June
18
/ 2022
A power vacuum caused by an extreme drought 1,500 years ago in the Arabian Peninsula led to political unrest, war, and societal change. These were the preconditions that led to the development and spread of Islam, a newly emerging religion in the early 7th century AD, from a location near Mecca. More specifically, these extremely dry conditions contributed to the decline of the ancient South Arabian kingdom of Himyar, located in the southern highlands of Yemen. This previously unexplored phenomena of climate’s role in the spread of Islam have been published for the first time in the journal Science . The Rise and Collapse of the Himyarite Kingdom: Drought and Wars Researchers from the University of Basel explored the remaining
