This thesis analyses economic change among the bedouin of northern Arabia by examining four factors: the trade in camels; intertribal raiding; large-scale attacks by the Akhwan (Ikhwan); and trade and smuggling. Many writers have assumed that the sale or hiring out of camels for transport by camel-herding tribes was their main source of income, and that the spread of modern transportation caused a decline in the demand for camels, resulting in lower prices for the animals and an economic crisis for the bedouin. The well-documented case-studies in this thesis demonstrate that this assumption is flawed. The bedouin economy was more complex than the portrayals in many sources, and the reasons for economic hardship and political decline among the camel-herding tribes are more varied. In the story of how the wheel overcame the camel, it is clear that while transportation technology had some effect, even more important were such factors as drought, the rise of new states, colonial policies, intertribal politics and the varied factors pulling nomadic peoples to become sedentary.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:365651 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Toth, Anthony B. |
| Contributors | Rogan, Eugene |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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