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Arab migrations to the Levant

The Arab migrations to the Levant involved successive waves of migration and settlement by Arab people in the Levant region of West Asia, encompassing modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. The process took place over several centuries, lasting from ancient time to the modern period. The Arab migrants hailed from various parts of the Middle East, particularly the Arabian Peninsula. In the 9th century BCE, the Assyrians made written references to Arabs among the inhabitants of Levant and Arabia.[1][2]

Several notable Arab kingdoms, peoples and principalities were established in the Levant since ancient times such as the Nabatean Kingdom in southern Levant 3rd century BC, Itureans north of the Galilee in late Hellenistic period, in Palmyra Arabs alongside Arameans formed a major ethnic group of its native population.[3][4] notable influential local Arab dynasties and kings also emerged from the Levant such as the Emesene dynasty in modern day Homs and the Roman emperor Philip the Arab.

Starting from late antiquity, several notable Arab tribes rose to prominence in the Levant such as Tanukhids whose main base during the time of their most famous ruler Queen Mavia was in Aleppo,[5] Salihids, and Ghassanids whose capital was in the Golan Heights.

Following the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate after Muhammad's death in 632 CE, Muslims captured Levant from the Byzantine empire,[6] – known in Arabic as Bilād al-Shām – resulting in some settlement of Muslims from Arabia in urban areas.[7] The conquest led to a urban depopulation in some regions, with some local residents fleeing,[8][9] such as the Ghassanid christian Arabs who fled to the Byzantine Anatolia,[10] creating vacancies that Muslim migrants occupied.[9] For the Jewish community, this marked the end of nearly 500 years of Roman rule and exile, as Caliph Umar allowed Jews to once again migrate and resettle back in Jerusalem.[11][12][13]

The Umayyad era saw further settlement in the Levant, as the rulers aimed to maintain distinct tribal identities and manage demographics through population transfers.[14] Estimates suggest that by the end of the 7th century, about 250,000 Arabs had settled in the Levant, a small minority among the native population.[15] Later minor migrations across Arabs in the Middle East affected by political situations took place, some of which gave rise to prominent Druze dynasties such as banu Ma'an.[16]

Despite having a substantial Muslim population in the Levant by 11th century, the Arabian Muslim migrants were only a small minority of this population, the vast majority of Muslims were indigenous converts.[17] Genetic studies indicate a degree of genetic continuity between modern and Bronze Age levantines.[18]

  1. ^ * Myers, E. A. (11 February 2010). The Ituraeans and the Roman Near East: Reassessing the Sources. Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-139-48481-7.
    • Hoyland, Robert G. (2001). Arabia and the Arabs. Routledge. pp. 11 METHODOLOGY (modern Saudi Arabia minus the east coast, the Sinai and Negev deserts, and parts of modern Jordan, Syria, and Iraq). ISBN 0-203-76392-0.
  2. ^ Nol, Hagit (2023-01-01). "Arab Migration During Early Islam: The Seventh to Eighth Century AD from an Archaeological Perspective". Open Archaeology. 9 (1). doi:10.1515/opar-2022-0342. ISSN 2300-6560.
  3. ^ Southern 2008, p. 1.
  4. ^ Luxenberg 2007, p. 11.
  5. ^ Ball, Warwick (2001), Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-11376-8 p. 98-102
  6. ^ Theodoropoulos 2020, p. 271.
  7. ^ Donner 2014, p. 247.
  8. ^ Theodoropoulos 2020, pp. 265–266.
  9. ^ a b Donner 2014, pp. 245–246.
  10. ^ Stephenson, Paul (2022-02-08). New Rome: The Empire in the East. Harvard University Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-674-65962-9.
  11. ^ Gil 1997, pp. 70–71.
  12. ^ Zank, Michael. "Byzantian Jerusalem". Boston University. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  13. ^ Berger, Pamela (2012-06-07). The Crescent on the Temple: The Dome of the Rock as Image of the Ancient Jewish Sanctuary. BRILL. pp. 45–47. ISBN 978-90-04-23034-7.
  14. ^ Gil 1997, p. 134.
  15. ^ Lewis 2002, p. 70.
  16. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: McGowan, Afaf Sabeh (1989). Collelo, Thomas (ed.). Lebanon: a country study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. p. 12. OCLC 44356055. Archived from the original on 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
  17. ^ Catlos, Brian A. (2014-03-20). Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c.1050–1614. Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-521-88939-1.
  18. ^ Haber, Marc; Doumet-Serhal, Claude; Scheib, Christiana; Xue, Yali; Danecek, Petr; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Youhanna, Sonia; Martiniano, Rui; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Szpak, Michał; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth; Schutkowski, Holger; Mikulski, Richard; Zalloua, Pierre; Kivisild, Toomas (2017-08-03). "Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 101 (2): 274–282. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.013. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 5544389. PMID 28757201. The overlap between the Bronze Age and present-day Levantines suggests a degree of genetic continuity in the region.
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