ARABIA Is an extensive country in Asia, famous for the inde pendence and bravery of its inhabitants ; and well known in history as the theatre, where the impostor, Mahomet, first propagated his religion, which, by the victorious arms of his followers, has spread over two quarters of the world.
Surrounded on the south and east by the Indian ocean and the gulf of Persia, and bounded on the west by the Red Sea, Arabia forms one of the largest peninsulas in the world. But, towards the north, different bounda ries have been assigned to it by different authors. Pliny makes it extend as far as Commogene, the most northern province of Syria; while Ptolemy, whose description evinces an accurate knowledge of this country, confines it by the river Euphrates, running from the city Thap sacus, to the district of Idicara in Babylonia, and com prehends in it the deserts of Palestine and Syria. Others. again, limit it by a line passing from Ailah on the gulf of Acaba, to the extremity of the Persian gulf, which is called Arabia Proper, and comprehends little more than what was originally denominated by the Greeks, Arabia the liaMy. These writers also, following the opinion of the eastern geographers, make stony Arabia belong partly to Egypt, and partly to Syria; and include sandy Arabia in the deserts of Syria. Modern Arabia, however, is of a much wider extent, and its limits have been accurately described by modern geographers, who follow, in a great measure, the description of Ptolemy. It is bounded on the north by part of Syria, and the Euphrates ; on the east by the Chaldean mountains, the Persian gulf, and the gulf of Ormus ; on the south by the Indian ocean, and the straits of Babelmandel; and by the Red Sea, the isthmus of Suez, and part of Syria, on the west. It lies between 121 and 35 degrees of N. Latitude, and 334 and 59 of E. Longitude. Stretch ing along the river Euphrates, and the confines of Syria, Arabia rises to an angle about WO miles east of Pal myra, and forms a triangle of spacious but irregular dimensions. From its northern extremity to Cape Ba belmandel, it measures about 1400 geographical miles, and its greatest breadth is 1150 from Cape Rasalhat to the port of Jidda, the whole presenting a greater extent of surface than six times the British islands.
It is remarkable, that the name of this peninsula has undergone no change since the remotest ages. The western part of it was denominated by Moses, Arabah, which signifies the west, in opposition to Kedem, signi fying the east. In Arabah, Ismael and his family are supposed to have first settled, whose descendants, spreading themselves towards the east into Kedem, carried the name of Arabah along with them, which came afterwards to be given to the whole peninsula; and we find in scripture, that, after the days of Moses, this continued to be its general appellation. Others deduce its etymology from the Hebrew which, they say, signifies the west, a mixture or merchandise. But this word, throughout the whole of the Old Testa ment, has no such signification, .1t.t properly signifies to lie in ambush, and MIN a place of lying in ambush ; and when we consider the predatory disposition of the Arabs, and their insidious mode of warfare, this ety mology is very probable. The Arabs issued from their deserts to plunder and destroy, and then returned to them, as to a lurking place, to wait for another oppor tunity. The error of these writers seems to have arisen from their confounding DIM with nv, which signifies to mix, to trade, to be sweet or pleasant. The Arabians were in former times the greatest commercial nation in the world; and the spices and perfumes, which Ara bia produced, make the latter signification applicable to this country. But we would rather follow those who derive it from a plain or wilderness, which comes nearer its present name, (the Hebrew .t having for merly the same sound with the Greek cc,) and its sig nification agrees so completely with the general aspect of the country, that it appears to us the preferable ety mology. The eastern historians, however, rejecting all such derivations, maintain, that both the country and the language received their names from Yarab, the son of Jektan, from whom the Arabs claim their descent; and this is rendered less improbable by the great encomiums which the Arab historians have bestowed upon this prince.