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| Capital | Sharjah | ||||||
| Largest city | Muscat | ||||||
| Other cities | Sur, Suhar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Al Manāmah | ||||||
| Language official |
Arabic | ||||||
| others | Other Arabic | ||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Arab | ||||||
| others | Persian, Indian, African | ||||||
| Demonym | Arabian | ||||||
| Government | Federation of hereditary monarchies | ||||||
| Legislature | The Sheikh council | ||||||
| Area | 904,650 sq km | ||||||
| Established | 1585 | ||||||
| Independence | from The Emirate of Shaybah | ||||||
| declared | 1585 | ||||||
| Currency | Dinar | ||||||
The Arabian Federation (Arabic: الاتحاد العربي) is a nation located in the east of the Arabian peninsula. It has several vassal states, more information is available about them here.
History[]
Foundation of the Federation (1575-1610)[]
The Federation in 1585 when it was founded
Following the collapse of the Hashemite Caliphate in 1575, chaos engulfed the Arabian peninsula and anti-Islamic ideals spread. The Emirate of Shaybah had emerged from the fall of the Mahdiate relatively unscathed. Its leader Emir Osama bin Said who was still very religious, began to expand his Emirate to take over Arabia and spread Sunni Islam to stop the growth of anti-Islam and atheism. Emir Osama by forcibly spreading Sunni Islam and denying the rights of many people. This annoyed many military chiefs, local Sheik rulers, merchants and importantly, Emir Osama's son, Muhammad bin Said. These people met up and plotted to assassinate Emir Osama so that his son Muhammad would inherit the throne and be able to make a much more liberal state out of the intolerant, oppressive state that his father Emir Osama was creating.
In 1585 Emir Osama of Shaybah was assassinated. The assassin was captured and exiled for his crime, this was done to show the heir to the throne - Muhammad - had nothing to do with the assassination and thus him inheriting the throne was legitimate. The conspirators agreed alongside the new Emir Muhammad bin Said to reform Shaybah to give Omani, Yemeni, Bedouin and Arab Sheiks a higher degree of autonomy as they were given control of their own Sheikdom states, capable of self rule and participation in the larger federal government of Arabia. This split up the Emirate of Shaybah to its pre-Osama borders and the other territories of Shaybah were split into Sheikdom states, united under the federation.
The new federation split Arabia up into many states, each ruled by a Sheik lord who imposed local rule over his Sheikdom state and participated in the federal government as part of the Sheik council. Shaybah remained an Emirate within the federation, meaning that the Emir of Shaybah had more power in the Sheik council than the other Sheik members. This tiered system of government within the Sheikh council eventually saw the powerful Nabhan Dynasty, who used to rule Oman when it was last independent, managing to unite some of the Nabhan clans to merge several Omani Sheikdoms into an Emirate state to ensure Omani dominance within the Federation.
The Federation in 1607 following the merger of Nabhan states into the Emirate of Muscat
The Federation's early years were marked by expansion into central Arabia by warring with the Bedouin tribes and annexing their land; as well as getting Bedouin tribes to join the Federation as Sheikdom states by using diplomacy. The Federation also began to build its own powerful trading empire across the Indian ocean, using the old Caliphate trade network as the basis to build the new Federation trade empire. Which saw the Federation vassalizing the Republic of Comchellak in 1594; and pursuing a free trade agenda by lowering trade barriers. Otherwise, a general liberalizing wave of control spreads over the federation as most people start to take religion less seriously and practice mainly the peaceful aspects, ignoring the hate-filled aspects as outdated, meaningless and contradictory to other teachings of Islam.
The Federation invaded the Persian Empire in 1600 so that some rebel Sheiks in the south of the Persian Empire could join the federation and to avenge the disloyal Persian Sheiks who were killed by the Persian Shah. The war ended in 1604 and two rebel Persian Sheikdoms were liberated by the Federation and they joined the Federation.
Establishing Arabian dominance (1610-)[]
Following the victory against Persia, the Federation now looked to the seas to increase their trade network and starting a colonial empire. The Comchellak vassal expanded deeper into Madagascar to build plantations, enslave natives and to exploit the riches of the island. The Federation also sent out a grand exploration fleet which discovered the southern continent of Australia in 1610 but found nothing of real value to warrant colonization.
