Introduction
South East Arabia covers the area occupied by the ancient Trucial Oman and the regions of Abu Dhabi. The region has numerous resources that have provided a livelihood for the people over the years. Such resources include oases in the desert, coastlines, and mineral deposits in some regions. It falls into two categories. These areas are maritime South East Arabia and Mainland South East Arabia. The maritime part comprises resources and advancement made in the region’s seawaters. On the other hand, the mainland consists of regions, resources, and advancement made on the land areas inhabited by both man and wildlife. Archaeological excavations made in the UAE often explain the emergence of the physical features in the region.
People are also an important part of Southeast Arabia. The dominant religions in the areas are Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. However, other religious practices in the area include Hinduism, which has much influence from practices influenced by animist features. The main regions of South East Arabia are the Oman region and the Persian Gulf. Some historians refer to the area as the Arabia Peninsula.
The Trucial Oman Region
The emergence of the Oman dates back to half a million years ago. Archaeological evidence states there were six major glaciation periods. The Eurasian and Indian continental plates collided leading to further continental splits, while the Antarctica and Arctic circles drew more water, creating space for land. The Hajar Mountains, an important resource in Oman, emerged after the separation of the African and the Asian plates marking the onset of the Trucial Oman region. The deposition of sediments in the Omani plains led to decomposition of fossils within the plains, which are the current desert areas rich with oil.
The western part forms the desert area, which provides adequate land for grazing cattle belonging to the pastoral desert communities (Bosworth, 1997). On the contrary, the eastern part is mountainous and rich with outwash plains. On the West, Oman neighbors the region of Abu Dhabi through an emergent coastline. The coastline has flat islands located in shallow seawater. The attractive coastline ends in beaches that have high temperature suitable for the visiting tourists. Consequently, the shallow water implies that there is limited fishing in the sea unless one is willing to traverse the deep sea.
The Oasis Life in Liwa Desert
The Oasis forms part of the region’s desert resources. It is a notable sand rose, an attractive natural formation that resembles a stone flower. Their geological formation comprises of flat gypsum discs and cemented sand, which resulted from the precipitation of water to the sub-surface of the water table. Naturally, layers or strata of sand roses often weather out of the low-lying dunes in the Sabkha region. The remnants of the cemented sediments form extensive layers that stretch over a large area of the Liwa desert. The sub-surface and surface water table of the oasis is controlled by the runoff drained by the high altitude of the Hajar Mountains. The oasis has a rich deposit of sediment hence it supports a host of agricultural activities. In fact, the geological conditions vary greatly from the overall environment of the desert. There is a regular supply of water compared to the other regions in the desert.
Copper in the Hajar Mountains
The mountainous regions form an inland terrain that attracts the eye. Part of the primary resources sustains the tourism industry within the Oman region are its mountains. People travel from many parts of the world to view the spectacle. In addition to the natural, they some of the mountains offer geographical advantage for the formation of minerals. The Hajar provided copper deposits for the exploitation. In fact, the contact between the Oman region and the outside world including Portugal and Greece derived motivation from the existence of copper deposits in the area. Back then, the visitors’ interest lay in trading with people in the Omani region. Countries like Portugal acquired immense wealth from the trade, which later gave them the power to scramble for colonies in Africa.
Recent finds within the Eastern part of the Hajar Mountains and West of Abu Dhabi indicate the existence of man in South East Arabia many hundreds of years ago. During this period, SE Arabia may have had a hand in the migration of people from Africa into Asia. SE Arabia is famous for the migratory role that reached its peak in the Neolithic period. The trade was a major resource for the facilitation of the migration. Most merchants began dealing in the slave trade where most acquisitions came from Africa.
Major Routes
Archaeological Nomenclature of the Gulf
Major routes developed because of the frequency of channels use by the trade merchants. Their caravans started their traffic in Syria through the cities within South Iraq and followed the travel to the vital port of Oman. Pearls were a major attraction for the caravans following their exploitation in the area (Rice, 1994). In addition, the cultural attributes of the Omani attracted the visitors. They had many fairs and seafaring activities.
