The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular Arabic: عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: ʿarabiyyūn, Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕa.ra.bɪj.jʊn], plural Arabic: عَرَب, DIN 31635: ʿarab, Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕa.rab] (listen)), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group who carry that ethnic identity, share a common ancestry, culture, history and language, mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia and North Africa, and to a lesser extent the Horn of Africa, and the western Indian Ocean islands (including the Comoros). An Arab diaspora is also present around the world in significant numbers, most notably in the Americas, Western Europe, Turkey, Indonesia, and Iran.

Arabs are first mentioned in Assyrian texts from the mid-9th century BCE where they appear inhabiting parts of present-day Levant, Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia. Arabs have a long and rich history that spans several kingdoms, empires and dynasties throughout the ancient Near East. The Dilmun was an ancient Arab civilization mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC, it was an important trading center from the late fourth millennium to 800 BC. The Minaean and Hadhramaut kingdoms flourished during the first millennium BC, while the Qataban and Sheba kingdoms were known for their wealth and prosperity and had important roles in the ancient trade routes.

During the Hellenistic period, several Arab empires emerged, such as the Palmyrene Empire. This was a state in the 3rd century AD, led by the Arab Queen Zenobia; her realm extended a vast territory, including parts of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. The Qedarites, Lihyan, Nabataeans, Iturea, Arbayistan, Kindites, Osroenes, Emesenes, and Hatrans were ancient Arab tribes that consolidated into powerful kingdoms, stretching from Lower Egypt's eastern Nile Delta to Transjordan in the east, covering much of southern Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Negev. In the early centuries AD, the Himyarite Kingdom was a powerful ancient kingdom known for their maritime trade, controlling trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Tanukhids, Ghassanids, Salihids, and Lakhmids were Arab tribes that emerged in the pre-Islamic era and played significant roles in the political and cultural landscape of the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, and Levant regions.

In the Middle Ages, the Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates, whose borders at their zenith reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and Sudan in the south, forming one of the largest land empires in history. In the early 20th century, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I led to its dissolution and the subsequent partitioning of territories, which formed some of the modern Arab states in the Mashriq. Following the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of a unified Arab homeland.

The ties that bind Arabs together are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical, and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, and mythology, as well as significant influence on architecture and art. Arabs have greatly influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably architecture and the arts, language, philosophy, mythology, ethics, literature, politics, business, music, dance, cinema, medicine, science, and technology in ancient and modern history.

Arabs are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations and practices, in the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions. However, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism and a few individuals, known as the hanifs, apparently observed another form of monotheism. Nowadays 93 percent of Arabs are Muslims (the remainder consisted mostly of Arab Christians), while Arab Muslims are only 20 percent of the global Muslim population. Presently, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shia, Ibadi, and Alawite denominations. Arab Christians generally follow Eastern Christianity, such as those within the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Catholic Churches, or the Eastern Protestant Churches.