The original Semites arose from North Africa in prehistoric times and were African. The Jewish Encyclopedia is honest and gives precedence to North Africa over Arabia as the original home of the Semites and writes of: “...most scholars agreeing that Arabia was the cradle-land of the Semites, while North Africa was that of the united Hamito-Semitic race, and that the Semites in prehistoric times separated from their kinsmen and migrated to Arabia." The Jewish Encyclopedia Backup.