The Federation set up its second colony in 1614 on the island of Mafia just off the East African coastline. Colonization quickly became very popular with the Sheik council and merchants, as it made the Federation a lot of money. Sheik Akram of Bahrain used his policy of East Indies colonization to win himself the 1616 Sultan election and launched the invasion of Wehali in 1618, which following 2 years of war, forced Wehali to ceede the southern tip of Timor island to the Federation, thus creating the Kupang colony. Colonial expansion continued in East Africa too, with the Mafia colony expanding into the other islands on the Tanganyika coastline. Thus the colony was renamed to the Zanj Islands colony in 1619 to reflect this expansion.
The Federation began vassalizing the Maldives Sultanate in 1622 to improve the trade empire by providing a stopping point for ships travelling to the far east and to protect the Maldives from European expansion. This secured Sultan Akram's 2 terms in power and he started another war against Wehali to expand the Kupang colony and remain in power.
UP TO 1636
The colony of Socotra was allowed to join the federation as a Sheikdom state in 1643.
The Federation has also established a powerful mercantile trading empire across the Indian Ocean; establishing colonies in Africa with the Zanj islands colony based on the islands of Mafia, Zanzibar and the smaller Tanzanian spice islands. The Federation's colonies in the East Indies include the Bengkulu colony and the Timor-Kupang colony.
The rise of the Emirate of Muscat, business competition, tribal conflicts and rivalries, the Federation entered a period of internal strife in 1652 as rival Sheiks attempted to increase their power, other Sheikdoms entered dynastic union following years of alliances, some Sheiks were assassinated to allow annexation of some states by states which had commissioned these assassinations and in the southern Ash Sharqiyah region, the tribes all entered a bloody conflict and destroyed themselves. This civil war period ended in 1660.
The Federation in 1660 following the civil war period
After the civil war period ended, neighbouring Yemen was invaded by Ethiopia. Fearful of the creation of a dangerous warzone so close to his borders and the Sheikdoms of the south wanting to expand their own states at the expense of the crumbling Yemeni nation. Hence the Arabian Federation joined the war to expand its own territories and to help ensure the warzone didn't create masses of refugees in Yemen.
During this war, and the years after it, other Sheikdoms joined together mainly dynastic union and without violence. The Bedouin Sheikdoms also expanded inland into the northern Nejd but following a lot of northern expansion and the formation of the Sultanate of Nejd after the Sheikdom of Riyadd's expansion into Nejd. Now the Federation had firmly established borders with major nations and the Federation was free from being dragged into nearby warzones.
The Federation also expanded its colonial empire, the major expansion being the invasion and annexation of the Scandinavian colony in East Africa. The expansion happened after the Federation took advantage of Scandinavia being dragged into a large war which took place across its global empire. Following this war the Zanj Islands colony expanded onto the African continent itself, and renamed the Zanj coast colony.
This growing power of the Federation, coupled with the Sheikdoms states increasing in size, made individual states more economically competitive and allowed the colonial empire to expand, and importantly, the Sheik council could come to decisions much faster than before thanks to the reduced amount of Sheiks and Emirs. The federation's vassals also grew in power and became larger players on the world stage, becoming important economic partners and centres of economic trade for some industries. However problems arose as nearby countries continued to marginalize Muslims and many migrants came to the Federation seeking a life where they could worship freely.
The Federation in 1683 following the Caliphate vassalization and more Sheikdom border changes
The Federation took advantage of this global marginalization of Islam by funding an influential moderate-Muslim Imam to become Caliph of the Arabian Caliphate. The future Caliph Ali made a deal with the Federation who would support his campaign in return for the Caliphate becoming effectively a vassal of the Federation and having the Caliphate sell off land to neighbours. The new Caliph also followed a path of moderate Islam to stop growing extremism caused by Islam's marginalization across the globe. This new more peace-focused Islam allowed the Federation to pursue its liberal, merchant-led, democratic national ideal and helping to spread these ideals to other Muslim nations.
However eventually one of the nation's which the new Caliphate sold land to, the Sultanate of Nejd, and its vassal owner, the Persian empire, slowly turned against the Arabian Federation and relations soured. This was caused mainly by the Persian empire with its ally the Roman empire, attacking the Levantine Kingdom: an important ally of the Federation. The Levant managed to beat off its invaders thanks to help from its allies. During this period, a new education system was introduced which forced each Sheikdom state in the Federation to have its own university, and each Emirates 3 universities. Following this a new school system was introduced to bring more children to a higher basic level of education to increase future university application numbers.
