This web site aims to bring
a wide variety of resources on Arab culture and civilization to your
computer, but there is much more online. This list includes a number of
other sites that you may wish to visit. For additional print resources,
consult the supplemental bibliography.
General
These sites provide general
information on the history of the Arab World
Middle East Historical Timeline from
Global Connections
A timeline for the last 100 years of MIddle East history from “Global
Connections: The Middle East,” , is an online resource produced by the PBS
station WGBH to help teachers, students, and the general public learn more
about events occurring in the Middle East.
Middle East Photography Archive
The Middle East Department of the University of Chicago Library’s archive of
early photographs of the Middle East.
Islamic History from the BBC
This page from BBCi deals with the history of Islam from its beginning
through the Moghul Empire.
History E-Book Project
The History E-Book Project contains a large collection of books relevant to
the history of the Arab world. See the
subject list for entires on Arabs, Islam, and Middle East, for example.
Arab.net
This site is a gateway to Internet sites about the Arab World. By clicking
on the flag links at the bottom right corner of this page, you will be taken
to a fact page about each country that includes a brief history.
Muslim Heritage.com
This site celebrates Islamci contributions to science, technology, the arts,
and civilization.
An Encyclopaedia of the Orient
An encyclopedia style collection of articles on topics related to the Arab
and Muslim Worlds.
The Middle East Institute
A Washington based think tank on Middle East policy
Country Notes
"Country Notes" from the United States State Department. Each entry contains
a very brief history of the nation, from the perspective of the U.S. State
Department.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
A List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Arab States
Middle East History from the University of California Press
Online publications available through a partnership with the University of
California Press and the California Digital Library's eScholarship program.
Many of the titles are available to the general public; the rest are for
University of California faculty, staff, and students only.
Specific Periods, People and Places
Sites with a more narrow
focus.
A History of Two Countries
This April 3, 2003 broadcast of the NPR program
The Connection deals with the history of the interaction between the
United States and Iraq up to the US invasion in 2003.
PBS
Frontline: The Long Road to War
This is the website for the PBS
Frontline Program on Iraq. This site provides a great deal of
information about the history of Iraq since 1990.
Mamluk Bibliography Online
"The Mamluk Bibliography is an on-going project of the Middle East
Documentation Center at the University of Chicago, the aim of which is to
compile comprehensive bibliographies of all primary sources relating to the
Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria, as well as all research and
discussion--scholarly and popular--germane to the subject."
Muslim Spain and European Culture
A personal page with an essay by Dean Derhak on Islamic Spain in the Middle
Ages.
Al Mashriq - History
Links to articles on the history of Lebanon and Syria.
Arabs and Young Turks
Full text of this book focusing on the turn of the century and interactions
between Arabs and the Ottoman empire.
Shifting Sands: NPR Report on Saudi Arabia
This site contains NPR correspondent Michael Goldfarb's Extended Report from
Saudi Arabia, as well as supplemental maps, links and other material.
InfoPlease: Saladin
Information about Saladin (1137?-1193), Muslim warriar and Ayyubid sultan of
Egypt.
Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate
An essay by Gaston Wiet on this city in Iraq during the Abbasid Caliphate
that ruled the Islamic lands from the middle of the eighth century to the
middle of the 13th.
Iraq Primer from InfoPlease
This Primer on Iraq includes a timeline, maps, and a great deal of
historical information about the situation in Iraq
Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity
This article, by the contoversial writer Martin Kramer, traces the origins,
development and decline of Arab Nationalism. The title of the article by
reveals its highly critical perpspective on the question. It is one of a
large collection of articles at
MartinKramer.org
20 Years of King Fahd
A review of the 20 years of King Fahd's rule from the
Arabic News, a Saudi Arabian news service.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Arguably the most important
issue in the recent history of the Middle East has been the conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians. Certainly no other single issue provokes such
strong feelings across the region. Inevitably all sides in the conflict
resort to history in order to help justify their position. Some of the many
varied historical perspectives on the issue are represented in the links
below.
