1. Arabia

2. Pre-Islamic Arabia Bedouin (nomadic cultures)
Tribes protect the trade routes
Mecca & Medina were key trade cities
Mecca founded by Umayyad Clan of Quraysh Bedouin tribe
Clan controls it politically & economically
Women might have had higher status
Culturally: Only their poetry is worth discussing

3. Expansion of Long-Distance Trade
Depended on environmental knowledge and technological adaptations
Cites, (like Mecca & Medina) were formed on Oasis
Well & Springs made sedentary agriculture possible
The Arabs & Berbers adapted camels to travel across & around the Sahara Desert

4. Why camels are great? long periods without water (4-5 days)
carry very heavy loads
produce milk, wool, and meat
used to plow
Poo: fertilizer & make fire
Real Name: dromedaries

5. First Evidence of Domestication
Not hard to do
Dates back to the late third millennium BCE
First in the Arabian peninsula
Seems to have been connected to the exploitation of distant copper mines.
10th or 9th century BCE becomes a really popular animal in the Near East

6. What kind of camel technology did they have?
First stirrup-like object was invented in India in 2nd century BC
Nomadic tribes in northern China are thought to have been the inventors of the modern stirrup by AD 302.
Gave great support for the rider, and was essential in later warfare.