LIBYA AND THE ARAB WORLD: A GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW

Abstract

« The Arab World » is a term used very widely both in the West and in
countries of the Middle East and North Africa, but what precisely is meant
by it? Can it be: defined and drawn on a map? If so, is the concept of an
Is the Arab World valid? There is of course no simple answer to these questions,
but a number of answers might be suggested.
Historically, the Arab World comprised those vast areas of South West
Asia, North Africa and Southern Europe which fell to Islam during the seventh
and eighth centuries. The early impetus for these amazing conquests
came from Arabs from the Arabian peninsula, most of them nomadic tribesmen
from central Arabia. To begin with little or no attempt was made
to convert conquered peoples to Islam, but where conversion occurred voluntarily
as was frequently the case, the defeated races automatically became
the equals of the conquerors and were able to mix and intermarry
with the Arabs. In time therefore the terms « Moslem » and « Arab > became
virtually synonymous, and by the middle of the eighth century AD.
conquests in the name of Islam were being conducted by others, and the
flow of warriors, administrators and migrants from Arabia became less important.
In 75C A.O. (133 A.H.) the Abbasid dynasty seized power, and with
its capital in Baghdad the empire became essentially Islamic rather than
Arab and multi-racial. Nevertheless, through the ninth and
tenth centuries, A.D ., Arab culture became more firmly established and en