The Middle East: A Century of Conflict
This seven part series from NPR news traces the history of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an attempt to "bring context and perspective
to the story, and to help listeners understand the complex situation in the
Mideast, the history, and the consequences of the confrontation."
Friends of al Aqsa
Friends of al Aqsa is a non-profit organisation, based in the UK, that is
"concerned with upholding the human rights of the Palestinians and the
defence of al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem." The site includes maps, photographs
and a great deal of other information.
The United Nations Information system on the Question of Palestine
This site intends to provide users with full-text documents of the United
Nations system relevant to the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli
conflict in the Middle East since 1946. See, also, this UN page on the
Question of Palestine.
Graphic History of the Arab-Isreali conflict
A brief, concise history with maps from
USA Today
Middle East Maps
This website has maps tracing the impact of various treaties and wars on
Palestinian territory.
The Middle East Research and Information Project
A primer on the uprising in Palestine from the Middle East Research and
Information Project.
Facts about Israel
An official account of the recent history of Israel from the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Electronic Intifada
"The Electronic Intifada", is a site that gives the Palestinian side of what
it calls "myth and distortion from the Israeli war machine."
The Arab Israel Conflict in Maps
This site is sponsored by the Department of Jewish Zionist Education in
Israel.
Palestinian Refugee Research Net
"Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet is a non-partisan project devoted to the
dissemination of ideas and scholarly information, in an effort to foster
scholarly collaboration, policy research, and innovative thinking on the
Palestinian refugee issue. PRRN is maintained by the Inter-University
Consortium for Arab Studies (Montreal), with the support of the Arts
Computing Network, McGill University, the International Development Research
Centre and the Canadian International Development Agency."
Journal of Palestine Studies
Web site for The Journal of Palestine Studies, including the full text of
many articles.
Selected Documents Regarding Palestine
The full text of numerous documents relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict,
including the Balfour Declaration of
1917, the Israel's Proclamation of Independence (1948),
UN Resolutions on the Conflict, and the Hamas Charter (1988),
and much more. The site is maintained by the
The Palestine Center, a project of
The Jerusalem Fund.
Weblog special: Israel and the Palestinians
Part of the Guardian Online's
Weblog section, this page links to what the editors consider to be "the best
online journalism on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the prospects for
peace."
CNN: MidEast Land of Conflict
This site focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict and includes interactive
timelines, biographies of key figures, maps, etc.
Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN
Web site of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United
Nations, including the UN chronology and many relevant UN documents on the
Arab-Israeli contflict
The Palestinians
Washington Institute for Near East Policy publications on this conflict.
Islamic History
Islam: Empire of Faith
Web page for this PBS documentary on the early history of Islam and the rise
of the Islamic empires. Includes a well developed
"The Roots of Muslim Rage"
A controversial 1990 article by the historian Bernard Lewis which purports
to explain "Why so many Muslims deeply resent the West, and why their
bitterness will not easily be mollified." More recently published by The
Atlantic (January 2002), Lewis's article ">What Went Wrong?" in which he
attempts to diagnose the political, social and economic ills of the
contemporary Islamic world.
"Impossible Histories"
In this essay, from the July 2002 issue of
Harper's Magazine, Edward Said
addresses what he sees as the tendency to oversimplify Islamic history,
particularly in the books Islam: A Short
History by Karen Armstrong and
What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle
Eastern Response by Bernard Lewis.
MuslimHeritage.com
A handsome, interactive site. "A community and non-profit initiative aimed
at providing an educational forum to present and discuss the contribution of
Muslim Heritage to present day Science, Technology and Civilisation." This
handsome, interactive site was developed by a site called the Foundation for
Science Technology and Civilization
Internet Islamic History Sourcebook
An excellent sourcebook of public domain and copy-permitted historical
texts, presented cleanly and intended for educational use.
Muslim Scientists and Islamic Civilization
This page is put together by Dr. A Zahoor and deals with the contributions
of Muslim intellectuals to Civilization.
