Saudi Arabia map

Saudi Arabia map

Saudi Arabia is a desert country encompassing most of the Arabian Peninsula, with Red Sea and Persian (Arabian) Gulf coastlines. Known as the birthplace of Islam, it’s home to the religion’s 2 most sacred mosques: Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca, destination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, and Medina’s Masjid an-Nabawi, burial site of the prophet Muhammad. Riyadh, the capital, is a skyscraper-filled metropolis.

Capital:Riyadh

King:Salman of Saudi Arabia

Currency:Saudi riyal

Saudi Arabia map

Saudi Arabia is one of two countries named for their royal families, along with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Saudi family were sheikhs of Nejd, the area around Riyadh, but were driven out by a neighboring dynasty, hiding with their relatives, the emirs of Kuwait. Then in 1902, young Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and his army returned to re-capture their home. As it turned out, the invaders had been corrupt, ineffective, and abusive, so many locals joined them. They not only re-captured Riyadh, but much of the surrounding territory.

After that, Abdulaziz set out on a 30-year campaign of slaughter and intrigue to unify the Arabian Peninsula. The area united under him became known as Saudi Arabia.

In the 1930s, the discovery of oil transformed the country and the US was quick to seek to put one over on the weakened British erstwhile colonialists. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia offered refuge to the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000 refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops to deploy on its sand for the liberation of Kuwait the following year. A burgeoning population, unemployment, aquifer depletion, and an economy largely dependent on petroleum output and prices are all major governmental concerns.

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