Saudi Arabia

° Aden ° Dubai ° Kuwait

International Harbors

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia traces its roots back to the earliest civilizations of the Arabian Peninsula. The Middle East, of which Saudi Arabia is an integral part, is considered the birthplace of civilization. It is in this area that man first settled in farming communities, developed agriculture, domesticated livestock, perfected trade and invented writing, setting the stage for the rise of civilizations such as Babylon, Nineveh, Phoenicia and Egypt.

Cities along the western and northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula were located on a major overland trade route. Evidence of extensive commercial trade dating from 3,000 BC has been discovered along this route. Early trade commodities included agricultural products, spices, textiles, gold and frankincense.

The region's ancient nomadic peoples developed a deep love for the land as well as a strong sense of independence and adaptability to a challenging environment. Some Arabs turned to agriculture, forming settlements around a well or in an oasis, while others became nomads, traveling with their flocks across the desert in search of water and grazing land. Caravan cities formed along the western Red Sea coastal region of the peninsula. Although the desert environment was difficult to endure, it provided isolation and protection for the Arabs throughout the centuries. With the advent of Islam in the 7th century, tribes and clans were unified under one religion.

By the time Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in the mid-1400s, Arab sailors were already masters of the Indian Ocean. They had reached Malindi below the Horn of East Africa and then were forced to drop anchor, for, as the first Europeans in these Islamic waters, they dared not venture out onto the broad expanse of the Indian Ocean without a navigator schooled in the sea.

Da Gama was fortunate. He found in Malindi the most illustrious Arab navigator of the time. Ahmad ibn Majid, weather-beaten veteran of half a century at sea, had sailed the Indian Ocean from shore to shore and into the mouths of the great rivers—the Zambezi, the Tigris, the Indus. He could number the shoals off Mozambique. He could describe the best landfalls on both sides of the Red Sea. And so skillful was he at piloting argosies on the open-sea run from Malindi to the Malabar Coast that his services were constantly in demand by the prosperous merchants of Arabia and Africa.

Ahmad ibn Majid

"The sea route to India is easily managed," declared Ahmad ibn Majid, "if one has ability, courage and science." He himself enjoyed all three. Moreover, he was willing to place his nautical virtues at the disposal of the Portuguese, to whom he was already known by name. Even in far-off Europe they had read Ibn Majid's The Advantages of Knowing the Sciences of the Sea, an internationally celebrated sailors' handbook. Da Gama and his officers had studied it. Now the author came aboard their flagship armed with highly technical maps and charts of the Indian Ocean. He plotted for them the route between Malindi and Malabar. He proved that he could handle relatively new instruments like the compass and the astrolabe, forerunner of the sextant. He spoke with expert precision of vectors, tides and Indian seaports. He revealed a seaman's intuitive understanding of what their ships, completely new to him, could and could not do.'

Half the world wanted a share in the opulent Indian trade. Early in their history, the Arabs living on the littoral of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea had learned that they could make a profit by hazarding their lives on the deep waters beyond their shores. Seafaring families grew rich from transoceanic commerce. Splendid emporiums arose wherever trading ships came to dock—Aden, Zanzibar, Madagascar. Conversely, the seaports of the Malabar Coast, principally Calicut, became affluent from bartering with their Arab visitors. What kind of trade? The dhows carried incense, gold, pearls, glass and ornaments of every variety. They returned with their holds full of perfume, spices, silk, cotton cloth, diamonds and teakwood.

After the 1600 chartering of the East India Company, the British start to compete with Dutch, Portuguese, and French concerns for control of the lucrative Persian Gulf trade, but the region itself does not benefit from this boon as European traders have found sea routes to circumvent the overland transport of goods through Arabia.

Ottoman Control of Yemen

Group of Arab Figures, Two Smoking a Cubuk David Roberts.

The Ottoman control of Yemen ended in 1635, and the Shici Zaydi imams returned to power at Sanca. In Oman, the al-Bu-Sacid clan took Muscat as their capital, and in Saudi Arabia the present line of kings—the al-Sacud dynasty—was established in 1746.

In the early 18th century, Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab, the son of a religious judge, called on Muslims to return to the original form of Islam. Initially persecuted, he later found protection in the town of Diriyah, which was ruled by Muhammad bin Saud, a member of the prominent Al-Saud family. The partnership between these two men eventually led to the foundation of Saudi Arabia.

By 1824, the Al-Saud regained political control of central Arabia and once again ruled the region from their new capital of Riyadh, located close to Diriyah. A period of unrest and tribal warfare began in 1865 and resulted in the Al-Rashid family, with Ottoman support, extending its power over the Saudi State. The Al-Saud, under the leadership of Abdelrahman, were forced into exile in 1891. They lived on the borders of the Empty Quarter before settling in Kuwait.

Hodeidah, Yemen Loading and Unloading camel trains on the Red Sea coast

Twenty-one-year-old Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud left Kuwait in 1901, determined to recapture all of the territory once held by his forefathers and to extend his protection over the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. In a daring battle he recaptured Riyadh in 1902. This event marks the beginning of the formation of the modern state of Saudi Arabia. After establishing Riyadh as his headquarters, Abdulaziz proceeded, over the following decades, to unite the different regions into one nation.

Modern Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud. The nation experienced remarkable growth over a short period, spurred by the discovery of oil in the 1930s.

Aden

Aden's rich history dates back to 3000. Aden witnessed many historical events but it did not lose its position as an important seaport linking the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean. Trade arrived at the Old Aden Port and was transported by Yemenite caravans to the north to be distributed to the ancient Orient. Among the important products in the Aden Market were the perfumes; Aden was famous for the manufacture of the best fragrances in the world.

An Early View of Aden, Yemen Steamer Point

Positioned at the crossroads of the maritime routes linking the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Yemeni port of Aden grew to be one of the medieval world's greatest commercial hubs.

Approaching Aden's history between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries through the prism of overseas trade and commercial culture, author Roxani Eleni Margariti examines the ways in which physical space and urban institutions developed to serve and harness the commercial potential presented by the city's strategic location.

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Utilizing historical and archaeological methods, Roxani Eleni Margariti draws together a rich variety of sources far beyond the normative and relatively accessible legal rulings issued by Islamic courts of the time. She explores environmental, material, and textual data, including merchants' testimonies from the medieval documentary repository known as the Cairo Geniza. Her analysis brings the port city to life, detailing its fortifications, water supply, harbor, customs house, marketplaces, and ship-building facilities. She also provides a broader picture of the history of the city and the ways merchants and administrators regulated and fostered trade. Margariti ultimately demonstrates how port cities, as nodes of exchange, communication, and interconnectedness, are crucial in Indian Ocean and Middle Eastern history as well as Islamic and Jewish history.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9