages, but Juba Arabic serves as lingua franca).
Islam became predominant in the Kanem Empire in Chad and the Adal Sultanate in Somalia by the late medieval period, but no Arabic-speaking majority developed, even though Arabic came to be used as a lingua franca.
The Arab Abbasid Caliphate fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Egypt came under Turkic rule. The Turkish Ottoman Empire by 1570 controlled most of the Arab world, although Morocco remained under the rule of Berber dynasties, succeeded by the Saadi dynasty in the 16th to 17th centuries.
The sentiment of Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalisms within the failing Ottoman Empire.
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed as a result of World War I, much of the Arab world came to be controlled by the European colonial empires: British Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mesopotamia, British protectorate of Egypt, French protectorate of Morocco, Italian Libya, French Tunisia, French Algeria, French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and the so-called Trucial States, a British protectorate formed by the sheikhdoms on the former "Pirate Coast".
These Arab states only gained their independence during or after World War II, the Republic of Lebanon in 1943, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1946, Libya in 1951, the Republic of Egypt in 1952, the Kingdom of Morocco and Tunisia in 1956, the Republic of Iraq in 1958, Algeria in 1962 and the United Arab Emirates in 1971. By contrast, Saudi Arabia had fragmented with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and was unified under Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia by 1932. The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen also seceded directly from the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Oman apart from brief intermittent Persian and Portuguese rule has been self-governing since the 8th century.
The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab worlds, a project known as Pan-Arabism.[2][3] There were some short-lived attempts at such unification in the mid-20th century, notably the United Arab Republic of 1958 to 1961. The Arab League's main goal is to unify politically the Arab populations so defined. Its permanent headquarters are located in Cairo. However, it was moved temporarily to Tunis during the 1980s, after Egypt was expelled for signing the Camp David Accords (1978).
Pan-Arabism has mostly been abandoned as an ideology since the 1980s, and was replaced by Pan-Islamism on one hand, and individual nationalisms on the other.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 has given rise to the Arab–Israeli conflict, one of the major unresolved geopolitical conflicts.
The Arab states in changing alliances were involved in a number of wars with Israel and its western allies between 1948 and 1973, including the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. An Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in 1979.
While the Arab world had been of limited interest to the European colonial powers, the British Empire being mostly interested in the Suez Canal as a route to British India, the economic and geopolitical situation changed dramatically after the discovery of large petroleum deposits in the 1930s, coupled with the vastly increased demand for petroleum in the west as a result of the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Persian Gulf is particularly well-endowed with this strategic raw material: four Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar, are among the top ten oil or gas exporters worldwide. In addition, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan all have smaller but significant reserves. Where present, these have had significant effects on regional politics, often enabling rentier states, leading to economic disparities between oil-rich and oil-poor countries, and, particularly in the more sparsely populated states of the Persian Gulf and Libya, triggering extensive labor immigration.
Islamism and Pan-Islamism were on the rise during the 1980s. The Hezbollah, a militant Islamic party in Lebanon, was founded in 1982. Islamic terrorism became a problem in the Arab world in the 1970s to 1980s. While the Muslim Brotherhood had been active in Egypt since 1928, their militant actions were limited to assassination attempts on political leaders. But during the 1980s to 2000s, terrorism in Egypt has targeted the Christian minority as well as tourists.
Today, Arab states are characterized by their autocratic rulers and lack of democratic control. The 2010 Democracy Index classifies Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories as "hybrid regimes", and all other Arab states as "authoritarian regimes". Similarly, the 2011 Freedom House report classifies Comoros and Mauritania as "electoral democracies",[28] Lebanon and Kuwait as "partly free", and all other Arab states as "not free".
The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq forces, led to the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War. Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and the Palestinians resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After the war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC states.[29]
A chain of events leading to the destabilization of the authoritarian regimes established during the 1950s throughout the Arab world became apparent during the early years of the 21st century. The 2003 invasion of Iraq led to the collapse of the Baathist regime and ultimate execution of Saddam Hussein. A growing class of young, educated, secular citizens with access to modern media such as Al Jazeera (since 1996) and communicating via the internet began to form a third force besides the classical dichotomy of Pan-Arabism vs. Pan-Islamism that had dominated the second half of the 20th century. In 2003, the Egyptian Movement for Change, popularly known as Kefaya, was launched to oppose the Mubarak regime and to establish democratic reforms and greater civil liberties in Egypt. In Syria, the Damascus Spring of 2000 to 2001 heralded the possibility of democratic change, but the Baathist regime managed to suppress the movement.
