#empty quarter

[adhamabbas]

في شروق الشمس أعظم آيات الجمال

[radiophd]

the empty quarter -- glass finger

[ilikeit-art]

The Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter) is the sand desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some 650,000 km² including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.

[earthstory]

Dunes at dusk The level of detail on this high resolution satellite image is amazing, with the scalloped features on the red sand dunes revealing superimposed patterns of wind and sediment movement. They seem to be climbing over the main long braiding ridge dunes, and are picked out by the grazing light of the fading day. In the interdune areas which seem to be composed of different coloured sediment (though it could be the same, minus red rich evening sunlight), human track ways, some open, some covered are visible. Desert grains are frosted from repeated wind borne collisions with other grains, and covered in a light dusting of red iron oxide, hence their colour. The image was snapped over the Rub al Khali, that great erg known as the Empty Quarter in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Loz Image credit: Digital Globe

[noosphe-re]

Near Ash Shalfa, Empty Quarter (Rub’ Al Khali), Saudi Arabia (via Google Maps)

[elriz]

Shaybah: Sand Dunes on the Edge of the Empty Quarter

📍 Shaybah, Saudi Arabia

New blog post: www.worktravelshoot.com

[leftovies]

pssh pssh pssh pssh... gfffffff ffff ffffffff ffff... pssh pssh pssh pssh

[silentambassadors]

Having just spoken about the Colony of Aden, let’s take a moment to discuss the Aden Protectorate.  As most of us (should) know, the far reaches of the colonial powers, particularly the British Empire, were only slowly, and often only tacitly, brought under British rule in a haphazard, often bizarre process.  The southern hinterland of the Arabian peninsula is one of the most remote lands on earth - not so much by distance from other areas (the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea are never terribly far), but the sheer nature of the Hadhramaut, and its desolate Empty Quarter, made southern Arabia and its small sultanates a constantly shifting geopolitical expanse.  Aden, as a port city, was much easier to pigeonhole, but Aden Protectorate was variously divided into two, 13, or even 27 different polities, before finally being subsumed into either the Federation or Protectorate of South Arabia in 1963.  [For a look at the Empty Quarter during some of these years from the perspective of an intrepid British lady adventuress, read Freya Stark - The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut or A Winter in Arabia, or, really, anything by her.]

Stamp details: Top left: Issued in: 1942 From: Say'un, Kathiri State of Seiyun in Hadhramaut MC #6

Top right: Issued in: 1942 From: Mukalla, Qu'aiti Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla MC #5

Middle stamp: Issued on: September 30, 1967 From: Mahjaba, State of Upper Yafa MC #1

Stamp on bottom: Issued on: March 12, 1967 From: Qishn, Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra MC #1

Recognized as a sovereign state by the UN: No Claimed by: The Republic of Yemen Member of the Universal Postal Union: No