HISTORY
In the early 7th century, Muhammad united the various tribes of the Arabian peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity.
During much of the past millennium, Mecca and Medina were under the control of a local Arab ruler known as the Sharif of Mecca, but for the majority of the period the Sharif owed allegiance to other Islamic rulers - from the 16th century it was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.
The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began in Nejd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. They established the first Saudi state in the area around Riyadh.
Parts of Saudi Arabia has been ruled by the same family for longer than the United States has been a country.
The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir).
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have a suzerainty over most of the Arab peninsula.
King Ibn Saud united the Arab peninsular into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud.
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| King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, founder of Saudi Arabia |
In 1927, by the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd.
On September 23, 1932, Hejaz and Nejd merged to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with Ibn Saud as the first monarch and Riyadh as the capital city.
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| The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after unification in 1932. Wikipedia |
Saudi Arabian Petroleum was first discovered on March 3, 1938 by the Americans in commercial quantities at Dammam oil well No. 7 in 1938 in what is now modern day Dhahran. It was followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province.
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from 2005 to his death in 2015. According to Forbes, his estimated wealth was $21 billion in 2011.
For many centuries, the kingdom used the lunar Islamic calendar, not the international Gregorian calendar, but in 2016 Saudi Arabia announced its switch to the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, jumping from 1438 to 2016.
Saudi Arabia is one of only ten modern countries that have never been (in their entirety) a colony of a European empire. The others are: Afghanistan, China, Iran, Japan, Liberia, Mongolia, North/South Korea and Thailand.
GEOGRAPHY
With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), Saudi Arabia is geographically the fifth largest state in Asia and second largest state in the Arab world after Algeria.
July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 36C (96F) in Riyadh. The mildest is January at 15C.
The country is largely desert. Any rain falls from November to April.
Saudi Arabia is the largest country on this planet without a river.
Although Saudi Arabia is covered in sand, the granular material is of such low quality that for construction projects, sand has to be imported from places like Australia.
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| The Nejd landscape: desert and the Tuwaiq Escarpment near Riyadh |
Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are Islam's two holiest cities.
CULTURE
The ultra-conservative Wahhabism religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called "the predominant feature of Saudi culture.
In Saudi Arabia the sale, consumption, importation and brewing of, and trafficking in alcoholic drinks is strictly against the law.
Under Saudi law, women are required to wear hijab but niqab is optional.
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| A woman wearing a niqāb. By Walter Callens |
In Saudi Arabia women are allowed to fly aircraft, though for many years they had to be
chauffeured to the airport as it was illegal for them to drive a car. On September 26, 2017 the kingdom announced that it would allow women to drive automobiles.
In 2015, women were allowed to vote and to run for seats on the kingdom’s local councils.
For many years, Saudi Arabia women were not allowed to compete in national sports—clerics said that female sports constitute "steps of the devil" toward immortality. This is slowly changing and the Saudi 2012 Summer Olympics team included female athletes for the first time ever. Sarah Attar participated in women's track and field, while Wojdan Shaherkani participated in the Judo competition.
35% of Saudi women in prison are there because no male relative will collect them.
Starbucks has a different logo for Saudi Arabia because the normal logo shows too much female flesh.
In 2014, Saudi Arabia banned the baby name "Linda" due to its association with Western culture.
FUN SAUDI ARABIA FACTS
Saudi Arabia has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 8.8 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 1.5 million are illegal immigrants.
"Shiek" means "old man" in Arabic.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the world's second largest oil reserves.
Oil accounts for more than 90% Saudi Arabia's of exports and nearly 75% of government revenues.
Saudi Aramco is a Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. Saudi Aramco's market value has been estimated at between $2 trillion and $10 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world.
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| Headquarters in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia |
In Saudi Arabia, oil is cheaper than water.
Arabic delicacies include nkhaat pane, which is deep-fried lamb brain.
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