The Persian Gulf was the major access route the South East Arabia region. Early historical evidence pointing to the Persian Gulf emerge from the period of the Sumerian rulers in Mesopotamia within the third millennium B.C. The naming of the gulf pays tribute to a historical text written by Luga Zagesi, who was the King of Uruk. The role of the Gulf as an important routes dates back to the time of his rule. The king describes its location in reference to the Euphrates and Tigris, citing the clear routes provided by the upper sea. However, maritime trade within the Gulf declined in the midst of the reign of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The empire later revived the long-distance trade that began the modernization of the trade route.
The Persian Gulf and the Oman region were important points of exchange in the great long distance trade, which took place many years ago (Potts, 2012). The most important land routes still exist connecting Gaza to Phoenica, Khor Rori heading to the Southern Arabian Coast, and Palestine to Gaza. The routes stood the taste of time and maintained their importance throughout history until today. Regions like Gaza expanded and grew their connection to other regions within South East Arabia.
Other important routes still connecting the world to the region are the sea route stretching from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the commercial routes within the Peninsula of Anatolia linking Europe and Asia.
Opportunities Available in South East Arabia
Historically, Southeast Arabia has been dominant in trade. The accessible nature of the region through sea and road makes transport easy hence facilitating the exploration of resources. Availability of goods for trade, ranging from minerals to pearls means that the trade can occur at all times. Moreover, the Omani people value their tribal relationships, and the attributes extend to the behavior they exhibit towards visitors.
Mountains and oceans merge to form a spectacle (CLeuziou and Tosi, 2007). The scene is pleasant to the eye meaning that the Oman and its environs will continue to be the hub of tourist activities even in the future. Investors can move to the region, at least now that it has political stability, to take advantage of the opportunities within the area. The hotel industry may need some expansion as more people realize the tourist options that South East Arabia has to offer its visitors. The mountainous nature of the place pose a ready market for the hotel industry as sportsmen, mountain climbers, and hikers may visit the region to exploit its rich resources.
The region is both open and compact. In spite of the mountainous and hilly nature of the region, no place in Oman lacks access to the open sea. None population or investor lacks access to both sources of the regions wealth, the sea and water (Wilkinson, 1964). The historical unity of these two resources has been the essence of the country’s development. Most of its economic and social elements lie within the provisions of the two resources. For instance, the region’s architecture heavily relies upon the compatibility of the building to the surrounding. The opportunity here lies in introducing some flexibility in the way the Omani communities do things. For example, an individual can introduce other economic activities that do not have an affiliation with mountains or the sea. Tapping seawater and establishing large-scale irrigation farms to promote agriculture may be a good start. The people should not believe that economic opportunities lie within the available resources on the mountains and the sea alone.
These opportunities discussed can make the region a better place for settlement and generation of revenue. It may take a while for the implementation to succeed, but the results are worth the consideration of the people in the region.
Challenges Posed by the Natural World for Human Settlement
Southeast Arabia presents very harsh living conditions to the population. High temperatures and limited land for settlement due to the mountainous nature of the region. Scorching heat, tough terrains, scarcity of vegetation, and extreme cold temperatures at night compel people to adapt in order to live in the region. At times, they cannot stay in the area permanently because the conditions become extremely unbearable. The migratory nature of such people implies that it is hard for them to settle and make a worthwhile investment. Instead, their focus centers on finding a better place to stay (Oman, 2002).
The geographical conditions of the Oman region pose a challenge in terms of carrying out agriculture. First, the dominant desert conditions do not favor crop cultivation due to infertile soil and inadequate rainfall. Agriculture is limited to the oasis such as Liwa, which are not adequate to cater for the whole population.
Conclusion
SE Arabia is a potential region, but it faces many challenges. They start with limited plantation that causes poor soils within the region because the little rain erodes the fertile top layer. In addition, rearing animals is also hectic and limits one to a nomadic type of life. In the real sense, the main challenge within the area is the inability to diversify revenue generation within the economy. In the end, agricultural production is below standard but the people can manipulate the historical wealth and diversify the area’s output in other potential areas like tourism.
Bibliography
Bosworth. (1997). Nomenclature of the Persian Gulf.
CLeuziou & Tosi. (2007). A Diversity of Landscapes and Opportunities.
Oman. (2002). Environment in the Sultanate of Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment & Water Resources.
Potts. (2012). Witnesses of the Past.
Rice. (1994). Climate, Sea Levels, Man and his Companions.
Wilkinson, J. (1964). A Sketch of the Historical Geography of the Trucial Oman down to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century. The Geographical Journal
