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The history of Saudi Arabia as a nation state began with the emergence of the Al Saud dynasty in central Arabia in 1727[1][2] and the subsequent establishment of the Emirate of Diriyah. Pre-Islamic Arabia, the territory that constitutes modern Saudi Arabia, was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations; the prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of the earliest traces of human activity in the world.[3]
The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of mainly four distinct historical regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa), and Southern Arabia ('Asir).[11] The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, also known as Ibn Saud in Western countries. Abdulaziz united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family. Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute monarchy governed along Islamist lines. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques", in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
Saud, the immediate successor of Abdulaziz, faced opposition from most in the royal family and was eventually deposed.
Faisal replaced Saud in 1964. Until his murder by a nephew in 1975, Faisal presided over a period of growth and modernization fuelled by oil wealth. Saudi Arabia's role in the 1973 oil crisis, and the subsequent rise in the price of oil, dramatically increased the country's political significance and wealth.
Khalid, Faisal's successor, reigned during the first major signs of dissent: Islamist extremists temporarily seized control of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979.
Fahd became king in 1982. During his reign, Saudi Arabia became the largest oil producer in the world. However, internal tensions increased when the country allied itself with the United States, and others, in the 1991 Gulf War. In the early 2000s, the Islamist opposition to the regime carried out a series of terrorist attacks.
Abdullah succeeded Fahd in 2005. He instituted a number of mild reforms to modernize many of the country's institutions and, to some extent, increased political participation.
Salman became king in 2015, at the age of 79. He oversaw the reorganization of the Saudi government and bestowed most of the king's political power into the crown prince, whom he replaced twice.
Salman's son and current crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, effectively controls the government. Mohammed has been responsible for the controversial Saudi intervention in the Yemeni Civil War. He has overseen a number of legal and social reforms in the country, while also seeking to diversify the economy with Saudi Vision 2030.
There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 63,000 years ago.[15][16] Nevertheless, stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic age, along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that hominids migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.[17]
Archaeology has revealed some early settled civilizations: the Dilmun civilization on the east of the Arabian Peninsula, the Thamūd north of the Hejaz, the Kingdom of Kinda in the centre, and the Al-Magar civilization in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.[18]
There is also evidence from Timna (Israel) and Tell el-Kheleifeh (Jordan) that the local Qurayya/Midianite pottery originated within the Hejaz region of northwestern Saudi Arabia, which suggests that the biblical Midianites originally came from the Hejaz region of the peninsula, before expanding into Jordan and southern Israel.[19][20]
On 9 June 2020, the discovery of a 35-metre-long triangular megalithic monument in Dumat al-Jandal, dated back to the seventh millennium BC, presumably dedicated to ritual practices, was published in the journal Antiquity. Archaeological researchers from France, Saudi Arabia, and Italy, headed by Olivia Munoz, believe that these findings illuminate a pastoralist nomadic lifestyle and a ritual used in prehistoric Arabia.[21][22]
In May 2021, archaeologists announced that a 350,000-year-old Acheulean site named An Nasim in the Hail region could be the oldest human habitation site in northern Saudi Arabia. The site was first discovered in 2015 using remote sensing and palaeohydrological modelling. It contains paleolake deposits related to Middle Pleistocene materials. 354 artefacts discovered by researchers, including hand axes, stone tools, and flakes, provide information about tool-making traditions of the earliest living humans inhabiting southwestern Asia. Besides, Paleolithic artefacts are similar to material remains uncovered at the Acheulean sites in the Nefud Desert.[23][24][25][26]
Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, before migrating to Medina in 622. From there, he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam and created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian Peninsula.
Following Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr became leader of the Muslims as the first caliph. After putting down a rebellion by the Arab tribes (known as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy"), Abu Bakr attacked the Byzantine Empire. On his death in 634, he was succeeded by Umar as caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib.
