I shall try to give a short overview, not mentioning too many dates etc… Just the main events/developments that happened and influenced the history of the region before Islam. Don’t look to closely too my English though 
The geographic factor was of great determing influence on the whole history of the Arabian peninsula (and in fact up to this very day). Geography also caused it to be located almost isolated from the rest of the world.
There was no unity on the Arabian peninsula.
I can be separated in 2 to 4 units:
Climatological, which also can be used to for ethnical division
The wet south-west, populated by the South-Arabian or also called the Yeminites.
Clearly to be distinct from the dry north with the Northern Arabs who are considered to be the “real Arabs”.
- Southern Arabia
Is a humid region. It had great importance in the pre-Islamic period because its fertility from which the incense-tree was the symbol.
The domestication of the camel, usually situated around 1500 BC caused a social- economic revolution. Southern Arabia from then conquered its place in the stream of international trade.
The inhabitants were sedentary, living from agriculture in the mountains (terrace and damming); an intensive irrigation-agriculture.
The language had different dialects and distinguished itself from the Arabic spoken in the rest of the region.
South Arabia had all the possibilities to reach an advanced culture.
The economy of this region was territorial (hence: not tribal based)
In the period from 1000 BC – 300 AD the cities were close to each other and the region was densily populated. By 1000 BC the cities Ma’in, Saba, Qataban and Hadramawt were the 4 most important cities.
These cities were at first ruled by a priester-king. After them came the muluk, kings, by which the heredial monarchy became installed.
They had military power and were surrounded by the tribe leaders. These tribes must be seen a sedentary units, organized on territorial base and held together by commercial- and labour interests.
The religion played a very important role in society.
There were 3 astral gods: The sun, the planet Venus and the moon who had different names in different cities. These gods had their temples where priests administered the welth that was gathered there.
South Arabia was the only producer/deliverer of incense for the other cultures. There was import of tropical products from India and Somalia.
Trade was the most important economical activity, at sea via the Indian Ocean and over land by caravans to the Middle East and the Mediterinean. There were traderoutes fro the South to the North.
Sa’ba could at a certain point in history annex the surrounding kingdoms. Its capital was known for the famous Ma’rib dam (its remainings still visible now).
The power of Sa’ba however became undermined by the cities of Petra and Palmyra, both located at the the species and scences trade routes.
Hellenistic Egypt (Ptolomae) brought a few serious blows to South Arabian by making the Northern half of the red sea a sort of Egyptian lake, with as result a direct trade route between Egypt and India.
This caused unrest resulting in rebellion, causing the Himyari tribe to supplant the old dynasty in 15 BC. In 24 BC the Roman prefect of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, launched an expedition against the Himyarites, which failed.
In the meantime a military state, Axum, came to rise in the highlands of Abessiania.
They were also semites, descendants of southern Arabs but with Hellenistic symphaties.(Their decretes were written in Ethiopian and Greek).
Axum gained a great part of the trade with India.
During the 3the century AD there was anarchy in the Roman Empire and the Persian Sassanides became a major power.
Axum felt threatened by the Persian power on the Arabian searoutes and then sought and got a foothold in Yemen. They attacked Himyar but nationalistic reaction there was able to drive the out again in 378 AD.
From then on until the rise of Islam southern Arabia became a point of dispute between Axum and Persia, disputes in wich the Byzantine Emire from a distance tried to mix itself in.
From the 4the century ADChristianity also began to play an important role in the history of southern Arabia. The religion entered the region from Abessinia, churchs were build, among others in Aden and Dhofar. Strong connections were established between the Christians of Southern Arabia and the Christians of Syria.
As a reaction on this developing Christianity and while it was the religion of the powerful neighbours, the last king of Himyar, Dhu- Nawas, adapted Judaism as counterweight. This politic was inspired by the need to find an other moral ground for his kingdom because the old heathen religions were disappearing.
Christian missionaries were now considered to be agents of Byzantium and Axum, and many Christian merchands, among which also people from Axum and Byzantium, were sentenced to death. This caused a reaction of Axum, but their expedition was defeated. Dhu-Nawas now suspected all Christians in his kingdom of collaboration. Churches were destroyed and Christians persecuted, upon which Axum organized a sort of crusade.
Religion argument however stood besides the economical interest. The power of Axum had its origin in the economical control over southern Arabia. Hence they wanted also control over the whole region and the part between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. With behind the screens the blessıng of Byzantium they once again attacked Himyar and killed Dhu-Nawas.
