In the east Oman became virtually inde pendent of the caliphs in the middle of the 8th century, and grew into a well-organized kingdom. In 1507, however, its capital, Maskat, or Muscat, was occupied by the Portuguese, who were not driven out till 1651. Oman was temporarily subjugated by the Persians under Nadir Shah in the first half of the 18th century. They were expelled by Saood, who was made imam of Oman, and under whom it extended its sway over part of the opposite coast of Per sia as well as the islands lying between and over the coast of Zanzibar. Since 1867 the kingdom of Oman has been again confined to the mainland of Arabia. The appearance of the Wahabees about the middle of the 18th century is the first event since the time of Mohammed that affected Arabia generally. The moral ef fects of this event exercise still a powerful influence; the political were soon effaced by the ruler of the neighboring country of Egypt Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, subdued the coast of Hejaz, as also several places on that of Yemen, and in 1818, by means of a great victory gained by Ibrahim Pasha, and the de struction of their capital city Derreyeh, put a stop to the further extension of the Wahabite power. He also expended large sums in the maintenance of his sway in Arabia, which se cured to him the trade of the Red Sea. The events of 1840, however, in Syria, compelled him to concentrate his forces, and he soon found himself obliged, as thwarting the Euro pean line of policy, to renounce all claims to the territories lying beyond a line drawn from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah. The Hejaz thus again became immediately subject to Turkish sway. Turkey afterward extended its rule not only over Yemen as already men tioned, but also over the district of El Ahsa on the Persian Gulf. During the great Euro pean War, strategic points of Arabia be came scenes of active operations on the part of Turkish troops led by German officers against British domination in Egypt, the Sin attic Peninsula being a dependency of Egypt, now a British possession. Hejaz and Yemen, on the west coast, and Hasa, on the east coast, were Turkish vilayets. There was an independ ent imam in Oman, and Aden and the sur rounding district was a protectorate of Great Britain. The remainder consisted of several independent and semi-independent states under chiefs, elected or hereditary, bearing the title of emir, sheikh or imam. During the progress of the war, Arabia was the scene of revolts, uprisings and conflicts against Turkish authority and on 25 Oct. 1916 the Kingdom of Arabia was established with Grand Sherif Hussein Ben Ali as King, and Mecca as capital. On 3 Jan. 1917, the Grand Sherif of Mecca adopted the title of the King of the Hejaz, and the new kingdom was recognized by England, France and Russia. See WAR, EUROPEAN.
Modem Until about 1760 our knowledge of Arabia was based mainly on Greek and Latin writers such as Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy and others. This in formation was meagre and not altogether re liable. The best sources were the Arabic writers and geographers, such as Hamadani's 'Arabian Peninsula,) Bekri and Yaqut's geo graphical and historical dictionaries. These works and others of their kind contain various fabulous and legendary traditions, based partly on native legends and partly on Jewish fancies. The Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions have yielded us much valuable material on the early history of Arabia. But above all we are in debted to scholars like Halevy, Muller, Glaser, Hommel, Winckler and others. The first European to engage in a scientific exploration of Arabia was C. Niebuhr, who, in 1761-64, at the order of the Danish government, undertook an expedition to the peninsula. In 1799, ReMand, an agent of the East India Company, followed Niebuhr and in 1808-11 the Russian scientist, U. J. Seetzen, undertook a similar journey of exploration and for the first time copied several south-Arabian inscriptions in the district of Himyar. A few years later, in
1814-16, one of the most distinguished of Arabian explorers, the Swiss, J. L. Burcldiardt, journeyed to Hijaz and also to Mecca and Medina. His information is accurate, copious and interesting. Captain W. R. Wellsted, in 1834-35, made a tour of Oman and Hadramaut, and in 1838, C. J. Crittenden journeyed from Mokha to Sana and copied several south Arabian inscriptions, which R6diger and Gese nius undertook to decipher. In 1843, Adolf von Wrede, a German, visited Wadi Doan and other parts of Hadramaut and discovered and copied an important five-line inscription. In the same year T. J. Arnaud journeyed from Sana to Marib, the capital of the ancient kingdom of the Sabeans, and gathered about 56 inscriptions. In 1845-48 Wallin journeyed through Hayil, Medina and Taima. In 1853 Richard Burton, translator of the 'Arabian Nights' made a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and in 1877 and 1878 visited twice the land of Midian, in north Arabia. In 1861, Jacob Saphir, a Jew of Jerusalem, visited Yemen, where he formed several Jewish set tlements, and other parts of Arabia. In 1862 63 W. Gifford Palgrave, an Englishman, journeyed from the Dead Sea to Oatif and Oman, visiting the northwestern territory be tween the Sinaitic peninsula, the Euphrates, Hayil, Medina, Nejed, and nearly all central Arabia, till then unknown. Central Arabia was visited by Pelly in 1865 and in 1869 Halevy, the great Orientalist and pioneer in Sabean philology, disguised himself as a poor Jew from Jerusalem, and penetrated Yemen and south Arabia. On this trip he copied about 700 inscriptions. He succeeded in reaching the south-Arabian Jof, the territory of the ancient Mineans. In 1870-71, H. von Maltzan made several trips from Aden along the coast, and, in 1876-78, Charles Doughty made a famous tour to Mada in Salih, Hayil, Taina, Khaibar, Boraida, Onaiza and Tayif. He unearthed several Sabatean, Lihyaman, or Tamudic, Minean and so-called proto-Arabic inscriptions. In 1877-80, the Italian, Renzo Manzoni, made three journeys to Sana, the Turkish capital of Yemen. Glaser, in 1882-84, made his first journey to south Arabia, where he discovered and copied numerous inscriptions and in 1883 84, with Euting, visited north Arabia, where they discovered the famous Aramaic inscrip tions of Taima (6th century }Lc.). In 1884-85, Glaser again visited southern Arabia and col lected several Minean inscriptions. His third journey was made in 1887-88 and was remark ably fruitful, especially as far as epigraphical results are concerned. The inscriptions copied numbered over 400, the most valuable among them being the so-called "Dam-inscription," of 100 lines (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), and the "Sirwah inscription,p of about 1,000 words (about 550 a.c.). Glaser's fourth journey was made in 1892-94 and was also rich in results. In 1893, Leo Hirsch visited Hadramaut, and so did Theodore Bent and his wife in 1893-94. In 1896-97, Count Carlo Landberg, a distinguished Arabic scholar, visited the coast of south Arabia, where he made special studies of the modern Arabic dialects there, in addition to other geographical and epigraphical researches. In 1898-99 the Vienna Academy sent an expedi tion to Shabwa under the direction of Count Landberg and D. H. Muller. Other expeditions have since been engaged in the work of ex ploration. The results of all these have been threefold: geographical, epigraphical and his torical. These results have opened the way not only to fresh views and studies concerning the various ancient south-Arabian dialects, such as Minean, Sabean, or Himyarite, Hadra mautic and Katabanian, but have also thrown unexpected light on the history of the old south-Arabian kingdoms and dynasties. These same discoveries have also added to our knowl edge of Old Testament history and of Hebrew and comparative Semitic philology. See ARABIAN PHILOSOPHY; ARABIC LANGUAGE and ARABIC LITERATURE.