Asian Art

Arab Singaporeans

The majority of the Arabs in Singapore are Hadharem and trace their ancestry to the southern Arabian Peninsula in Hadramaut, Yemen. The valley region was part of a confederacy once ruled by the Queen of Sheba. Hadramaut was mentioned in the Old Testament (Hazra Mavet). Its fertile areas, suitable for cultivation, had beguiled ancient Romans to call it, and all South Arabia in general, Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia). There is an extensive history of migration from Hadramaut with migrants often migrating for business and religious missionary-related causes as done before the mid-19th century, however the migration increased significantly following the monsoons of the Indian Ocean, war and economic crisis in Yemen, forced the Hadhramis to resettle in various parts of the world: Hyderabad, India (before 1947), Dar-es-Salaam and East Africa as well as Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies. The population of Hadhramaut was historically stratified into distinct social categories, each defined by lineage, authority, and tribal affiliation. At the apex stood the Gabāʾil (tribal confederations), whose authority rested on kinship, martial strength, and control of territory. Among the most prominent ruling houses was the Abdat clan, regarded as part of the traditional elite whose authority extended across parts of the Hadhrami interior. Their leadership did not operate in isolation; it was reinforced by alliances with powerful tribal groupings such as the Al Talib Al Kathiri clan, who played the role of political brokers and kingmakers within the wider Kathiri sphere of influence. Hadhramaut’s political history was shaped by shifting tribal alliances and competing sultanates. From the 15th century onward, major dynasties, such as the Kathiri Sultanate and the Qu'aiti Sultanate, consolidated their authority over various regions of the valley and coastal areas. These sultanates balanced tribal loyalties with administrative rule, drawing legitimacy from both lineage and religious prestige. The Al Kathiri Sultanate had dominion over the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula.

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See also

• ▸Hanfu Movement
• ▸HMS Pandora (1779)
• ▸Art of Mesopotamia

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.