As relations soured with Persia, the Arabian Federation made the decision to join up with the Roman empire, Dimurats and Netherlands in invading the expansionist Persian empire who was proving to be a problem to all of its former allies. During this war, the Caliphate moved from being a vassal of the Federation to in a personal union with it, following a series of constitutional changes as Sheik lords within the Caliphate demanded greater autonomy from the Caliph and from the Federation. This new deal gave the Caliphate more autonomy, more democracy and made it technically part of the Arabian Federation, but it remained a separate part of it thanks to its own constitution. The war against Persia ended with the Federation acquiring most of the Nejd and these were organised into new Sheikdom states. Some of the Sheikdom states also expanded in size in the Nejd and the Persian Sheikdoms expanded as well thanks to the war. The Caliphate regained the lands it had sold to the Persians as well, and some more land in Nejd.
The Federation & Caliphate's internal borders in 1709
Another important gain from this war was the Persian's Mesopotamian vassal moving into the Federation's sphere of influence. The Federation split the Mesopotamian Sultanate back to how it was before the Persian's took over, re-establishing the Sultanates of Baghdad and Kuwait. These two new Sultanates became vassals of the Federation. This paved the way for the creation of the Muslim bloc, a new alliance of Muslim nations led by Caliph Ali officially, but the Federation was the dominant power in the bloc. The bloc included the Arabian Federation, Caliphate, Sultanate of Kuwait, Sultanate of Baghdad, Sultanate of Maldives, the Republic of Comchellak, the Dimurats and the Somali Sultanate. This bloc was created in response to the Great war of the 1700s and helped create solidarity against the war spreading into the Middle East.
A new set of business incorporation laws were introduced in 1699, which helped boost the economy of the Federation further. Another massive boost came from the dynastic union between the Caliphate and Levantine Kingdom in 1703 following the marriage of Emir Ahmed of Medina and Princess Mary of the Levant. This helped the Muslim bloc to easily trade with Europe thanks the new trade deal brought in thanks to the dynastic union causing lower trading tariffs making the Federation one of the largest suppliers of spice to Europe.
The Federation & Muslim bloc's internal borders in 1719
The Federation's trade network continued to expand as the Zanj coast colony expanded in land to make more plantations and acquire more slaves. This then helped the Federation to acquire a trading pact and alliance with China too. Using this new money, the Federation helped its vassals in their wars, be it Baghdad expanding into Persia or Comchellak trying to kick Wales off Madagascar. The Federation got further involved in the war against Wales by trying to buy the Welsh colony but this plan was ultimately unsuccessful, thanks to Wales pricing the colony too high.
Border changes caused by the war
Sultan Jassim who decided to end the seemingly no-end-in-sight talks with Wales, then turned his attentions to the proposal which won the 1716 Sultan election for him: the liberation of Yemen. The war started in 1720 with the Federation invading Ethiopian controlled Yemen, with the Federation's allies sending military aid to help, but the war quickly escalated into a global conflict. The Arabian - Ethiopian war saw the Federation's German allies joining the war to gain territory from Ethiopia, which then caused Ethiopia to force all of its vassals into the full war, and also got its ally, the United Maharajya to join the war on the side of the Ethiopians. This then brought more German nations into the war, as Brandenburg wished to expand its Indian territories. The Welsh and Dutch also joined the war using the chaos to aid their invasions of Indian territories in Atlantia, East Indies and the Maori islands too. The war even gave rise to a civil war in Korea, ending its time as a German vassal. This war lasted 8 years and spread across the Ethiopian & Indian colonial empires, as the Federation brought in its Muslim bloc allies and German allies into the war to destroy large parts of their colonial empires, after the Yemen war became inflamed. Most of the fighting in the war ended in 1728 and the treaty of Muscat was signed in 1733 to formally end the war and to decide which territories will be annexed by the winning nations.
