A Brief History of Falconry in the Arab World

posted on: Aug 13, 2021

by Dani Meyer/Arab America Contributing Writer

Falconry is the ancient art of taking wild quarry with a trained bird of prey. If you’ve spent any time in the Arab world, you may have seen a falcon on an airplane, heading to the Gulf (yes, on an airplane!). Falconry has been transformed from hunting for sustenance to a multimillion-dollar sport industry. While the exact origins of falconry are unknown, some of the earliest evidence of falconry points to the Arab world. Read on to learn a little more about the history of falconry and where it is headed today.

History

In 1832, a British archaeologist named Austen Henry Layard excavated the ruins of Dur-Sharrukin, an Assyrian capital built between 720 and 700 B.C. There, he found a relief showing a man with a falcon on his wrist. This discovery is the earliest known representation of falconry, and made a strong case that the sport was prominent in the Arab world at least 2,500 years ago. In the Al Rafidein region, which is in Iraq, falconry was widely practiced in the year 3500 B.C.; in 2000 B.C., the Gilgamesh Epic clearly referred to hunting by birds of prey in Iraq.

There is evidence that the Babylonians, located in present-day Iraq, had game reserves and trained falcons to hunt. As Arab influence spread, so too did falconry. It made its way to the Islamic Empires of Central Asia and across North Africa, spreading the tradition of falconry all over the world.

Thousands of years ago, falconry served as a means of survival. Bedouins in the deserts trapped peregrines, and trained the birds to hunt as kill as a way of providing food for themselves and their families. It was an efficient way of hunting food. When falconry spread to the West, it was used less as a way of procuring food and more as a sport for the upper classes. However, falconry was something that brought the East and West together. In 1228 Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, the Holy Roman Emperor, hunted in the desert with Malik al-Kamil, the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, for three months during a lull in the Sixth Crusade.

However, with the rise of guns and other modern weapons, the prevalence of falcons as the favored hunting tool began to decrease. Falconry remained as a sport.

Falconry As A Sport

Despite the fact that falconry is no longer predominantly used for hunting, falconry remains an intrinsic part of the Arab world, especially in the Gulf. Falcons appear on corporate logos, banknotes, and they are the national emblem of the United Arab Emirates. In 2002, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, son and heir of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the billionaire ruler of Dubai, introduced a new sport to the Arab world: falcon racing. The crown prince had a private reserve for falconry, but realized that not everyone had those opportunities. Racing was Sheikh Hamdan’s ambitious attempt to keep Emiratis connected to their heritage, which also turned into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

At the first falcon race, organized in January 2002, several thousand people participated. The race quickly caught on, and has led to falcon breeders, trainers, and elite falcon coaches. In 2007, Sheikh Hamdan created the Fazza Championships, a two-week competition with $8 million in prizes provided by his family. The crown prince created separate racing categories for sheikhs, professional falconers, and the public, with distinct heats for juvenile and adult birds, hybrids and purebreds, and males and females.

In 2014 Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the fourth wealthiest monarch in the world, with a fortune estimated at $15 billion, created a tournament with even greater rewards. The President Cup, held each January at the Abu Dhabi Falconers Club, offers a prize of $11 million. The President Cup is a huge tournament, and attracts breeders from all over the world. There is competition between the Gulf families, which has fueled a quest for the fastest, hardiest, and most beautiful falcons in the world. Falconry as a sport has become a business industry that makes millions of dollars every year.

The Dark Side of Falconry

Since falconry is a multimillion-dollar industry, it may come as no surprise that there is a black market for falcons. There are those in the industry who believe that wild falcons may perform better than falcons bred in captivity. However, falcons are protected by international wildlife laws, as they were at one point close to going extinct. Since the prizes of falconry competition measure in the millions of dollars, and a single falcon can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, there are those who are willing to risk breaking the law for the opportunity to make more money. There are expensive operations to wilderness areas that disturb the ecological balance of nature.

Nevertheless, falconry remains an important cultural element of the Arab world, and something that should be preserved.

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Sources

https://arabiconline.eu/falcons-arab-world/

https://iaf.org/a-history-of-falconry/#:~:text=Arab%20Falconry&text=In%20the%20Al%20Rafidein%20region,game%20reserves%20for%20quarry%20species.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/uae-falcon-racing-history