Ibrahim Pasha, another of Muhammad 'Ali's sons, now commands the Egyptian forces.

He enlists the support of the volatile tribes by skillful diplomacy and lavish gifts, then advances into central Arabia, joined by most of the principal tribes.

He invests the provincial capital of ad-Dir'iyah from April 1818 until the surrender, on September 9, of Abdullah, who is sent to Istanbul and beheaded.

Local Wahhabi leaders are put to death, Egyptian garrisons are posted to the principal towns, and Ad-Dir'iyah is razed to the ground as a lesson to the remaining Sa'udi family members, who had suffered heavy losses during the fighting.

A few had managed to escape before the surrender; the rest are sent to Egypt for detention along with those descendants of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab who did not escape to Riyadh.

Those in Egyptian custody include Khalid, son of Sa'ud and brother of 'Abd Allah, and Faysal, a great grandson of Muhammad ibn Sa'ud.

Turki, a grandson of Muhammad ibn Sa'ud and, since 1823, the titular head of the Al Sa'ud family, succeeds in capturing Riyadh and expelling the Egyptian garrison in 1824.

Making the city his capital, Turki attempts to maintain cordial relations with the Ottoman governors of Iraq and the British as he accepts Ottoman suzerainty.

The Near and Middle East (1828–1971 CE)

Empires in Decline, Nations in Transition, and Oil in Ascendancy

Geography & Environmental Context

The Near and Middle East includes three fixed subregions:

• The Near East — Israel, Egypt, Sudan, western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, southwestern Turkey, and southwestern Cyprus.

• The Middle East — Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, eastern Jordan, eastern Saudi Arabia, and northern Oman.

• Southeast Arabia — southern Oman, eastern Yemen, and the island of Socotra.

This vast region links the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Basin, bridging Africa, Europe, and Asia. It is dominated by deserts and highlands, punctuated by fertile river valleys (the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates) and strategic straits — the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb, and the Strait of Hormuz — that define global trade and geopolitics.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

Aridity remained the defining condition. The 19th century brought episodes of famine and epidemic following droughts in Egypt, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. Irrigation schemes and canal building, such as the Suez Canal (opened 1869) and the Assiut Barrage (1902), transformed riverine agriculture. Petroleum exploration and urban expansion in the 20th century accelerated desertification and water demand. Monsoon moisture sustained oases in Oman and Yemen, while seasonal Nile floods continued until the Aswan High Dam (1960–70) reshaped the river’s ecology.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Agrarian bases persisted in the Nile Valley, the Fertile Crescent, and the Iranian Plateau, producing wheat, cotton, dates, and fruits.

• Nomadic and pastoral tribes in Arabia, the Levant, and Sudan maintained camel and sheep herding, adapting to modern markets.

• Urbanization surged in Cairo, Istanbul, Tehran, Baghdad, Beirut, and Jeddah, intensified by European trade and oil wealth.

• Port cities—Aden, Basra, Kuwait City, Manama, and Doha—grew into nodes of global commerce.

Technology & Material Culture

European imperial penetration introduced telegraphs, railways (notably the Hejaz Railway, 1908), and modern weaponry. In the 20th century, oil extraction and refining brought pipelines, tankers, and industrial zones. Traditional crafts—carpets, calligraphy, metalwork, and ceramics—remained vital symbols of identity. Concrete architecture and Western education transformed cities, while mosques and bazaars continued as cultural anchors.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Trade routes: The Suez Canal reoriented world shipping; the Persian Gulf became an oil artery.

• Pilgrimage: The Hajj connected Muslims globally through Mecca and Medina.

• Migration: Rural–urban drift filled cities; labor migration later linked Yemenis, Egyptians, and Iranians to Gulf oil fields.

• Military corridors: The Near and Middle East served as theaters of imperial rivalries—British in the Gulf and Egypt, Russians in the Caucasus, Ottomans across Anatolia and Arabia.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Religion and reform: Islamic modernists such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh sought synthesis of faith and reason; Christian minorities in Lebanon and Armenia fostered education and journalism.

• Literature and art: The Nahda (Arab Renaissance) revived Arabic prose and poetry; Persian and Turkish writers blended realism with nationalism.

• Architecture: Cairo’s modern boulevards, Tehran’s avenues, and oil-era Gulf skylines redefined urban form while domed mosques and minarets remained emblems of continuity.

• Music and media: Radio and cinema from Cairo, Tehran, and Istanbul spread popular culture across linguistic and sectarian boundaries.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Desert agriculture expanded through artesian wells and canals; the introduction of cash crops like cotton in Egypt and tobacco in Iran restructured rural economies. Oases sustained date-palm and grain cultivation, while pastoralists adjusted routes to motor transport and border restrictions. In coastal cities, desalination and modern infrastructure emerged to offset water scarcity.

Political & Military Shocks

• Imperial decline and reform:

  • The Ottoman Empire weakened, culminating in its dissolution after World War I.

  • Egypt’s Muhammad Ali dynasty modernized administration and industry but fell under British occupation (1882).