The popular protests throughout the Arab world of late 2010 to early 2011 are directed against these authoritarian and the associated political corruption, paired with the demand for more democratic rights.
For the states and territories constituting the Arab world, see Arab world#Definition above.
Different forms of government are represented in the Arab World: Some of the countries are monarchies: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The other Arab countries are all republics. With the exception of the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, and recently Mauritania, democratic elections throughout the Arab World are generally viewed as compromised, due to outright vote rigging, intimidation of opposition parties, and severe restraints on civil liberties and political dissent.
After World War II, Pan-Arabism sought to unite all Arabic-speaking countries into one political entity. Only Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya and North Yemen considered the short-lived unification of the United Arab Republic. Historical divisions, competing local nationalisms, and geographical sprawl were major reasons for the failure of Pan-Arabism. Arab Nationalism was another strong force in the region which peaked during the mid-20th century and was professed by many leaders in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Syria, and Iraq. Arab Nationalist leaders of this period included Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria, Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, Zaki al-Arsuzi, Constantin Zureiq and Shukri al-Kuwatli of Syria, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr of Iraq, Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco, and Shakib Arslan of Lebanon.
Later and current Arab Nationalist leaders include Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The diverse Arab states generally maintained close ties but distinct national identities developed and strengthened with the social, historical and political realities of the past 60 years. This has made the idea of a pan-Arab nation-state increasingly less feasible and likely. Additionally, an upsurge in political Islam has since led to a greater emphasis on pan-Islamic rather than pan-Arab identity amongst some Arab Muslims. Arab nationalists who once opposed Islamic movements as a threat to their power, now deal with them differently for reasons of political reality.[30]
Many of the modern borders of the Arab World were drawn by European imperial powers during the 19th and early 20th century. However, some of the larger states (in particular Egypt and Syria) have historically maintained geographically definable boundaries, on which some of the modern states are roughly based. The 14th century Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi, for instance, defines Egypt's boundaries as extending from the Mediterranean in the north to lower Nubia in the south; and between the Red Sea in the east and the oases of the Western/Libyan desert. The modern borders of Egypt, therefore, are not a creation of European powers, and are at least in part based on historically definable entities which are in turn based on certain cultural and ethnic identifications.
At other times, kings, emirs or sheikhs were placed as semi-autonomous rulers over the newly created nation states, usually chosen by the same imperial powers that for some drew the new borders, for services rendered to European powers like the British Empire, e.g. Sherif Hussein ibn Ali. Many African states did not attain independence until the 1960s from France after bloody insurgencies for their freedom. These struggles were settled by the imperial powers approving the form of independence given, so as a consequence almost all of these borders have remained. Some of these borders were agreed upon without consultation of those individuals that had served the colonial interests of Britain or France. One such agreement solely between Britain and France (to the exclusion of Sherif Hussein ibn Ali), signed in total secrecy until Lenin released the full text, was the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Another influential document written without the consensus of the local population was the Balfour Declaration.
As former director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Efraim Halevy, now a director at the Hebrew University said,
| “ | The borders, which if you look on the maps of the middle-east are very straight lines, were drawn by British and French draftsmen who sat with maps and drew the lines of the frontiers with rulers. If the ruler for some reason or other moved on the map, because of some person's hand shaking, then the frontier moved (with the hand).[31] | ” |
He went on to give an example,
| “ | There was a famous story about a British consul, a lady named Gertrude Bell who drew the map between Iraq and Jordan, using transparent paper. She turned to talk to somebody and as she was turning the paper moved and the ruler moved and that added considerable territory to the (new) Jordanians.[31] | ” |
Historian Jim Crow, of Newcastle University, has said:
| “ | Without that imperial carve-up, Iraq would not be in the state it is in today...Gertrude Bell was one of two or three Britons who were instrumental in the creation of the Arab states in the Middle East that were favourable to Britain.[5] | ” |
As of 2006, the Arab World accounts for two-fifths of the gross domestic product and three-fifths of the trade of the wider Muslim World.
