Ottoman Arabia | |
|---|---|
| 1517–1918 | |
 Flag | |
 | |
| Common languages | Arabic |
| Religion | Islam Judaism Christianity |
| Demonym(s) | Arab |
| Government | |
| Beylerbey, Pasha, Agha, Dey | |
| History | |
| 1517 | |
| 1918 | |
| Today part of | Arab League |
The Ottoman era in the history of Arabia lasted from 1517 to 1918. The Ottoman degree of control over these lands varied over these four centuries, with the fluctuating strength or weakness of the Empire's central authority. [1] [2]
In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz, Asir and al-Hasa) to the Empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior. The main reason was to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea (hence the Hejaz) and the Indian Ocean. [3] As early as 1578, the Sharifs of Mecca launched forays into the desert to punish the Najdi tribes who mounted raids on oases and tribes in the Hejaz. [4]
The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began in Nejd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab who was from the Hanbali school of thought. [5] [6] This alliance formed in the 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. [7]
When the Ottomans conquered Mamluk territory in 1517, [8] the role of the Ottoman sultan in the Hijaz was first and foremost to take care of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina and provide safe passage for the many Muslims from various regions who traveled to Mecca to perform the Hajj. [9] The Sultan was sometimes referred to as "Servant of the Holy Places" but since the Ottoman rulers could not claim lineage from the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, [10] it was important to maintain an image of power and piety through construction projects, financial support and caretaking.
There is no record of a ruling Sultan visiting Mecca during the Hajj [11] but according to primary records, Ottoman princes and princesses were sent to make the pilgrimage or visit the Holy Cities during the year. [12] The distance from the center of the empire in Istanbul, as well as the length and danger of the journey, was likely the main factor that prevented Sultans from traveling to the Hijaz. [12]
Regional administration of Mecca and Medina was left in the hands of the Sharifs, or the stewards of Mecca since the Abbasid caliphate. The Sharifs maintained a level of local autonomy under the rule of the Sultan; however to balance the local influences, the Sultan appointed the kadis and lesser officials in the region. [13] At first, being appointed the kadi in the region was considered a low position, but as religion grew more important within the culture of the Ottoman Empire, the role of the kadis in the Mecca and Medina grew in prominence. [14]
Aside from customs collected in Jeddah, the inhabitants of the Hijaz did not pay taxes to the empire [15] and the finances of the city were taken care of through various waqf properties across the rest of the empire, dedicated to support the people of Mecca and Medina as an act of charity with religious significance because of the holy status of the two cities. [16]
The central Ottoman government controlled caravan routes to Mecca and was obligated to protect pilgrims along these routes. [17] This included providing supplies such as food and water for the journey. Additionally, this included providing subsidies to the desert Bedouin tribes whose limited resources were used by pilgrims along the major routes from Damascus and Cairo respectively. [11] [18] The Ottoman Empire, as custodian of Mecca and Medina, was supposed to provide safe passage for all pilgrims traveling to the Holy Cities. However, political alliances and conflicts shaped the routes that were opened or closed.
Particularly in the case of the Safavid Empire, the Ottomans closed the shortest route from Basra (in present-day Iraq) that would have allowed Shi’i pilgrims to cross the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Peninsula. [19] [20] Pilgrims were instead required to use the official caravan routes from Damascus, Cairo or Yemen. [19] From the Mughal Empire, sea routes were blocked by the presence of Portuguese ships in the Indian Ocean; from Central Asia, wars between the Uzbeks and Safavids also led to complications in caravan routes. Most Central Asian pilgrims went through Istanbul or Delhi to join a pilgrimage caravan. [13] Trade routes often flourished along pilgrimage routes, since the existing infrastructure and protections were established, and traveling pilgrims increased the demand for products. [20]
Construction, repairs, and addition to religious sites in Mecca and Medina were costly, due to the location of the cities and the need for imported materials, but it was a symbol of the power and generosity of the Sultan. [21] Repairs that had to be made to the Kaaba after a flood in 1630 were contentious because of the religious significance of the building itself. [22] These repairs were generally aimed at preserving the structural integrity of the site. Yet, the opinion of local religious scholars on the extent of the repairs meant that the project became politicized because Ridhwan Agha, who was in charge of overseeing the repairs, was a representative of the Sultan as opposed to an elite from the Hijaz. [23]
Other projects included building, repairing, and maintaining water pipes that served pilgrims, and establishing soup kitchens, schools, and charitable foundations within the region. [24]
The first Saudi state was established in 1744 in the area around Riyadh, rapidly expanded, and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia. [25] When Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab abandoned the position of imam in 1773, the spread of Saudi control over the whole southern and central Najd was completed. [26] In the late 1780s, the northern Najd was added to the Saudi emirate. [26] In 1792, Al-Hasa fell to the Saudis. [26] The Saudi emirate gained control of Taif in 1802, and of Medina in 1804. [26]
The first Saudi state was destroyed by 1818 by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha. [27] A much smaller second "Saudi state", located mainly in Nejd, was established in 1824. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud contested control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia with another Arabian ruling family, the Al Rashid. By 1891, the Al Rashid were victorious and the Al Saud were driven into exile in Kuwait. [28]
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have a suzerainty (albeit nominal) over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, [29] [30] with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz. [31]
In 1902, Ibn Saud took control of Riyadh in Nejd and brought the Al Saud back to Nejd. [28] Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan, a tribal army inspired by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and led by Sultan ibn Bijad and Faisal Al-Dawish, and which had proliferated after its foundation in 1912. [32] With the aid of the Ikhwan, Ibn Saud captured al-Hasa from the Ottomans in 1913. [33]
In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain (which was fighting the Ottomans in World War I), the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, led a pan-Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire to create a united Arab state. [34] The Allied victory in World War I resulted in the end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia. [35]
During the era of Ottoman rule, the territory of modern Saudi Arabia was divided between the following entities:
The history of Saudi Arabia as a nation state began with the emergence of the Al Saud dynasty in central Arabia in 1727 and the subsequent establishment of the Emirate of Diriyah. Pre-Islamic Arabia, the territory that constitutes modern Saudi Arabia, was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations; the prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of the earliest traces of human activity in the world.