  • Iran’s Qajar dynasty faced constitutional revolution (1905–11) and later Pahlavi modernization (from 1925).

• World Wars and mandates: British and French mandates carved up former Ottoman territories; Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Palestine emerged under European oversight.

• Nationalism and revolution:

  • Turkey’s Republic (1923) under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk secularized and industrialized Anatolia.

  • Arab nationalism surged—Nasser’s Egypt championed anti-imperial unity.

  • Iran underwent the 1951 oil nationalization crisis and the White Revolution (1963).

  • The Zionist movement culminated in the creation of Israel (1948) and successive Arab–Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967).

• Oil and Cold War: The discovery of major oil fields (Iran 1908; Iraq 1927; Saudi Arabia 1938; Kuwait 1938) made the region central to global power politics. U.S. and Soviet rivalry deepened through alliances and arms races.

Transition

Between 1828 and 1971, the Near and Middle East transformed from imperial provinces and desert sultanates into a mosaic of nation-states, revolutionary republics, and monarchies bound by oil and ideology. The collapse of Ottoman and colonial empires unleashed nationalist movements, while petroleum wealth and Cold War geopolitics redefined economies and alliances. In the deserts of Arabia and the deltas of the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates, modernization coexisted with faith, and cities like Cairo, Tehran, and Riyadh became centers of a region poised between deep tradition and global transformation

The collection of tribute is another indication of the extensive influence the Al Saud derive because of their Wahhabi connections.

Wahhabi religious ideas have spread through the central part of the Arabian Peninsula; as a result, the Al Saud influence decisions even in areas not under their control, such as succession battles and questions of tribute.

Their influence in the Hijaz, however, remains restricted.

Not only are the Egyptians and Ottomans careful that the region not slip away again, but Wahhabi ideas had not found a receptive audience in western Arabia.

Accordingly, the family will be unable to gain a foothold in the Hijaz during the nineteenth century.

Whereas the Al Saud are largely successful in handling these two powers in the Persian Gulf, they do not do so well in managing their family affairs.

The killing of Turki in 1834 touches off a long period of fighting.

One of the reasons the Ottomans are unsuccessful is the growing British interest in Arabia.

The British government in India considers the Persian Gulf to be its western flank and thus increasingly becomes concerned about the trade with the Arab tribes on the eastern coast.

The British are also anxious about potentially hostile Ottoman influence in an area so close to India and the planned Suez Canal

As a result, the British come into increasing contact with the Al Saud.

As Wahhabi leaders, the Al Saud can exert some control over some of the tribes on the gulf coast, and they are simultaneously involved with the Ottomans.

During the period from the 1830s to the 1880s, the Al Saud leaders will play off the Ottomans and British against each other.

The Ottomans, however, sometimes try to expand their influence by supporting renegade members of the Al Saud.

When two of Faisal's sons, Abd Allah and Saud, vied to take over the empire from their father, Abd Allah enlists the aid of the Ottoman governor in Iraq, who uses the opportunity to take Al Qatif and Al Hufuf in eastern Arabia.

The Ottomans eventually are driven out, but until the time of Abd al Aziz they will continue to look for a relationship with the Al Saud that they can exploit.

Muhammad Ali and the Egyptians had been severely weakened after the British and French defeated their fleet off the coast of Greece in 1827.

This action had prevented the Egyptians from exerting much influence in Arabia, but it left the Al Saud with the problem of the Ottomans, whose ultimate authority Turki had eventually acknowledged.

Because the challenge to the sultan had helped end the first Al Saud empire in 1818, later rulers choose to accommodate the Ottomans as much as they can.

The Al Saud eventually become of considerable financial importance to the Ottomans because they collect tribute from the rich trading state of Oman and forward much of this to the ashraf in Mecca, who relays it to the sultan.

In return, the Ottomans recognize the Al Saud authority and leave them alone for the most part.

Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad and his successors rule from Riyadh over a wide area.

They control the region to the north and south of Najd and exert considerable influence along the western coast of the Persian Gulf.

This area is no state but a large sphere of influence that the Al Saud hold together with a combination of treaties and delegated authority.

In the Jabal Shammar to the north, for instance, the Al Saud support the rule of Abd Allah ibn Rashid, with whom Turki maintains a close alliance.

Later, Turki's son will Faisal cement this alliance by marrying his son, Talal, to Abd Allah's daughter, Nura.

Although this family-to-family connection works well, the Al Saud prefer to rely in the east on appointed leaders to rule on their behalf.

In other areas, they are content to establish treaties under the terms of which tribes agree to defend the family's interests or to refrain from attacking the Al Saud when the opportunity arises.

The Al Saud can levy troops for military campaigns from the towns and tribes under their control.

Although these campaigns are mostly police actions against recalcitrant tribes, the rulers describe them as holy wars (jihad), which they conduct according to religious principles.

The tribute that the Al Saud demand from those under their control also is based on Islamic principles.

Towns, for instance, pay taxes at a rate established by Muslim law, and the troops that accompany the Al Saud on raiding expeditions return one-fifth of their booty to the Al Saud treasury according to sharia (Muslim law) requirements.