The period of these first four caliphs is known as the Rashidun Caliphate (al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn). Under the Rashidun caliphs, and, from 661, their Umayyad successors, the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades, Muslim armies decisively defeated the Byzantine army and destroyed the Persian Empire, conquering huge swathes of territory from the Iberian peninsula to India. The political focus of the Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories.[27][28]
The Rashidun Caliphate reached its greatest extent under Caliph Uthman, c.654
Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world. The Quran requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the five pillars of Islam, to make a pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, at least once in his or her lifetime.[29] The Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca is the location of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, and the Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina is the location of Muhammad's tomb; as a result, from the 7th century, Mecca and Medina became pilgrimage destinations for large numbers of Muslims from across the Muslim world.[30]
Umayyad and Abbasid periods
After the fall of the Umayyad empire in 750 CE, most of what was to become Saudi Arabia reverted to traditional tribal rule soon after the initial Muslim conquests, and remained a shifting patchwork of tribes and tribal emirates and confederations of varying durability.[31][32]
Muawiyah I, the first Umayyad caliph, took an interest in his native Mecca, erecting buildings and digging wells.[33] Under his Marwanid successors, Mecca became the abode of poets and musicians. Even then, Medina eclipsed Mecca in importance for much of the Umayyad period, as it was home to the new Muslim aristocracy.[33] Under Yazid I, the revolt of Abd Allah bin al-Zubair brought Syrian troops to Mecca.[33] An accident led to a fire that destroyed the Kaaba, which was later rebuilt by Ibn al-Zubair.[33] In 747, a Kharidjit rebel from Yemen seized Mecca unopposed, but he was soon defeated by Marwan II.[33] In 750, Mecca, along with the rest of the caliphate, passed to the Abbasids.[33]
From the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the HashemiteSharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the Hejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina but in the 13th century, it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz. Although the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz, they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of Baghdad, and the Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks of Egypt.[31]
Beginning with Selim I's acquisition of Medina and Mecca in 1517, the Ottomans, in the 16th century, added to their empire the Hejaz and Asir regions along the Red Sea and the al-Hasa region on the Persian Gulf coast, these being the most populous parts of what was to become Saudi Arabia. They also laid claim to the interior, although this remained a rather nominal suzerainty. The degree of control over these lands varied over the next four centuries, with the fluctuating strength or weakness of the empire's central authority. In the Hejaz, the Sharifs of Mecca were largely left in control of their territory (although there would often be an Ottoman governor and garrison in Mecca). On the eastern side of the country, the Ottomans lost control of the al-Hasa region to Arab tribes in the 17th century but regained it again in the 19th century. Throughout the period, the interior remained under the rule of a large number of petty tribal rulers in much the same way as it had in previous centuries.[34]
The emergence of the Saudi dynasty began in central Arabia in 1727. In 1744, Muhammad ibn Saud, the tribal ruler of the town of Ad-Dir'iyyah near Riyadh, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab,[35] the founder of the Wahhabi movement.[36] This alliance, formed in the 18th century, provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. Over the next 150 years, the fortunes of the Saud family rose and fell several times as Saudi rulers contended with Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and other Arabian families for control of the peninsula.[16][31]
The First Saudi State was established in 1727 in the area around Riyadh and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia through conquests made between 1806 and 1815; these included Mecca (captured in 1806)[37] and Medina (captured in April 1804).[38][39] Concerned at the growing power of the Saudis, the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa IV instructed his viceroy in Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha, to reconquer the area. Ali sent his sons Tusun Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, who were eventually successful in routing the Saudi forces in 1818, and destroyed the power of the Al Saud.[16][31]
The Al Saud returned to power in 1824, but their area of control was mainly restricted to the Saudi heartland of the Najd region, known as the Second Saudi State. However, their rule in Najd was soon contested by new rivals, the Rashidis of Ha'il. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud and the Al Rashid fought for control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia. By 1891, the Al Saud were conclusively defeated by the Al Rashid, who drove the Saudis into exile in Kuwait.[16][31][40]
Meanwhile, in the Hejaz, following the defeat of the First Saudi State, the Egyptians continued to occupy the area until 1840. After they left, the Sharifs of Mecca reasserted their authority, albeit with the presence of an Ottoman governor and garrison.[31]
By the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have suzerainty (albeit nominal) over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers (including the Al Saud who had returned from exile in 1902—see below) with the Sharif of Mecca having preeminence and ruling the Hejaz.[31][34][41]
In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain and France[42] (which were fighting the Ottomans in the First World War), the sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, led a pan-Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, with the aim of securing Arab independence and creating a single unified Arab state spanning the Arab territories from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.