Najd is the central region of Saudi Arabia, in which about a third of the country's modern population resides. It is the home of the House of Saud, from which it pursued unification with Hejaz since the time of the Emirate of Diriyah.
The Hejaz is a region that includes the majority of the west coast of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Baljurashi. It is thus known as the "Western Province", and it is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the Region of 'Asir. Its largest city is Jeddah, which is the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia, with Mecca and Medina, respectively, being the fourth- and fifth-largest cities in the country.
Taif is a city and governorate in the Province of Makkah in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of 1,879 m (6,165 ft) in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 people in 2022, making it one of the most populous cities in the kingdom.
The Hejaz railway was a narrow-gauge railway that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of modern day Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.
Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ruled the First Saudi State from 1803 to 1814. Saud annexed Mecca and Medina from the Ottoman Empire making him the first Al Saud ruler who received the title of the servant of the Two Holy Cities. During his rule the state experienced a significant level of strength and expansion for which he was called Saud Al Kabeer or Saud the Great.
The Ottoman/Egyptian-Wahhabi War also known as the Ottoman/Egyptian-Saudi War (1811–1818) was fought from early 1811 to 1818, between the Ottoman Empire and the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State, resulting in the destruction of the latter.
The Sharif of Mecca or Hejaz was the title of the leader of the Sharifate of Mecca, traditional steward of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina and the surrounding Hejaz. The term sharif is Arabic for "noble", "highborn", and is used to describe the descendants of Hashim Ibn Abdul Manaf.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was a state in the Hejaz region of Western Asia that included the western portion of the Arabian Peninsula that was ruled by the Hashemite dynasty. It was self-proclaimed as a kingdom in June 1916 during the First World War, to be independent from the Ottoman Empire, on the basis of an alliance with the British Empire to drive the Ottoman Army from the Arabian Peninsula during the Arab Revolt.
The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign in which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the central Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud. Unification started in 1902 and continued until 1932, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of Abdulaziz, known in the West as Ibn Saud, creating what is sometimes referred to as the Third Saudi State, to differentiate it from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, also House of Saud states.
Sultan bin Bajad bin Humaid al-'Utaybi was the Sheikh of the Otaibah tribe and one of the prominent leaders of the Ikhwan movement in the Arabian Peninsula. This tribal army supported King Abdulaziz in his efforts to unify Saudi Arabia between 1910 and 1927.
The Sharifate of Mecca or Emirate of Mecca was a state, non-sovereign for much of its existence, ruled by the Sharif of Mecca. A sharif is a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali, Muhammad's grandson. In Western sources, the prince of Mecca was known as Grand Sherif, but Arabs have always used the appellation "Emir".
The Vilayet of the Hejaz refers to the Hejaz region of Arabia when it was administered as a first-level province (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of 96,500 square miles (250,000 km2). The Hejaz included all land from the southern border of the Vilayet of Syria, south of the city of Ma‛an, to the northern border of the Vilayet of Yemen, north of the city of Al Lith.
The Saudi conquest of Hejaz or the Second Saudi-Hashemite War, also known as the Hejaz-Nejd War, was a campaign engaged by Saudi Sultan Abdulaziz to take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–25, ending with conquest and incorporation of Hejaz into the Saudi domain.
The Taif massacre was an incident that followed the short 1924 Battle of Taif; the entire episode is also known as the al-Taif incident. The battle and resultant massacre comprised the first major standoff of the Second Hashemite-Saudi War. Following a short siege, the city was abandoned by Hashemite forces and then capitulated to the battle-ready Ikhwan force under the command of Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. The Ikhwan troops took out their rage on the residents of the city. In the resulting bloodbath, some 300-400 Ta'if residents were massacred.
The First Saudi–Hashemite War, also known as the First Nejd–Hejaz War or the al-Khurma dispute, took place in 1918–19 between Abdulaziz Ibn Saud of the Emirate of Nejd and Hasa and the Hashemites of the Kingdom of Hejaz.
Al-Baqi cemetery, the oldest and one of the two most important Islamic graveyards located in Medina, in current-day Saudi Arabia, was demolished in 1806 and, following reconstruction in the mid-19th century, was destroyed again in 1925 or 1926. An alliance of the House of Saud and the followers of the Wahhabi movement known as the Emirate of Diriyah carried out the first demolition. The Sultanate of Nejd, also ruled by the House of Saud and followers of Wahhabism, carried out the second. In both cases, the actors were motivated by the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, which prohibits the building of monuments on graves.
The Jordan–Saudi Arabia border is 731 km (454 mi) in length and runs from the Gulf of Aqaba in the south-west to the tripoint with Iraq in the north-east.
The Declaration of theUnification of Saudi Arabia was officially announced by Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz, the Viceroy of Hejaz on behalf of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud on September 23, 1932, at 9:00 am from al-Hamidiyah Palace in Mecca. Faisal read out the Royal Decree No. 2716 issued by Abdulaziz ibn Saud on September 18, 1932, that renamed the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its annexes as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Second Saudi-Rashidi War (1915–1918) took place between the British-aligned Emirate of Nejd and Hasa and the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, which was an ally of the Ottoman Empire.
