Arabs (/ˈær.

əbz/;[32] Arabic: ‫ع َرب‬

َ ISO 233 ‘arab, Arabic pronunciation [ˈʕarab] ( listen)) are a population
inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa,
the Horn of Africa and western Indian Ocean islands.[33] They also form a significant diaspora, with
Arab communities established around the world.[34]
The Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BC as tribal people in eastern and southern
Syria, and the north of the Arabian Peninsula.[35] The Arabs appear to have been under the
vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–612 BC), and the succeeding Neo-Babylonian (626–
539 BC), Achaemenid (539–332 BC), Seleucid and Parthian empires.[36] Arab tribes, most notably
the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, begin to appear in the southern Syrian Desert from the mid 3rd
century CE onward, during the mid to later stages of the Roman and Sasanian empires.[37] Tradition
holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham.[38] The Arabian Desert is the birthplace
of "Arab",[39] as well other Arab groups that spread in the land and existed for millennia.[40]
Before the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), "Arab" referred to any of the
largely nomadic and settled Semitic people from the Arabian Peninsula, Syrian Desert, North and
Lower Mesopotamia.[41] Today, "Arab" refers to a large number of people whose native regions form
the Arab world due to the spread of Arabs and the Arabic languagethroughout the region during
the early Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries and the subsequent Arabisation of
indigenous populations.[42] The Arabs forged the Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750) and
the Abbasid (750–1258) caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in
the east, Anatolia in the north, and the Sudan in the south. This was one of the largest land empires
in history.[43] In the early 20th century, the First World War signalled the end of the Ottoman Empire;
which had ruled much of the Arab world since conquering the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517.[44]This
resulted in the defeat and dissolution of the empire and the partition of its territories, forming the
modern Arab states.[45] Following the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab
League was founded on 22 March 1945.[46]The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of
an Arab homeland whilst respecting the individual sovereignty of its member states.[47]
Today, Arabs primarily inhabit the 22 Arab states within the Arab
League: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritani
a, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab
Emirates and Yemen. The Arab world stretches around 13 million km2, from the Atlantic Ocean in the
west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of
Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States,
Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora.[33] The ties that bind Arabs are
ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political.[48] The Arabs
have their own customs,
language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports and mytho
logy.[49] The total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million.[1] This makes them the
world's second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese.
Arabs are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most
Arabs followed polytheistic religions. Some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few
individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism.[50] Today, Arabs are mainly adherents
of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities.[51] Arab Muslimsprimarily belong to
the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow
one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek
Orthodox, Greek Catholic or Chaldeanchurches.[52] Other smaller minority religions are also followed,
such as the Bahá'í Faith, Sabianism, Bábism and Mandaeism.
Arabs have greatly influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably the arts and
architecture, language, philosophy, mythology, ethics, literature, politics, business, music,
dance, cinema, medicine, science and technology[53] in the ancient and modern history. Arab people
are generally known for their generosity and hospitality[54] as well as their beliefs and family values.[55]