The Arab states are mostly, although not exclusively, developing economies and derive their export revenues from oil and gas, or the sale of other raw materials. Recent years have seen significant economic growth in the Arab World, due largely to an increase in oil and gas prices, which tripled between 2001 and 2006, but also due to efforts by some states to diversify their economic base. Industrial production has risen, for example the amount of steel produced between 2004 and 2005 rose from 8.4 to 19 million tonnes. (Source: Opening speech of Mahmoud Khoudri, Algeria's Industry Minister, at the 37th General Assembly of the Iron & Steel Arab Union, Algiers, May 2006). However even 19 million tons pa still only represents 1.7% of global steel production, and remains inferior to the production of countries like Brazil.[32]
The main economic organisations in the Arab World are the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising the states in the Persian Gulf, and the Union of the Arab Maghreb (UMA), made up of North African States. The GCC has achieved some success in financial and monetary terms, including plans to establish a common currency in the Persian Gulf region. Since its foundation in 1989, the UMA's most significant accomplishment has been the establishment of a 7000 km highway crossing North Africa from Mauritania to Libya's border with Egypt. The central stretch of the highway, expected to be completed in 2010, will cross Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In recent years a new term has been coined to define a greater economic region: the MENA region (standing for Middle East and North Africa) is becoming increasingly popular, especially with support from the current US administration.
As of August 2009 it was reported that Saudi Arabia is the strongest Arab economy according to World Bank.[33]
Saudi Arabia remains the top Arab economy in terms of total GDP. It is Asia's eleventh largest economy, followed by Egypt and Algeria, which were also the second and third largest economies in Africa (after South Africa), in 2006. In terms of GDP per capita, Qatar is the richest developing country in the world.[34]
The total GDP of all Arab countries in 1999 was US$531.2 billion. By contrast, the GDP of Spain that year was US$595.5 billion.[35]
The Arab World stretches across more than 13,000,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 sq mi) of North Africa and the part of North-East Africa and South-West Asia. The Asian part of the Arab world is called the Mashriq. The North African part of the Arab World to the west of Egypt and Sudan is known as the Maghreb. The status of Egypt itself, geographically in the center of the Arab world, is disputed; although on the African continent, it has stronger cultural connections to the Mashriq.
The term "Arab" often connotes the Middle East, but the larger (and more populous) part of the Arab World is North Africa. Its eight million square kilometers include two of the largest countries of the African continent, Algeria (2.4 million km²) in the center of the region and Sudan (1.9 million km²) in the southeast. Algeria is about three-quarters the size of India, or about one-and-a-half times the size of Alaska, the largest state in the United States. The largest country in the Arab Middle East is Saudi Arabia (2 million km²).
At the other extreme, the smallest autonomous mainland Arab country in North Africa and the Middle East is Lebanon (10,452 km²), and the smallest island Arab country is Bahrain (665 km²).
Notably, every Arab country borders a sea or ocean, with the exception of the Arab region of northern Chad, which is completely landlocked. Iraq is actually nearly landlocked, as it has only a very narrow access to the Persian Gulf.
The political borders of the Arab world have wandered, leaving Arab minorities in non-Arab countries of the Sahel and the Horn of Africa as well as in the Middle Eastern countries of Cyprus, Turkey and Iran, and also leaving non-Arab minorities in Arab countries. However, the basic geography of sea, desert, and mountain provide the enduring natural boundaries for this region.
The Arab world straddles two continents, Africa and Asia, and is oriented mainly along an east-west axis, dividing it into African and Asian areas.
Arab Africa—or more commonly Arab North Africa, though this is redundant—is roughly a long trapezoid, narrower at the top, that comprises the entire northern third of the continent. It is surrounded by water on three sides (west, north, and east) and desert or desert scrubland on the fourth (south).
