1968 al-Arabi Map of Afro-Eurasia, the Muslim World

This is an Arabic-language map of Afro-Eurasia prepared and published in 1968 as a special supplement to al-Arabi magazine. Providing comprehensive statistics and information on the Muslim World, the map was issued to celebrate the magazine's 9th anniversary and support Pan-Arabism during the post-colonial era marked by the political dissolution of the United Arab Republic.

A Closer Look

The map covers Afro-Eurasia with countries traced and labelled. Color-shading indicates the proportion of Muslims among the population of various countries, with red representing 10-40 percent, yellow 40-70 percent, and green 70-100 percent. Below the map are statistical tables that provide further demographic information by country, noting both the raw number of Muslims in each country and their proportion of that country's population. The Soviet Union is given its own table, with statistics for both the entire union and for individual constituent Soviet Socialist Republics, including the predominantly Muslim Central Asian states and Azerbaijan. Similarly, India and the People's Republic of China are subdivided to account for predominantly Muslim areas like Xinjiang and Kashmir. Tables also record information for North America, South America, the West Indies, and Australia. Cumulative numbers are provided for continents and the world, while several notes at bottom discuss lacunae or complicating factors in the statistics.

Historical Context

Although al-Arabi magazine was going strong in its 9th year, the Arab and Muslim worlds were in a state of flux and discontent. Arab countries were now formally independent of colonial powers (the last colonies being the British 'Protectorate of South Arabia' in southern Yemen, overthrown in 1967, and the United Arab Emirates, which became independent in 1971) but Pan-Arabism, which al-Arabi had been founded to promote, had largely run its course. Internal fighting over leadership, battlefield losses to Israel, and the ideological tensions of the Cold War all worked to dissolve pan-Arab unity. The withdrawal of Syria from the United Arab Republic in 1961, the North Yemen Civil War, and the resounding Israeli victory in the Six-Day War were effectively the nail in the coffin for pan-Arabism, punctuated by the death of Gamel Abdel Nasser, the ideology's leading figure, in 1970. This map could be interpreted as part of a wider shift away from secular, leftist pan-Arabism towards religious and conservative pan-Islamism (promoted by Saudi Arabia in particular) in the wake of these developments.

Al-Arabi Magazine

Al-Arabi (العربي) is a monthly Arabic-language publication first issued in December 1958 to discuss politics, culture, and social issues in the Arab World, initially from a strongly pan-Arab standpoint. The magazine was founded by and is closely tied to the Kuwaiti government and was printed by the Kuwait Government Press (now the Kuwait Ministry of Information). The magazine provides an interesting and important historical record of a period of great change in the Arab and Muslim world, when most countries in the region became independent (including Kuwait itself in 1961) and most went through some form of civil war or rebellion, which were entangled in the wider Cold War. The magazine is still published and remains an important venue for discussion of issues relating to the Arab World.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared and published as a special supplement to al-Arabi in 1968. It was printed by the Kuwait Government Press (مطبعة حكومة الكويت). The map is only independently cataloged among the holdings of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Columbia University, and the Lebanese American University.