The Arabian Peninsula -- including Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- had been practicing agricultural, herding and hunting cultures for thousands of years.
Because they lived on important ancient trade routes, the ancestors of today's Saudi Arabians were influenced by such varying civilizations as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, India, Persia and China.
The Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) in the western Arabian cities of Makkah and Madinah beginning about 610 AD.
The birth of the new faith of Islam was an important historical event. Inspired by their new religion, the Arabs expanded from Arabia, spreading Islam and the Arabic language as far west as the Atlantic Ocean and as far east as central Asia.
The Islamic civilization remained vigorous for centuries, providing stability and advancing human knowledge when most of western Europe was in a state of chaos and superstition known to historians as the Dark Ages. In the 13th century, the Mongol invasions dealt a devastating blow to the Arabs' eastern lands and their empire began to decline.