Info Please

Introduction
Saudi Arabia (sd rb, sou, s) [key], officially Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 26,419,000), 829,995 sq mi (2,149,690 sq km),
comprising most of the Arabian peninsula. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf
of Aqaba and the Red Sea; on the east by the Persian Gulf, Qatar, and the United
Arab Emirates; on the south by Yemen and Oman; and on the north by Jordan,
Iraq, and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia formerly shared a neutral zone with Iraq and
another with Kuwait; both are now divided between the countries. Riyadh is the
capital and largest city. See also Arabia, Hejaz, and Nejd.Saabia
Land
The south and southeast of the country are occupied entirely by the great Rub
al-Khali desert. Through the desert run largely undefined boundaries with Yemen,
Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. In addition to the Rub al-Khali, Saudi
Arabia has four major regions. The largest is the Nejd, a central plateau, which
rises from c.2,000 ft (610 m) in the east to c.5,000 ft (1,520 m) in the west.
Riyadh is located in the Nejd. The Hejaz stretches along the Red Sea from the
Gulf of Aqaba south to Asir and is the site of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Asir, extending south to the Yemen border, has a fertile coastal plain. Inland
mountains in the Asir region rise to more than 9,000 ft (2,743 m). The Eastern
Province extends along the Persian Gulf and is the oil region of the country. The
oasis of Al-Hasa, located there, is probably the country's largest. Saudi Arabia's
climate is generally hot and dry, although nights are cool, and frosts occur in
winter. The humidity along the coasts is high.
People
The population of Saudi Arabia is about 90% Arab, with Asian and African
minorities. The vast majority belong to theWahhabi branch of Sunni Islam,
although there is a small percentage of Shiites, mainly in the Eastern prov. Islam
is the only officially recognized religion; other faiths are not publicly tolerated. A
large proportion of the population are farmers in the Hejaz. Nomads and
seminomads raise camels, sheep, goats, and horses. The large number of
foreigners living in Saudi Arabia work in the oil industry, as computer technicians
and consultants, and as construction and domestic workers. Arabic is spoken by
almost everyone.
Economy
Because of the scarcity of water, agriculture had been restricted to Asir and to
oases strung along the wadis, but irrigation projects relying on aquifers have
reclaimed many acres of desert, particularly at Al Kharj, southeast of Riyadh,

and Hofuf, in the eastern part of the country. Water also is obtained by
desalinizing seawater. Agriculture is now a significant economic sector, and
wheat, barley, tomatoes, melons, dates, and citrus fruit are grown, and livestock
is raised. Manufacturing, which has also increased, produces chemicals,
industrial gases, fertilizer, plastics, and metals. Minerals include iron ore, gold,
copper, phosphate, bauxite, and uranium. There is also ship and aircraft repair.
Saudi Arabia has a growing banking and financial-services sector, and the
country is beginning to encourage tourism, especially along the Red Sea coast.
Mecca, Medina, and the port of Jidda have derived much income from religious
pilgrims; the annual hajj brings more than 2 million pilgrims to Mecca.
The oil industry, located in the northeast along the Persian Gulf, dominates the
economy, comprising 90% of Saudi export earnings. Imports include machinery
and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, motor vehicles, and textiles. Major trading
partners are the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, and Germany. Oil was
discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1936, and the country is now the world's leading
exporter. It contains about one quarter of the world's known reserves; 14 major
oil fields exist. A huge petroleum industrial complex has been developed in the
town of Al Jubayl, as well as at Yanbu on the Red Sea. There are refinery
complexes at Ras Tanura and Ras Hafji on the Persian Gulf; oil also is shipped to
Bahrain for refining. The oil boom after World War II led to the construction of the
Al DammamRiyadh RR, the development of Al Dammam as a deepwater port,
and, especially since the 1970s, the general modernization of the country. Saudi
Arabia, like other oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, depends heavily upon foreign
labor for its oil industry; workers are drawn from Arab countries as well as S and
SE Asia.
Government
Saudi Arabia is governed according to Islamic law. The Basic Law that articulates
the government's rights and responsibilities was promulgated by royal decree in
1992. The monarch is both head of state and head of government. The
unicameral legislature consists of the Consultative Council, which has 150
members and a chairman, all appointed by the monarch for four-year terms.
Administratively, the country is divided into thirteen provinces.
History
Origins of Saudi Arabia
As a political unit, Saudi Arabia is of relatively recent creation. Its origins lay with
the puritanical Wahhabi movement (18th cent.), which gained the allegiance of
the powerful Saud family of the Nejd, in central Arabia. Supported by a large
Bedouin following, the Sauds brought most of the peninsula under their control,
except for Yemen and the Hadhramaut in the extreme south. The Wahhabi
movement was crushed (181118) by an Egyptian expedition under the sons

