Arabian Nights

The Arabian peninsula is an oft-romanticised land in the eyes of the Occident. Much of this stems from the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic in the Islamic Golden Age, and celebrated in the West since the 1700s. These include the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad the Sailor, and are better known as One Thousand and One Nights or simply Arabian Nights. The Khor Al Adaid in Qatar, pictured here before a storm, evokes the orientalist view of Arabia’s magical deserts.