Saudi Arabia, officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country on the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia region of Middle East. The largest country in Western Asia, bordered by Red Sea to the west; Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait to the north; Persian Gulf, Qatar, and UAE to the east; Oman to the southeast, and Yemen to the south. Bahrain is an island country on the east coast. Saudi Arabia is separated from Egypt by Gulf of Aqaba. Mostly covered in desert, Saudi Arabia is the only country with a coastline along Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is known the world over as home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites in the religion of Islam.
Before Islam was founded, pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia, was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations. Islam, emerged in Saudi Arabia in the early 7th century with Prophet Muhammad as messenger and unifier. Following his death in 632, his followers rapidly expanded territory under Muslim rule beyond Saudi Arabia, conquering from Iberian Peninsula in the west to Central and Southeast Asia in the east. Arab dynasties like Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1517), and Fatimid (909–1171) setup caliphates, as well as numerous other dynasties across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
The country follows a strict version of Islam and everything is governed under it. The modern-day Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was effectively founded only in 1932 by King Abdul Aziz. He united the entire nation through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, that was the ancestral home of his family. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, where the king, the princes of the large Al Saud royal family and the country’s traditional elites have overseen a highly authoritarian regime under ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement; a “predominant feature of Saudi culture”.
Saudi Arabia identifies itself as a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Riyadh as capital, Islam as official religion, and Arabic as official language. The world over, Saudi Arabia is sometimes called “the Land of the Two Holy Mosques”; in reference to Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina and Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, two of the holiest places in Islam. Crude oil was discovered in 1938 in Saudi Arabia, and since then its’ the world’s second-largest producer and the world’s largest oil exporter, controlling the world’s second-largest oil reserves and the sixth largest natural gas reserves.
The state has attracted criticism for a variety of reasons, including its role in the Yemen Civil War, alleged sponsorship of Islamic terrorism and its poor human rights record, which has been characterized by the excessive use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is a member of Gulf Cooperation Council, United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, and OPEC.
The word “Saudi” is derived from Saʿūdīyah in the Arabic name of the country, formed from the dynastic name of the Saudi royal family, the Al Saud. Human settlement has been recorded to flourish in the country for thousands of years. Climatic change and onset of aridity could have resulted in the end of this phase of settlement, as little archaeological evidence exists from the following millennium. Shortly before the advent of Islam, apart from urban trading settlements (such as Mecca and Medina), much of what become Saudi Arabia was populated by nomadic pastoral tribal societies.
In the 10th century, Isma’ili-Shi’ite Qarmatians were the dominant force in the Persian Gulf. When in 930 AD, they pillaged Mecca, it outraged the Muslim world, particularly the theft of ‘Black Stone’. In the 16th century, the Turkish Ottoman empire added the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf coast including the Hejaz, Asir and Al-Ahsa; into its empire; and claimed suzerainty over the land in the interior. The main reason for doing so was to thwart the attempts by Portuguese colonial power to attack the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Out of this chaos emerged, what was to later become the Saudi royal family, today known as the ‘House of Al Saud’, in the city of Nejd in central part of Arabia in February 1727. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire controlled most of the peninsula through a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz.
In 1902, Abdul Aziz later to be known as Ibn Saud recaptured control of Riyadh bringing the Al Saud back to Nejd, creating the third “Saudi state”. Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan, a tribal army inspired by Wahhabism to capture Al-Ahsa from the Ottomans in 1913. On 23rd September 1932, kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd were united to form ‘Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, as such that date is now celebrated as Saudi National Day. By 1976, Saudi Arabia had become the largest oil producer in the world with Saudi Aramco being the largest producer in the world. In 1980, Saudi Arabian government bought out the entire American interest in Saudi Aramco.
The huge wealth created by crude oil revenues began to have an even greater impact on Saudi society. It led to rapid technological modernization, improved mass public education, urbanization, and created new media. Overall, Saudi Arabia is home to five different ecoregions namely Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna, Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert, Arabian Desert, Southwestern Arabian montane woodlands, and Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert. Each region was home to huge variety of wildlife but excessive hunting drove many species to be almost extinct. The diverse ecosystem of Red Sea, is in part due to the presence of 2,000 km stretch of coral reef all along the coastline.
Saudi Arabia’s economy is petroleum-based; with about 63% of budget revenues and 67% of export earnings coming from the oil-based industry. As a result, it has seen a huge influx of migrant workforce who work in various industries including hospitality, services, and others forming a majority of population. Most of them are from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Since water is needed for everything from drinking to agriculture, but is in short supply, most of the water is procured from desalination process with huge plants along the sea coast to convert sea water into potable water. Thanks to that large-scale agricultural development began in the 1970s with the country rapidly transforming from importer to exporter of wheat. Although most tourism in Saudi Arabia still largely involves religious pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina, there is growth in the leisure tourism sector liberalization of society and loosening of strict restrictions.
Starting December 2018, the kingdom is offering e-visa for foreign tourist to attend sports events like Formula 1 and music concerts. Many heritage places in the country are being promoted for tourism. These include UNESCO World Heritage Sites like Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih); Turaif district in the city of Diriyah; Historic Jeddah, Gate to Mecca; Al-Ahsa Oasis; Rock Art in Hail Region; and Ḥimā Cultural Area. Huge investment in healthcare and education have also been made.
Many skyscrapers have come up in recent years. Many museums have also been thrown open to public. Slow opening of society and removing of restriction on women are being seen as catalyst of change. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2017, popularly known as MBS promised to return the country to “moderate Islam” of the era that was before the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Slowly cinema and art are also opening up, but censorship and restriction still prevail.
Museums have also been opened to public. Many foreigners come to work in finance sector but are expected to adhere to religious sensibilities. The oasis, date farms and sea coast are the biggest attraction. The food is mostly Arabic style though Indian cuisine is also available. Adventure sport and activities like camel safari, dune bashing, camel race, horserace, hot air balloon, ski are open to public and worth trying. Well connected by rail, road, sea and air with all major countries there are many airports and seaport of international standard that handle. oil and gas transport and other import/export. Interested tourist can always try to visit Saudi Arabia for a different kind of experience.
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