Nubian archers in the Middle Kingdom (from the Nubian museum in Aswan, Egypt). About 2000 BC. What is a mercenary soldier? Mercenaries (MURR-sinn-air-eez) are paid volunteer soldiers: they are soldiers [...]
Egyptian sundial (Valley of the Kings, Egypt, ca. 1300 BC). It's on a small chip of limestone so you could carry it around. Using the sun to tell time During [...]
The future King David uses his sling to throw a stone at Goliath, helped by angels. From the Bristol Psalter, written in the 1000s AD in Constantinople. When did King [...]
Map of the Arabian peninsula Where is the Arabian Peninsula? The Arabian Peninsula is part of West Asia that sticks out to the south. It's only separated from Africa by the narrow Red Sea. And [...]
Arabic language: Sabataean writing Where did Arabic come from? Arabic is in the Semitic language group. Semitic languages seem to have gotten started before the beginning of writing. That would be before [...]
Mohammed praying at the Ka'aba(in an Ottoman book from 1388 AD) Mohammed was born in the Arab trading and pilgrimage city of Mecca, in the Arabian peninsula, between 570 and 580 AD. His parents were part of a family [...]
Mamluks: A Mamluk inn for merchants in Cairo Mamluks were enslaved soldiers The Mamluks were originally enslaved bodyguards of the Abbasid caliphs of the Islamic Empire (the word "mamluk" just means "slave" in Arabic). Starting around 850 [...]
Fatimids built Bab Zuweila (Cairo, 1092 AD) Overthrowing the Abbasids in Egypt In 908 AD, a new family rose up in Egypt. They took control of Egypt from the Abbasids. This family [...]
Ibex hunt from Yemen, in early Arabia - 0-300 AD The first people there People probably first arrived in the Arabian peninsula about 60,000 BC,, crossing over the Sinai from Egypt or going all around [...]
Where does coffee come from? Coffee history starts in Africa. Coffee plants grew wild in East Africa. Sometime before 1000 AD, the people who lived in Ethiopia, in East Africa, began to pick [...]