of Muhammad Ali. After reviving in the mid-19th cent., the Wahhabis were
defeated in 1891 by the Rashid dynasty, which gained effective control of central
Arabia.
It was Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, known as Ibn Saud, a descendant of the first
Wahhabi rulers, who laid the basis of the present Saudi Arabian state. Beginning
the Wahhabi reconquest at the turn of the century, Ibn Saud took Riyadh in 1902
and was master of the Nejd by 1906. On the eve of World War I he conquered
the Al-Hasa region from the Ottoman Turks and soon extended his control over
other areas. He was then ready for the conquest of the Hejaz, ruled since 1916
by Husayn ibn Ali of Mecca. The Hejaz fell to Saud in 192425 and in 1932 was
combined with the Nejd to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an absolute
monarchy, ruled under Islamic law. In much of the country, King Ibn Saud
compelled the Bedouins to abandon traditional ways and encouraged their
settlement as farmers.
Development of the Modern State
Oil was discovered in 1936 by the U.S.-owned Arabian Standard Oil Company,
which later became the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). Commercial
production began in 1938. Saudi Arabia is a charter member of the United
Nations. It joined the Arab League in 1945, but it played only a minor role in the
Arab wars with Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973. An agreement with the United
States in 1951 provided for an American air base at Dhahran, which was
maintained until 1962. Ibn Saud died in 1953 and was succeeded by his eldest
son, Saud, who soon came to rely on his brother, Crown Prince Faisal (Faisal ibn
Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud), to administer financial and foreign affairs.
King Saud at first supported the Nasser regime in Egypt, but in 1956, in
opposition to Nasser, he entered into close relations with the Hashemite rulers of
Jordan and Iraq, until then the traditional enemies of the Saudis. He opposed the
union in 1958 of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic and became a
bitter foe of Nasser's pan-Arabism and reform program. When, in Sept., 1962,
pro-Nasser revolutionaries in neighboring Yemen deposed the new imam and
declared a republic, King Saud, together with King Hussein of Jordan, dispatched
aid to the royalist troops. The Saudi family deposed Saud, and Prince Faisal
became king in Nov., 1964.
Relations with Egypt were severed in 1962, but after the defeat of Egypt by
Israel in June, 1967, an agreement was concluded between King Faisal and
President Nasser. According to the agreement, the Egyptian army was to
withdraw from Yemen and Saudi Arabia was to cease aiding the Yemeni royalists.
By 1970, Saudi Arabia had withdrawn all its troops, and relations with Yemen
were resumed. Saudi Arabia also agreed to give $140 million a year to Egypt and
Jordan, which had been devastated in the 1967 war with Israel. In view of
Britain's withdrawal from the Persian Gulf area, King Faisal pursued a policy of
friendship with Iran, while encouraging the Arab sheikhdoms that had been
under British rule to form the United Arab Emirates. King Faisal, however,
maintained claims to the Buraimi oases, which were also claimed by the Sheikh
of Abu Dhabi.
In 1972 the government of Saudi Arabia demanded tighter rein on its oil industry
as well as participation in the oil concessions of foreign companies. Aramco (a

conglomerate of several American oil companies) and the government reached

an agreement in June, 1974, whereby the Saudis would take a 60% majority
ownership of the company's concessions and assets. The concept of
participation was developed by the Saudi Arabian government as an alternative
to nationalization. King Faisal played an active role in organizing the Arab oil
embargo of 1973, directed against the United States and other nations that
supported Israel; as U.S. oil prices soared, Saudi revenues increased. Relations
with the United States improved with the signing (1974) of cease-fire
agreements between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Syria (both mediated by
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger) and by the visit (June, 1974) of President
Richard M. Nixon to Jidda.
Contemporary Saudi Arabia
As a result of Saudi Arabia's increased wealth, its quest for stability, and its
improved relations with Western nations, the country began an extensive
military build-up in the 1970s. On Mar. 25, 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by
his nephew Prince Faisal. Crown Prince Khalid (Khalid ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Saud)
then became the new king, stressing Islamic orthodoxy and conservatism while
expanding the country's economy, its social programs, and its educational
structures. Saudi Arabia denounced the 1979 agreement between Israel and
Egypt and terminated diplomatic relations with Egypt (since renewed). Saudi
leaders opposed both the leftist and radical movements that were growing
throughout the Arab world, and in the 1970s sent troops to help quell leftist
revolutions in Yemen and Oman.
Saudi religious interests were threatened by the fall of Iran's shah in 1979 and
by the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. In Nov., 1979, Muslim fundamentalists
calling for the overthrow of the Saudi government occupied the Great Mosque in
Mecca. After two weeks of fighting the siege ended, leaving a total of 27 Saudi
soldiers and over 100 rebels dead. Sixty-three more rebels were later publicly
beheaded. In 1980, Shiite Muslims led a series of riots that were put down by the
government, which promised to reform the distribution of Saudi wealth. Saudi
Arabia supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War throughout the 1980s. In May, 1981, it
joined Persian Gulf nations in the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) to promote economic cooperation between the participating countries.
Khalid died in June, 1982, and was succeeded by his half-brother, Prince Fahd ibn
Abdul Aziz.
By the early 1980s, Saudi Arabia had gained full ownership of Aramco. Saudi
support of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War became increasingly problematic in the mid1980s as Iran's threats, especially regarding oil interests, nearly led to Saudi
entanglement in the war. Iranian pilgrims rioted in Mecca during the hajj in 1987,
causing clashes with Saudi security troops. More than 400 people were killed.
This incident, along with Iranian naval attacks on Saudi ships in the Persian Gulf,
caused Saudi Arabia to break diplomatic relations with Iran.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in Aug., 1990, King Fahd agreed to the stationing of
U.S. and international coalition troops on Saudi soil. Thousands of Saudi troops
participated in the Persian Gulf War (1991) against Iraq. The country took in
Kuwait's royal family and more than 400,000 Kuwaiti refugees. Though little
ground fighting occurred in Saudi Arabia, the cities of Riyadh, Dhahran, and

