People settled in areas where they could farm, and herded flocks of sheep and goats in areas where they could graze on seasonal plants. During the first millennium B.C.E., domestication of the camel allowed pastoral nomads to inhabit even more arid parts of the peninsula.
More important, the camel allowed people to cross the driest deserts between wells. Camels can travel at a steady rate and withstand the harsh desert climate for long periodswithout drinking.
The Arabs were skilful in transporting goods safely across the wide barren stretches, guided by signs of nature just as mariners navigated the seas.
Seaports along the Arabian coasts linked the peninsula with the Mediterranean trading system, the Indian Ocean and Africa.
Towns at caravan stops at oases developed along the trade routes, such as inland towns of Makkah and Madinah, and the older town of Ubars.
In the northern part of the peninsula, cities such as Jericho, Jerusalem and Damascus developed during biblical times. During classical times, city- states like Palmyra and Petra grew wealthy from trade on the eastern end of the Asian silk roads.
Although the inner regions of the Arabian peninsula were too difficult to conquer, the caravanin imperial armies for the Persians and the Romans.
Improvements in the camel saddle duringthe early centuries of the Common Era increased their strength as a military force and control of the caravan trade.gave themNomadic herders, settled farmers and townspeople shared interdependent society.
They depended upon one another for food, defence and trade. Herders supplied meat, milk and leather from their animals.
Farmers supplied grain for bread as well as dates.
Traders needed desert guides and pack animals, and all three groups benefited from long-distance trade goods like silk, wool and cotton cloth, spices, perfumes, jewels, gold, silver and iron goods.
The wealth of the townspeople gave them a leading position, which could still be challenged by the desert warriors.
Pastoral nomads became guides for townspeople, acting as a shipping service for merchant groups, and providing skilled warriors and riders as security guards for the caravans.
Arabian peninsula was as a land bridge among the waterways that connect Afroeurasia where caravan trade crossed like the ships of maritime routes.hion Peninsula
0 Comments