Soldiers in the Arab Army during the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918, carrying the Flag of the Arab Revolt and pictured in the Arabian Desert.
The Arab army comprised bedouin and others from across the peninsula, but not the Al Saud and their allied tribes, who did not participate in the revolt partly because of a long-standing rivalry with the Sharifs of Mecca and partly because their priority was to defeat the Al Rashid for control of the interior. Nevertheless, the revolt played a part in the Middle-Eastern Front and tied down thousands of Ottoman troops, thereby contributing to the Ottomans' World War I defeat in 1918.[31][43]
However, with the subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, the British and French reneged on promises to Hussein to support a pan-Arab state. Although Hussein was acknowledged as King of the Hejaz, Britain later shifted support to the Al Saud, leaving him diplomatically and militarily isolated. The revolt, therefore, failed in its objective to create a pan-Arab state, but Arabia was freed from Ottoman suzerainty and control.[43]
In 1902, Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, leader of the Al Saud, returned from exile in Kuwait to resume the conflict with the Al Rashid, and seized Riyadh—the first of a series of conquests creating the Third Saudi State, and ultimately leading to the creation of the modern state of Saudi Arabia in 1930. The main weapon for achieving these conquests was the Ikhwan, the Wahhabist-Bedouin tribal army led by Sultan bin Bajad Al-Otaibi and Faisal al-Duwaish.[40][44][45]
By 1906, Abdulaziz had driven the Al Rashid out of Najd, and the Ottomans recognized him as their client in Najd. His next major acquisition was Al-Hasa, which he took from the Ottomans in 1913, bringing him control of the Persian Gulf coast and what would become Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves. He avoided involvement in the Arab Revolt, having acknowledged Ottoman suzerainty in 1914, and instead continued his struggle with the Al Rashid in northern Arabia. In 1920, the Ikhwan's attention turned to the southwest, when they seized Asir, the region between the Hejaz and Yemen. In the following year, Abdul-Aziz finally defeated the Al Rashid and annexed all of northern Arabia.[32][40]
Prior to 1923, Abdulaziz had not risked invading the Hejaz because Hussein bin Ali, King of the Hejaz, was supported by Britain. However, in that year, the British withdrew their support. At a conference in Riyadh in July 1924, complaints were stated against the Hejaz: principally, that pilgrimage from Najd was prevented. The Hejaz boycotted the implementation of certain public policy in contravention of shari'a. Ikhwan units were massed on a large scale for the first time, and under Khalid bin Lu'ayy and Sultan bin Bajad, rapidly advanced on Mecca, laying waste symbols of "heathen" practices.[46] The Ikhwan completed their conquest of the Hejaz by the end of 1925. On 10 January 1926, Abdulaziz declared himself King of the Hejaz and on 27 January 1927, he took the title King of Najd (his previous title was Sultan). The use of the Ikhwan to effect the conquest had important consequences for the Hejaz: the old cosmopolitan society was uprooted, and a version of Wahhabi culture was imposed as a new compulsory social order.[47]
By the Treaty of Jeddah, signed on 20 May 1927, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of Abdul-Aziz's realm (then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd).[32][40] After the conquest of the Hejaz, Ikhwan leaders wanted to continue the expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British protectorates of Transjordan, Mandatory Iraq, and Kuwait. Abdul-Aziz, however, refused to agree to this, recognizing the danger of a direct conflict with the British. The Ikhwan therefore revolted but were defeated in the Battle of Sabilla in 1929, and the Ikhwan leadership were massacred.[48]
Dammam No. 7, the oil well where commercial volumes of oil were first discovered in Saudi Arabia on March 4, 1938.