The Federation & Muslim bloc's internal borders in 1736
The war saw Emir of Qatar winning his second term as Sultan, as the war was still going on; and the war also made the albino Emir Badr al Din of Shaybah famous for his military expertises as a war hero for winning the war in Yemen against the larger Ethiopian-Indian armies. Emir Badr al Din, won the 1736 elections off the back of this war, and he formally admitted 4 new Yemeni states into the Federation following the war: the Sheikdoms of Tarim, Al Mukalla and Aden, and the Emirate of Sana'a. The war also established border agreements for the Zanj coast colony, which then spurred on inland expansion to mark out the north and south borders of the colony with boundary stones. The expeditions mapped out lots of the East African interior and led to the formal discovery of Lake Kitara (OTL Lake Victoria). This started an alliance with the Empire of Kitara and other war gains further expanded the Federation's economy and trade network.
Sultan Badr al Din, the White Emir of Victory, sees his nickname gained from the war in Yemen and his famous set of white armour (made of ivory and polished metal), change to the White Sultan after he continues his military prowess by starting another war, this time against Larantuka so the Kupang colony could expand. The first war started in 1738 and also saw the Maldives joining the war after the Federation gave up its claims to the Foalhavahi Islands to the Maldives in return for military help and keeping one of the islands as a naval base. The first war ended in 1740 after the war in Somalia forced the Federation to intervene to help its ally, the Somali Sultanate; and the death of Caliph Ali. The White Sultan then returned back to Kupang to begin the second Larantukan war in 1743, which lasts only a year; thanks to the White Sultan's superior forces and his brilliant strategies.
Thanks to the brilliant success of the Larantukan wars, the White Sultan wins a second term in office in the 1746 Sultan elections. With his position confirmed, the White Sultan sends a colonization fleet to establish a new colony in the Southern continent of Australia, which is named New Oman, as the settlers in thought the land around OTL Esperance, was like their homelands in Oman, where most of the settlers were from. The Kingdom of Tanimbarkai is also made a protectorate of the Federation during the White Sultan's second term. Otherwise the rest of Sultan Badr al Din second term in office, he improves education, improves the military and expands the colonies.
During Sultan Badr al Din's third term as Sultan, the White Sultan manages to purchase Caer Anial's Madagascan territories from Wales to establish the colony of Southern Madagascar in 1753. However this latest colony is short-lived as the White Sultan's plan to sell of the colony to the Republic of Comchellak who had been trying to take over that land from the Welsh for a long time. After selling the Southern Madagascar colony to the yearning Comchellak Republic, Sultan Badr al Din uses the profit from the sale to fund his latest war of colonial expansion, this time against Bima. The invasion lasted 3 years, with the Federation declaring a cease-fire in 1763 after Sultan Badr al Din caught malaria and died while he was leading the invasion. His son, Hassan succeeds him as Emir of Shaybah and the Sheik council appoints Sheik Abbas of Khor Fakkan as Sultan to serve as Sultan for the remaining three years of Sultan Badr al Din's term. The caretaker Sultan Abbas promotes industrialization in the Federation and puts General Kedar in charge of re-organising the army in Kupang and Bima in preparation for the second invasion of Bima to finish off the White Sultan's last war.
In 1766 following the decades of rule by the legendary White Sultan, Sheik Ghassan of Al-Hasa is appointed Sultan. Sultan Ghassan stays in Arabia for almost his entire reign as Sultan, with his great generals and subordinates accomplishing many great things. For starters, General Kedar starts the second invasion of Bima in 1766 which leads to the annexation of Bima into the Kupang colony. Elsewhere diplomats convince the King of Tanimbarkai to have his kingdom become a vassal rather than a protectorate of the Federation and the Federation continues to industrialize massively. Following the death of the heir-less Sheik Azeem of Sharjah in 1767, the Sheik council decide to transform Sharjah state into Federal territory and make Sharjah the new capital of the Federation. Sharjah District Capital loses its votes in the Sheik council but gives a neutral territory for the Federal government and Sultan to rule the Federation from. This then sparks several building projects in Sharjah D.C including a grand new Sheik council building, Sultan palace and grand new buildings for all of the government ministries.
Another important event was the dynastic union with the Dimuratis, which saw the elderly Sheik Boulos of Vanak marring off his eldest and only daughter, Princess Hawwa to Crown Prince Da'ud of the Dimurats. The Elderly Dimurati King and Sheik Boulos of Vanak both give their blessing to the 1767 marriage. The dynastic union agreement with the Sheikdom of Vanak being annexed into the Dimurati Kingdom once Sheik Boulos died happened in 1768 and then in 1769 Prince Da’ud became King following his father's abidaction.