outlying areas were bombed by Iraqi missiles. Coalition troops largely left Saudi
Arabia in late 1991; several thousand U.S. troops remained. In 1995 and 1996
terrorist bombings in Riyadh and Dharan killed several American servicemen.
Following the Gulf War, King Fahd returned to a conservative Arab stance, wary
of greater Western cooperation. Reforms instituted in the wake of the Gulf War
included the creation of a Shura (advisory council), with rights to review but not
overrule government acts, promulgation of a bill of rights, and a revision in the
procedures for choosing the king. However, these measures left the royal
family's power basically undiminished. In 1995 the king created a Supreme
Council of Islamic Affairs, composed of royal family members and other
appointees, in an apparent effort to establish a counterweight to the Ulemas
Council, an advisory body of highly conservative Muslim theologians.
In the late 1990s, Crown Prince Abdullah, the king's half-brother and heir to the
throne since 1982, effectively became the country's ruler because of King Fahd's
poor health. Under the crown prince, the country has been more openly
frustrated with and critical of U.S. support for Israel. A treaty with Yemen that
ended border disputes dating to the 1930s was signed in 2000, and early the
next year both nations withdrew their troops from the border area in compliance
with the pact.
The Saudi government restricted the use of American bases in the country
during the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), and by
Sept., 2003, all U.S. combat forces were withdrawn from the country. Also in
2003, the king issued a decree giving the Shura the authority to propose new
laws without first seeking his permission. The move was perhaps prompted in
part by rare protests in favor of government reform; the kingdom also was
shaken by violent incidents, including a massive car bomb attack against a
residential compound in Riyadh, involving Islamic militants. Such terror attacks
continued into 2005.
The country held elections for municipal councils in Feb.Apr., 2005, permitting
voters (men only) to choose half the council members; the rest of the members
were still appointed. King Fahd died in Aug., 2005, and was succeeded by
Abdullah. In Nov., 2009, fighting in N Yemen spilled over into Saudi Arabia when
Yemeni Shiite rebels crossed the border. Saudi forces fought the rebels and
sought to drive them back into Yemen and away from the border; the conflict
ended by Feb., 2010, with the rebels withdrawn into Yemen (and a truce
established there).
In early 2011 Saudi Arabia experienced relatively small-scale antigovernment
protests compared to other Arab nations, and those were at times harshly
suppressed; many demonstrations involved Shiites. Protests and confrontations
continued to a limited degree into 2012. Saudi forces also helped suppress
antigovernment demonstrations in neighboring Bahrain. At the same time, the
government lavished funds on government employee bonuses, low-income
housing, and religious organizations. Later in the year, the king announced that
women, who have had limited civil rights in the country, would be allowed to
participate in municipal elections after 2011 and would serve on the Consultative
Council; in 2012 women were appointed to a fifth of the Council seats.

Bibliography
See C. L. Riley, Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Saudi Arabia (1972); E. A.
Nakhleh, The United States and Saudi Arabia (1975), A. Al-Yassini, Religion and
State in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1985), M. Abir, Saudi Arabia in the Oil
Era (1988), J. R. Presley and T. Westaway, A Guide to the Saudi Arabian
Economy (2d. ed. 1989), S. al-Sowayan, ed., Encyclopedia of Folklore of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2000), J. Kechichian, Succession in Saudi
Arabia (2001), W. Stegner, Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil (1971, repr.
2007), R. Lacey Inside the Kingdom(2009), T. C. Jones, Desert Kingdom (2010), K.
House, On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Linesand
Future (2012), T. W. Lippman, Saudi Arabia on the Edge (2012), and S.
Yizraeli, Politics and Society in Saudi Arabia: The Crucial Years of Development,
19601982 (2012); bibliography by H.-J. Philipp (2 vol., 198489).
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/saudi-arabiabibliography.html