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Volume :11 Issue : 44 1993
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Man and Environment A Treatise on Arab Sub-Regions of the Gulf
Auther : Mohamed Riad
In spite of the present day similarities of Modus Vivandi among Gulf Arab States, minute examination reveals differences in the past based on a variety of differences in the local physical traits and spatial relations. This produced two Arab sub-regions, i.e., the Omani and the inner Gulf regions. Topography, structure and climate in the Omani sub-region were responsible for a sedentary agrarian economy due to adoption of Falag irrigation system (Falag is a partly subterranean canal dug to divert ground water to desired land). While the people of the inner Gulf retained their customary bedouin life in addition to oasis culture in few instances.
Yet there were always three unifying elements presenting a prevalence of 1) Arab people and culture; 2) pastoral nomadism in the hinterland deserts of the Gulf, and 3) village-town dwellers all over most of the coastal strip of the Gulf engaged in pearling and sea-faring among the Mesopotamian and Middle East communities and the Indian and African littoral of the Indian Ocean. Accumulated wealth helped Gulf dewellers to invest in trade, agriculture and the acquiring of African labour.
In the past the population was nealry evenly distributed, but due to oil earnings, people tended to concentrate in capital cities, virtually creating City States. Political powers used to be centralized in Oman for a long time, while it was dispersed among Sheikhs of several tribes in the inner Gulf, seldom assuming a greater Sheikhdom over smaller tribes on certain occasions. But since the discovery of Oil, the pattern changed all over the Gulf to modern State to the extent that even the true bedouins changed to satisfy needs of contemproary life, i.e., education, health and employment. We conclude that the new economy brought about a layer of alikeness and similarity over subtle historic variations.