1. Before Oil

T

he ruling sheikhs of the Gulf, with their perfumed headscarves

and gold- trimmed cloaks, can seem like exotic anachronisms in

this age of global standardization. But the enduring trappings

of old Arabia go beyond dress; they also include a successful brand of

tribal politics. Today’s reigning sheikhs and their families arose from

ruling lineages that extend back millennia.

Oil, of course, plays a big part in the politics of the Gulf. But oil’s role

is a recent one. Before oil, there was isolation. This isolation was protec-

tive and rewarded toughness and specialization. It incubated a unique

society and a political culture that remains surprisingly relevant today.

For most of its history, the Arabian Peninsula drifted in an eddy of time,

close to but apart from the main historical currents that convulsed the

neighboring lands of the Arab and Persian Middle East.

Nearby Mesopotamia was the site of the first highly advanced human

society, which coalesced around the bountiful waters of the Tigris and

Euphrates Rivers some five thousand years ago. The seas, isthmuses, and

caravan routes of the Middle East lay at the center of the Old World, fun-

neling travelers between Asia and Europe. From 3000 BC until the thir-

teenth century, the Middle East was the cultural, economic, and often

political center of all humanity west of India and China.^1 But despite the

grand sweep of Middle Eastern history— the Silk Road trade, the advent