This was the beginning of half a century ruling by Axum, first by governor, later by a vice roy who in rather dark circumstances became disposed and was replaced by a former slave named Abraha.
From 535 to 570 AD Abraha became the most powerful man of Southern Arabia, even that much that the Byzantine Emperor Justinianus asked for his help to fight the Persians.
Abraha wanted to remain independent of all the larger powers in the region, yet it seems that he leaned more towards the Ethiopian/Byzantine side then towards the Persian. Under influence of the Christians he ordered the restauration of churches and the contruction of a cathedral in Sa’na.
In order to establish a direct onnection with the Mediterrenean he entered in 570AD the Hidjaz (for location of this region see other part). Abraha reached with his army the region where Mecca was located, at the time the centre of the heathen religions of Arabia.
This invasion of Abraha failed because of the plague. The event , and the year it happened, is known in Islam as “the year of the elephant”, referring probably to the elephant in the army of Abraha. It is also said this was the year of birth of the Prophet Muhammed.
Around the end of the 6th, beginning of the 7th century AD there was an uprise in Yemen, and support of the Persians was sought. This was the beginning of the extending of Persian influence in southern Arabia.
Christianity once again became discredited.
There was political,social and economical crisis, which can be seen as symbolised by the breaking of the famous Ma’rub dam. This event is considered as the final decline of the Himyar culture.
2.Northern Arabia or the real Arabia.
A dry territory that was never became united under one single leader.
Continental climat with scarce water supplies (no lakes or rivers). Scarcely populated desert surrounded by sea at two sides. Between the Red Sea and the hill sides is the narrow plane of Tihame, from which the northern part is called the Hidjaz.
Surrounding the legendaric desert Rub’al Khali (empty quarter), and especially on the West of this desert there are many oases, like Fadak, Khaybar, Nadjran, Yahtrib.
The region was populated by the “real Arabs” , their language had several dialects. Nomadic population in the central and eastern part, sedentary in the oases and at the periphery of the desert.
2.1. The nomads.
They form a permanent factor in Arabia. It is not certain if these Arabs had their origin at the Arabian peninsula itself or if they came from elsewhere. They did not know any form of monarchy, lived from their cattle and moved with the cattle in search for the scarce water. They don’t have an own (written) history and are organized in separated tribes under the lead of a Sayyid.
The tribes formed various alliances based on real or imaginary relationships. When there was a lack of food or a disturbance in the ecological balance between man and territory, raids were undertaken against neighbouring tribes. Women and children often became abducted to be sold as slaves or to be given back against a ransom.
There was no strong unity within the tribe and they showed great hospitality. Nomadic cultures are still very dependent on solidarity and the tribal support was extremely important for the members of a tribe. Everything owned by the tribe was owned by the community of its members. The blood feud was a very important factor.
The tribe was lead by its Sayyid (appointed by majority of votes) and united everyone who claimed to be the descendent of a common ancestor. (The Sayyid is not an all mighty figure, he needed the consensus of others). The basic cell of this community was the family under the lead of the head of the family. He had the lead over all male descendants and their family, but had to take in to account other important figures, such as his (older) brothers.
Tribes were based on patriarchal linearity and the right of the first born. Tribes functioned as an economic entity with as primary goods the cattle, the tents and the women. The woman was a family good that was married by her father against the payment of a dowry.
There were two kinds of marriages: If a man of an other tribe took his wife back with him to his own tribe, the woman had a lower status then in the second form of marriage. In this second type of marriage the woman remained in her father’s family, where she enjoyed his and her brother’s protection. The husband returned to his own tribe and came by sporadically. As such she could have more then one husband . The question who was the father of her children did not play a role.
The nomadic women where however much more free then those living in sedentary communities. They could be repudiated by their husbands, but could repudiate the husbands themselves. In case of famity, newborn baby girls were sometimes buried (alive).
Religion was fetisjism and animism, but it seems that the nomads showed not such a great importance for religion. They believed in the existence of the djinns, spirits who were presents everywhere. In plants, stones, etc… Life of humans was subjected to the djinns.
Some gods were worshipped by all tribes. Gods travelled with the tribe in a little tent on the back of a camel. When the tribe settled, the god was placed in a space that was haram (forbidden territory).
