I realized in writing this article that I was a bit fuzzy on what the word “Anatolian” actually means. I’ll admit it! So, here’s a quick clarification: while the region known as “Anatolia” has basically the same boundaries as modern day Türkiye, the name “Türkiye” is derived from Turkish ethnic and cultural identity. Anatolia had been a hotbed of civilization for eons before the Turks showed up. To give a few examples, people groups such as the Hittites, Luwians, Phrygians, Lydians, Romans—and, approaching groups more relevant to the 21st century now—Persians, Greeks, Armenians, and Kurds ALL fall under the “Anatolian” umbrella, in part or in full. That’s why you’ll hear historians say things like “ancient Anatolian civilizations” rather than “ancient Turkish civilizations.” The Turks are the new kids on the block.
From Saudi to the UAE, to Yemen, to Oman, there are all lots of sub-regions of the Arabian Desert, which have emerged over time based on a combination of local tradition, geographical features, and scientific classification. The geography of this particular corner of the desert is largely dominated by long, parallel dunes (also called longitudinal dunes). A single dune can stretch from 5–20+ km (3–12+ miles) in length. And, in terms of height, they can reach 100 meters high (330 feet). To put that into perspective, that could be roughly equivalent to a 30-storey building!
Orcas, or Killer Whales, were something of a feared creature in the olden days. Apparently, back in the 1800s when this part of the world was first being explored by Europeans, their technical/scientific classification was actually “Monster.” Hilarious as this might seem, it does make some sense. Black whales with sharp teeth and shark fins? Yeah, that would have definitely felt somewhat monstrous to me if I was an early sailor of these waters. The conventional wisdom of the day was that, if you fell in the water, you needed to get out ASAP so an Orca wouldn’t eat you. If you hadn’t already guessed this, there is, in fact, no record of an Orca ever eating a human. But this was still a legitimate fear as recently as the 1960s when they actually mounted a machine gun on a coastal bluff known as Chatham Point with the aim of shooting as many Orcas as possible. 🤯 Somehow, for the time when this gun was actively scouring the seas, the Orcas stayed clear of this area and there were no casualties. So Orca/human tensions have never escalated to be anything more than a cold war. And it was not long after this that human sentiments toward Orcas began to change for the better.