The rest of Sultan Ghassan's term saw expansion of the colonies, industrialization, the vassalization of the Qoyunlu empire and the introduction of the state hospital programme which tied in with the state university programme. Sultan Ghassan also rejected the Sheik's of the Caliphate's demands for them to join the Federation too.
The Second civil war and collaspe of the Muslim bloc[]
Government[]
The Federation with all of its states named.
The Arabian federation is a federation of hereditary monarchies governed on a national level by the Sheikh council from the district capital of Sharjah. The head of state is the Sultan who's job is to uphold the constitution of the Federation and to fairly rule the Federation. There are currently 11 Emirates and 46 Sheikdoms in the Federation. The map opposite contains names and labels of each of the states, as well as the Federation's various colonies, vassals, puppets and dynastic union nations across the globe.
The Federation's Sheik Council of the 57 Emirs & Sheiks of the Federation elect a Sultan to rule for 10 years. Some laws do differ between the states but the fundamental laws and governing principles remain the same. However in the chain of command for the whole of the Federation, the Sultan of the Federation is the supreme leader over the two states, with the Caliph being a symbolic religious leader, who holds a large influence and say on governance but no real legal power.
Below is a table showing the Sultans of the Arabian Federation:
| Name of Sultan | Title | Terms in office | Years in office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad bin Said | Emir of Shaybah | 1 | 1586-1596 |
| Omar | Sheik of Muscat (from 1607, Emir of Muscat) | 2 | 1596-1616 |
| Akram | Sheik of Bahrain | 2 | 1616-1636 |
| Omar | Emir of Muscat | 2 | 1636-1656 |
| Saeed | Emir of Dubai Al Ain | 1 | 1656-1666 |
| Muhammad bin Said II | Emir of Shaybah | 2 | 1666-1686 |
| Yazid | Sheik of Dammam (from 1698, Emir of Oum Dammam) | 2 | 1686-1706 |
| Muhammad bin Said II | Emir of Shaybah | 1 | 1706-1716 |
| Jassim | Emir of Qatar | 2 | 1716-1736 |
| "The White Sultan" Badr al Din | Emir of Shaybah | 3 (died during 3rd term) | 1736-1763 |
| Abbas | Sheik of Khor Fakkan | 1 (caretaker elected following death of previous Sultan) | 1763-1766 |
| Ghassan | Sheik of Al-Hasa | 1 | 1766-1776 |
| Abbas | Sheik of Khor Fakkan | 1 | 1776-1786 |
| Habib al Hamzah | Emir of Abu Dhabi al Rahba | 1 | 1786-1789 |
| Emergency government due to the Civil war | N/A | The civil war lasted five years | 1789-1794 |
| Abdul-Hamid | Sheik of Ajman | 2 | 1794-1814 |
| ?? | ?? | 1 | 1814-1824 |
| ?? | ?? | 1 | 1824-1834 |
| Muhammad al Youssef | Emir of Al Hofuf | 2 (died in office) | 1834-1847 |
| "The Redeemer" Osama al Khalid | Emir of Bahrain | 2 (caretaker elected following death of previous Sultan) | 1847 1864 |
| ??? | ??? | ??? | 1864 - ??? |
Culture[]
The Culture of the Federation is a largely peaceful one, built upon the secular constitution which governs the Federation. It is very tolerant society and social etiquette is of a very high standard, which can be quite daunting to foreigners.
Religion[]
The Arabian Federation is a secular state, with no official state religion. However the Arabian Federation's main religion is overwhelmingly Islam, with many branches of Islam including Sunni, Shi'ite and Ibadhi Islam being the most popular practices of Islam in the federation. A few Christians, Jews, Hindi and other religions are practiced in the federation, but Islam is the vast majority for approximately 85% of the population. However it is also worth noting that many people who see themselves as Islamic, are not strict and the majority of people loosely follow Islam in a liberal form, with many of the stricter rules being ignored and considered non-Islamic and simply those put by rulers to control the populace. This is largely due to the large anti-religion movement saw after the demise of Mahdi Islam after it was seen to be false. Furthermore, following the collapse of the Caliphate in 1575 and the rejection of fraudulent Mahdi Islam, many people abandoned religion all-together and became atheist. Atheists account for 12% of the population of the federation.
Languages[]
The main language in the federation is Arabic and its different dialects. Other popular languages include various Indian dialects following the large migrant of Indian Muslims from Orissa who felt oppressed by the anti-Muslim government.