Gods could become important in accordance with the importance gained by their tribe, but none ever became that important that a form of monotheism could rise.
Holy places were administered by certain appointed (or self-appointed) families. Such a holy place was also a good location for inter-tribal reunions.
2.2Sedentary and semi-sedentary.
These are the nomads who settled in the oases surrounding the desert, from the Persian Gulf to Western Arabia.
It was rather difficult for them to settle at the borders of the richer Southern Arabia and they also had difficulties with the Persians and Assyrians in the first millennium BC.
From the second mill. AD. however there was no real unity anymore in the surrounding territories.
The oases were located on the main trade routes. Especially in the West and in the Hidjaz they were resting places for the caravans coming from Southern Arabia. Others had agriculture (such as Nadjran and Yathrib) there was some local skilled labour and others had a strategically importance.
Other, like for example Petra in the north became prosperous by the trade in spices and scents, which caused the developments of larger kernels of sedentary populations.
Trajanus annexed Petra in 106 and construed the Roman province Arabia. Anarchy in Rome and the rise of the Sassanides in Persia caused attacks on the Roman strongholds. This influenced the trade on the Indian Ocean with as result that the desert caravans gained importance.
Palmyra became now very important. This was an old oasis settlement that prospered after the decline of Petra. The population was mainly Arabic, under the protection of Rome.
At the beginning Palmyra took position for Rome against the Persians, but in 260 the capture of the Emperor caused the ruler of Palmyra to dream about ruling on its own over the East.
He and later his widow Zenobia ruled for a short time over Syria, northern Arabia, Egypt and a small part of Little-Asia.
Aurelianus ended this story in 272 by taking and destroying Palmyra.
After the decline of Petra and Palmyra, two important Arabian groups remained: The Lakhmides and the Ghassanides who fought against each other as part of the armies in the war between Byzantium and Persia.
The Lakhmides, allies of Persia and Nestorian Christians had their origin in the valley of the lower Euphrates. From 300AD they watched as clients of Persia over the nomads and attacked Byzantium. Their camp was located in Hyra, which became an important centre. In 602 the Persian Emperor Kushraw ended their power.
The Ghassanides, monofysitist Christians, came also from the South. They settled in the surroundings of Petra, yet without fixed settlement. Their greatest leader was Harith who lived at the same time as Justinianus and who defended the Byzantine interests very well between 529-569AD. The political importance of the Ghassanides ended in 584AD.
As part of Western Arabia that was in the crossline of the incense trade, the Hidjaz became of great strategic importance. The region was now wide open for the influence of two religions: Judaism (in Yathrib) and Christianity (with a bishop in Nadjran).
In the fertile parts of the northern Hidjaz there were agricultural and trade communities. In the central Hidjaz were smaller cities like Yathrib, At-Ta’if and Mecca. These cities were constantly in contact with nomadic elements and nomadic people.
The end of the 6the century AD showed a strong tendency to a return to nomadic life. Much agriculture land became desert again. De sedentary people of the oases gave the nomads life-goods and weapons in return for protection against other nomads. This had as result that the trade routes became much safer.
The decline of Southern Arabia in combination with the disrupt trade routes from the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf made the Hidjaz rise again as a centre of activity. The inhabitants themselves now provided for their own defence, which made an organized civilisation needed against the nomads. De expansion of trade also provided for experience with politics. However, the tribes of the Hidjaz remained closely linked with the nomads up to the seventh century AD.
Sedentary tribes shared with them the same habits, the same feeling for poetry and eloquence, ideas about honour, language, morals and tribal and familial habits. Socially the cities were not really cities, but a sedentary tribe.
In Mecca was the tribe of the Quraysh and the different parts of the city corresponded with the different clans of the tribe. In the beginning of the 7the cent. AD the clan of the ‘Abd sjams made a great progress, this causing the decline of the Banu Hashim, which was the clan in which Muhammed would be born.
The growing economical progress caused a growing disbalance within the tribe and hence a growing inequity between poor and rich. This was in contradiction with the old tribal values.
Mecca entered a social crisis, which reflected on the mentality of its population. This crisis was the fertile ground for the rise of the prophet Muhammed. Especially the Meccan suras reflect how moved he was by the crisis caused by a social transformation in his society.
Islam is seen by many as a religious answer to the climate of unrest and social destabilisation in Mecca.
Salaam. A