Tag: Arabic

The First World War continues: Medina, Arabia, January 1919

The First World War continues: Medina, Arabia, January 1919

by | Jan 6, 2025 | , | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
or many in the West, the First World War in the Middle East was a sideshow to the Western Front. The story of the wartime siege of Medina is even less well-known. But in the region it is still debated and contested, for example in December 2017 when the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates accused Fakhri Pasha of stealing items from Medina, which earned a strong rebuke from the President of Turkey. The First World War in the Middle East had a profound effect on the region, with consequences to this day.

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Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

by | May 30, 2024 | | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī played a central role in the development of mathematics and computer science as we know them today. The next time you use any digital technology – from your social media feed to your online bank account to your Spotify app – remember that none of it would be possible without the pioneering work of an ancient Persian polymath.

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Ancient humans may have paused in Arabia for 30,000 years on their way out of Africa

Ancient humans may have paused in Arabia for 30,000 years on their way out of Africa

by | Nov 13, 2023 | , | 0

Reading time: 4 minutes
Most scientists agree modern humans developed in Africa, more than 200,000 years ago, and that a great human diaspora across much of the rest of the world occurred between perhaps 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. In new research published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, we have uncovered dozens of distinctive historical changes in the human genome to reveal a new chapter in this story.

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New archaeology finding shows how Muslim cuisine endured in secret despite policing by the Spanish Catholic regime

New archaeology finding shows how Muslim cuisine endured in secret despite policing by the Spanish Catholic regime

by | Apr 17, 2023 | | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Granada, in southern Spain’s Andalusia region, was the final remnant of Islamic Iberia known as al-Andalus – a territory that once stretched across most of Spain and Portugal. In 1492, the city fell to the Catholic conquest.

In the aftermath, native Andalusians, who were Muslims, were permitted to continue practising their religion. But after a decade of increasingly hostile religious policing from the new Catholic regime, practising Islamic traditions and rituals was outlawed. Recent archaeological excavations in Granada, however, have uncovered evidence of Muslim food practices continuing in secret for decades after the conquest.

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