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These characteristics of the land, reacting on the inhabitants, render them in great part of unsettled predatory habit, intensely individualistic, jealous of the secrets of water and pasture which barely make life possible, and proud of an exclusive liberty, which has never been long infringed. -- D.G. Hogarth (1904)

Arabia attracted a sparse number of adventurous travellers from the developing European countries from the sixteenth century to the middle of the present century.  Their published accounts identify various attractions ranging through exploration, scientific studies, political or religious intrigue to early ethnographic studies.  The latter often concentrated on the bedouin, a case of the traveller observing his fellow traveller.   The accounts record a consistent view of the Arabian character and society, epitomised by the harsh realities of bedouin life and the more urbane life of towns and villages. There are passing references to the food of the local people and that introduced by the travellers but this is usually a subsidiary element of the account, subordinated to the traveller’s tales of extreme hardship, the mercurial character of the bedouin and a fascination with their social customs. The latter were characterised by the two extremes of the rules of hospitality and the rules of raiding. Tales of the coffee hearth are common and this key element of bedouin life is remarkably consistent through the centuries of travel.

Practically every part of the Arabian Peninsula, an area of some 3.2 million square kilometres, was occupied to some degree, from the well established trade and holy cities such asJafir desert , Wadi Rum and Wadi Arabah to the nomadic herdsmen of the vast sand deserts such as the Safawi and Rwaished.  However the bedouin seemed to dominate the Eastern perception ofJordan. This landmass included a variety of human habitations.  Oasis villages and towns were scattered over the sand and stony deserts of the inland plateau. In the mountains on the southern and western fringes, altitude tempered heat, rain was more plentiful and a much more varied agriculture was possible.

Despite failing to conquer Arabia the Romans divided it into two provinces, arabia felix and arabia deserta. Arabia felix occupied the whole of the peninsula and effectively controlled the spice trade from the Indies in the period before reliable seaborn commerce became established. It was also the only source of frankincense. Arabia deserta was the northern, Syrian desert.

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