Arabia was once a portion of the ancient Cushite empire. Some authorities claim that it was the original seat of Ethiopian culture. The ordinary encyclopedia and historical book give but little light upon the early race life of Arabia. When our research has gone deeper we will find that the true ethnic story of Arabia, Asia Minor and India have not yet been told. Recent books have rewritten the history of ancient Greece, as the findings or archaeology reveal other races and other sources for the civilization of Hellenic lands. The history of Arabia needs rewriting. This chapter is a contribution in that direction; the sum total of the careful investigations of scholars and investigators whom we can trust. The ancients gave Arabia a triple division. Petrea the stony, Deserta the desert, and Felix the happy. They did not assign to these any very distinct boundries and much of the real surface of Arabia is unknown to us today. Yemen includes the whole southwest quarter which possesses many advantages in climate and soil. Here existed to almost our times the late flowers of a rich primeval civilization, which did not spring from the Semitic race, which is in possession of Arabia today. Having never been really conquered, Arabia has known no changes saving those of nature. There the deserts and mountains have always secured them from conquest. Nejd the central plateau is an important region regarded by the Arabians as the stronghold of their cherished institutions and traditions. Nejd is the favored land of the date palm of superior species. It is the special pride and ornament of the country. The coffee plant is highly prized. This central Arabia was originally settled by two distinct races, an earlier Cushite Ethiopian race and a later Semitic Arabian. 'The Cushites were the original Arabians and dwelt there before Abraham came to Canaan. Ancient literature assigns their first settlement to the extreme southwestern point of the peninsula. From thence they spread northward and eastward over Yemen, Hadramaut and Oman. A proof that they were Hamites lay in the name Himyar or dusky, given to the ruling race. The Himyaritic language, now lost, but some of which is preserved, is African in origin and character. Its grammar is identical with the Abyssinian. The Encyclopedia Britannica in its article on Arabia says, "The institutions of Yemen bear a close resemblance to African types. The inhabitants of Yemen, Hadramaut,
These Cushite Arabians were given to a settled life and not to the wandering habits of the Semitic Arabians. They were fond of village life, society, the dance, and music. Among the cities the most ancient and populous were in "Happy Yemen." Like the Cushites of Egypt, here was the marvelous reservoir of Marib constructed by the Himyaritic kings. Their descendants of today are good cultivators of the soil, traders and artizans and averse to pastoral pursuits. All of these traits distinguish them from the Semitic race. They have much more to do with the African coast than the Asiatic. Marriage with extreme facility exists between all classes of southern Arabia and the African races. There is the absence of any caste feeling between these Arabs and the still darker natives of Africa. All of this points to a common origin. Keane thinks that these people of southwestern Arabia, at a remote period found their way across the narrow strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and secured a permanent foothold on the Nubian steppes. These Himyaritic Arabians call themselves Æthiopians still in diplomatic and elevated circles. Arabia in the average book is described as a dreary barren waste, the home of the Semitic Arabian. In the most sterile regions we do find Yemenite kings descendants of Khatan and Himyar 'the dusky,' a name denoting African origin, whose rulers were called 'Tobba,' of Hamitic etymology, reigned with a few dynastic interruptions for about 2500 years. They demanded the obedience of the entire southern half of the peninsula and the northern by tribute collectors. The general characteristics of the institutions of Yemen bore considerable resemblance to the neighboring one of the Nile Valley." One of its monarchs subdued the whole of central Asia, reaching even the boundries of China. Another made conquests in Africa. Their chroniclers appropriated the glories and some of the exploits of the early kings of Ethiopia, because Arabia, Egypt, Chaldea, and India were colonies of the Cushite empire. Ethiopia was mother of them all and her rulers under various titles were their rulers. Modern histories speak of the Semitic conquest of Babylon as early as 4500 B. C. which is erroneous unless they explain that these Arabians were Cushite Arabians, another division of the race of the black Sumerians. The line of Sargon 3800 B. C. was of the same race. Each one of these early Arabian conquests was of African Arabs. While the sceptre of Yemen was outstretched far over the length and breadth of the land and the genuine or African Arabs formed a complete and dense circle all around, the deserts of Arabia remained the stronghold of a different
None of the ancient empires were able to subjugate Arabia. Bravely for thousands of years she maintained her freedom. When the second Adite empire was overthrown, masses of the Sabaeans emigrated to Abyssinia. Ghez is a living relic of the ancient speech of Yemen. These Cushites clung long to their faith and peculiar institutions. Alexander the Great, hearing of her rich treasures, desired to pit his great strength against her, but death interrupted his plans. Ælius Gallus, Roman prefect of Egypt, undertook an expedition against Yemen, with an army of ten thousand infantry and fifteen hundred horsemen. He crossed the Red Sea but his soldiers, disorganized by the intense beat, were incapable of laying siege to Mareb. The old Cushites of Yemen stoutly maintained their independence, when other dominions were forced to yield to Rome. After me Mohammedan conquests, which exhausted the Arabians, they were easy prey for the Turks. Thus came the fall of that empire, as Assyrians, taught and inspired by an earlier culture, which carried the arms, languageARABIA AND HER ANCIENT RACES.