Magan (civilization)

Magan (also Majan) was an ancient region in what is now modern day Oman and United Arab Emirates. It was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BC and existed until 550 BC as a source of copper and diorite for Mesopotamia. There is also evidence to support the idea that the Magan people were actually Sumerian. As discussed by The Archeology Fund founded by Juris Zarins, "The Sumerian cities of southern Mesopotamia were closely linked to the Gulf. Archaeologists and historians have linked sites in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar to the Sumerian geographical term of Dilmun. Oman, was most likely the Sumerian Magan". Modern archaeological and geological evidence places Magan in the area currently encompassed by Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In the past, historians had debated possible locations, including the region of Yemen known as Ma'in, in the south of Upper Egypt, in Nubia or the Sudan, and others as part of today's Iran and Pakistan. Other Possible locations for the Magan include Bahrain, Qatar, and the geographical location known as Dilmun. The latter location, specifically in the neighborhood of coastal Baluchistan, has been suggested on account of the similarity between Baluchistan's historical name, "Makran", and "Makkan", a variant of Magan. The first Sumerian mentions of a land of Magan (Sumerian Magan, Akkadian Makkan) are made during the Umm al-Nar period (2600–2000 BCE), as well as references to 'the Lords of Magan'. Sumerian sources also point to 'Tilmun' (accepted today as being centered in modern Bahrain) and Meluhha (thought to refer to the Indus Valley). Akkadian campaigns against Magan took place in the twenty-third century BCE, again possibly explaining the need for fortifications, and both Naram-Sin and Manishtusu, in particular, wrote of campaigning against '32 lords of Magan'. Naram-Sin gave the Akkadian title Malek to the defeated ruler of Magan, a title which is cognate to the Semitic, including Arabic word for king, malik.