Tiny Dubai, with its merchant history, sees international trade as still very much its business. The Jabal Ali Free Zone, with its 67-berth port and hundreds of resident companies, keeps the tradition alive.

London may be the best place in the world to buy books about the Middle East. Its Oriental bookshops, frequented through the years by such figures as Philby and Burton, offer expertise and a satisfying literary ambience.

"Wahawi, ya wahawi iyyahah," chant the children of Cairo, their faces aglow in lantern light. It is Ramadan, after sunset: An old and cherished Egyptian tradition is being played out again in the streets of the city.

Geologist Farouk El-Baz helped train the Apollo astronauts and named features on the moon after famous Arab scientists of the past. Today, his focus is remote sensing, a science greatly advanced by space exploration.

In Spain and Portugal, tile art is a rich and varied national treasure. We can trace its humble origins to early Mesopotamia; its greatest flowering was achieved during the glory days of Muslim Andalusia.