In the west, it is bounded by the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. From northeast to southwest, Morocco, Western Sahara (annexed and occupied by Morocco), and Mauritania make up the roughly 2,000 kilometers of Arab Atlantic coastline. The southwestern sweep of the coast is gentle but substantial, such that Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott (18°N, 16°W), is far enough west to share longitude with Iceland (13–22°W). Nouakchott is the westernmost capital of the Arab World and the third-westernmost in Africa, and sits on the Atlantic fringe of the southwestern Sahara. Next south along the coast from Mauritania is Senegal, whose abrupt border belies the gradient in culture from Arab to Negroid African that historically characterizes this part of West Africa.
Arab Africa's boundary to the north is again a continental boundary, the Mediterranean Sea. This boundary begins in the west with the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, the thirteen kilometer wide channel that connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic to the west, and separates Morocco from Spain to the north. East along the coast from Morocco are Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, followed by Egypt, which forms the region's (and the continent's) northeastern corner. The coast turns briefly but sharply south at Tunisia, slopes more gently southeastward through the Libyan capital of Tripoli, and bumps north through Libya's second city, Benghazi, before turning straight east again through Egypt's second city, Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile. Along with the spine of Italy to its north, Tunisia thus marks the junction of western and eastern Mediterranean, and a cultural transition as well: west of Egypt begins the region of the Arab World known as the Maghreb include (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania).
Historically the 4,000-kilometer Mediterranean boundary has fluttered. Population centers north of it in Europe have invited contact and Arab exploration—mostly friendly, though sometimes not. Islands and peninsulas near the Arab coast have changed hands. The islands of Sicily and Malta lie just a hundred kilometers east of the Tunisian city of Carthage, which has been a point of contact with Europe since its founding in the first millennium BCE; both Sicily and Malta at times have been part of the Arab World. Just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco, regions of the Iberian peninsula were part of the Arab World throughout the Middle Ages, extending the northern boundary at times to the foothills of the Pyrenees and leaving a substantial mark on local and wider European and Western culture.
The northern boundary of the African Arab world has also fluttered briefly in the other direction, first through the Crusades and later through the imperial involvement of France, Britain, Spain, and Italy. Another visitor from northern shores, Turkey, controlled the east of the region for centuries, though not as a colonizer. Spain still maintains two small enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla (called "Morocco Espanol"), along the otherwise Moroccan coast. Overall this wave has ebbed, though like the Arab expansion north it has left its mark. The proximity of North Africa to Europe has always encouraged interaction, and this continues with Arab immigration to Europe and European interest in the Arab countries today. However, population centers and the physical fact of the sea keeps this boundary of the Arab World settled on the Mediterranean coastline.
To the east, the Red Sea defines the boundary between Africa and Asia, and thus also between Arab Africa and the Arab Middle East. This sea is a long and narrow waterway with a northwest tilt, stretching 2,300 kilometers from Egypt's Sinai peninsula southeast to the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Djibouti in Africa and Yemen in Arabia but on average just 150 kilometers wide. Though the sea is navigable along its length, historically much contact between Arab Africa and the Arab Middle East has been either overland across the Sinai or by sea across the Mediterranean or the narrow Bab al Mendeb strait. From northwest to southeast, Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea form the African coastline, with Djibouti marking Bab al Mendeb's African shore.
Southeast along the coast from Djibouti is Somalia, but the Somali coast soon makes a 90-degree turn and heads northeast, mirroring a bend in the coast of Yemen across the water to the north and defining the south coast of the Gulf of Aden. The Somali coast then takes a hairpin turn back southwest to complete the horn of Africa. For six months of the year the monsoon winds blow from up equatorial Somalia, past Arabia and over the small Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, to rain on India; they then switch directions and blow back. Hence the east- and especially southeast-coast boundary of Arab Africa has historically been a gateway for maritime trade and cultural exchange with both East Africa and the subcontinent. The trade winds also help explain the presence of the Comoros islands, an Arab-African country, off the coast of Mozambique, near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, the southernmost part of the Arab World.
The southern boundary of Arab North Africa is the strip of scrubland known as the Sahel that crosses the continent south of the Sahara, dipping further south in Sudan in the east.
The West Asian Arab region comprises the Arabian Peninsula, Bilad al-Sham (the Arab name for what was Ottoman Syria which included Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, most of Jordan and parts of Iraq, and Iran, more broadly or narrowly defined. The peninsula is roughly a tilted rectangle that leans back against the slope of northeast Africa, the long axis pointing toward Turkey and Europe.