Although Abdulaziz had military and political success, the country struggled economically until commercial volumes of oil were discovered in 1938 in the Al-Hasa region, along the Persian Gulf coast. Development began in 1946, after being delayed due to World War II. By 1949, oil production was in full swing.[50]
In February 1945, Abdulaziz and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal. There they made a historic handshake agreement (still in effect today), whereby Saudi Arabia would supply oil to the United States in exchange for American military protection of the Saudi regime.[51]
Abdulaziz died in 1953, upon which his son King Saud succeeded to the throne. Oil provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and a great deal of political leverage in the international community. Meanwhile, the government became increasingly wasteful and lavish. Despite the new wealth, extravagant spending led to governmental deficits and foreign borrowing in the 1950s.[32][52][53]
Abdulaziz (left) and Farouk checking an Egyptian Army unit in 1946. Other people picture include princes Fahd, Abdullah, and Mishaal, as well as prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim.Abdulaziz (left) and Roosevelt aboard USS Quincy during their historic 1945 meeting
However, by the early 1960s, an intense rivalry between the King and his half-brother, Prince Faisal, emerged, fueled by doubts in the royal family over Saud's competence. As a consequence, Saud was deposed in favor of Faisal in 1964.[32]
The mid-1960s saw external pressures generated by Saudi-Egyptian differences over Yemen. When civil war broke out in 1962 between Yemeni royalists and republicans, Egyptian forces entered Yemen to support the new republican government, while Saudi Arabia backed the royalists. It is estimated that between 1962 and 1970, the monarchy in Saudi Arabia faced one of the gravest threats to its survival from Yemen.[54] Meanwhile, Ahmad Shukeiri was relieved from his post as representative of Saudi Arabia at the UN after praising the fascist far-right organization Tacuara, as this embarrassed Arabs and caused Latin American objections.[55][56][57][58][59] Days before his dismissal, Hutchinson News reported that Arab diplomats, who claimed to be in close touch with the Saudi Arabian government, became so annoyed at Shukairy for his rash speech that they spoke of urging Saudi Prince Faisal to recall him. This case was not the first time they disapproved of his views and rhetoric.[60]
Tensions with Yemen subsided only after 1967, when Egypt withdrew its troops from the country. Saudi forces did not participate in the Six-Day (Arab–Israeli) War of June 1967, but the government later provided annual subsidies to Egypt, Jordan, and Syria to support their economies.[32][61]
Faisal (left) and Nasser in Cairo, 1969
During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia participated in the Arab oil boycott of the United States and other Western allies of Israel. A founding member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia voted in favor of the group's decision to moderate oil price increases beginning in 1971. After the 1973 war, the price of oil rose substantially, increasing Saudi Arabia's wealth and political influence.[32]
Faisal was assassinated in 1975 by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid,[62] and was succeeded by his half-brother King Khalid, during whose reign economic and social development continued at an extremely rapid rate, revolutionizing the infrastructure and educational system of the country; in foreign policy, close ties with the US resumed.
King Khalid died in June 1982[32] and was succeeded by his brother King Fahd. Fahd maintained Saudi Arabia's foreign policy of close cooperation with the United States and increased purchases of sophisticated military equipment from the US and Britain.
Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia joined the anti-Iraq coalition. King Fahd, fearing an attack from Iraq, invited soldiers from the US and 32 other countries to Saudi Arabia. Saudi and coalition forces also repelled Iraqi forces when they breached the Kuwaiti-Saudi border in 1991.[64]
In 1995, Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke and his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, assumed day-to-day responsibility for the government. In 2003, Saudi Arabia refused to support the US and its allies in the invasion of Iraq.[32]Terrorist activity within Saudi Arabia increased dramatically in 2003, with the Riyadh compound bombings and other attacks, which prompted the government to take more stringent action against terrorism.[63] Abdullah, already regent, officially ascended to the throne upon the death of Fahd in 2005. Despite growing calls for change, King Abdullah continued the policy of moderate reform.[65] He pursued a policy of limited deregulation, privatization, and seeking foreign investment. In December 2005, following twelve years of talks, the World Trade Organization gave the green light to Saudi Arabia's membership.[66]
As the Arab Spring unrest and protests began to spread across the Arab world in early 2011, King Abdullah announced an increase in welfare spending. No political reforms were announced as part of the package.[67] At the same time, Saudi troops were sent to participate in the crackdown on unrest in Bahrain. King Abdullah gave asylum to deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and telephoned President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (prior to his deposition) to offer support.[68] Abdullah also granted women the right to vote in municipal elections.[69]
King Abdullah died in 2015 and his half-brother Salman became king.[70] The new king reorganized the government, abolishing several bureaucratic departments.[71] King Salman involved Saudi Arabia in the Second Yemeni Civil War.[72] Salman named his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince in 2017, and Mohammed has been assisting his father in the government ever since.[73] Shortly after becoming crown prince, he detained 200 princes and businessmen in the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, stating that this was a move to prevent corruption in Saudi Arabia.[74]
Mohammed bin Salman has led Saudi Vision 2030, a plan to diversify the country's economy and move Saudi Arabia away from a dependence on oil revenues.[75] He has also weakened the powers of the Saudi religious police[76] and granted a number of rights to women in the country. For instance, Saudi women were given the right to drive in 2017[77] and in 2018, they were allowed to open their own business without the permission of a male guardian[78] and to maintain custody of their children following a divorce.[79] But Mohammed has also gained criticism for, among other things, his involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi[80] and human rights violations under his rule.[81]
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. The current form of the metropolis emerged as an offshoot of the eponymous walled town following the dismantling of its defensive fortifications in the 1950s, after which the city underwent several phases of expansion and urbanization.
Najd is the central region of Saudi Arabia, in which about a third of the country's modern population resides. It is the home of the House of Saud, from which it pursued unification with Hejaz since the time of the Emirate of Diriyah.
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, known in the Western world mononymously as Ibn Saud, was an Arab political and religious leader who founded Saudi Arabia – the third Saudi state – and reigned as its first king from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, and King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.
Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was a Saudi Arabian statesman and diplomat who was King of Saudi Arabia from 2 November 1964 until his assassination in 1975. Before his ascension, he served as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 to 2 November 1964, and he was briefly regent to his half-brother King Saud in 1964. He was prime minister from 1954 to 1960 and from 1962 to 1975. Faisal was the third son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.
Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1962. Prior to his accession, Saud was the country's crown prince from 11 May 1933 to 9 November 1953. He was the second son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia.
The House of Al Saud is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling faction of the family is primarily led by the descendants of Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, the modern founder of Saudi Arabia. It forms a subtribe of the larger prominent ancient Banu Hanifa tribe of Arabia, from which well known 7th century Arabian theologist Maslama ibn Ḥabīb originates. The most influential position of the royal family is the King of Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarch. The family in total is estimated to comprise 15,000 members; however, the majority of power, influence and wealth is possessed by a group of about 2,000 of them. Some estimates of the royal family's wealth measure their net worth at $1.4 trillion. This figure includes the market capitalization of Saudi Aramco, the state oil and gas company, and its vast assets in fossil fuel reserves, making them the wealthiest family in the world and the wealthiest in recorded history.
Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud was the last emir of Nejd, reigning from 1875 to 1876 and from 1889 to 1891. He was the youngest son of Emir Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah and the father of Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Ikhwan, commonly known as Ikhwan man ata'a Allah, was a Wahhabi religious militia made up of traditionally nomadic tribesmen which formed a significant military force of the ruler Ibn Saud and played an important role in establishing him as ruler of most of the Arabian Peninsula in the unified Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1965 and the nominal governor of Al Madinah Province from 1925 to 1954. He resigned as crown prince in order to pave the way for his brother Khalid bin Abdulaziz to become the heir apparent. Prince Muhammad was one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the House of Saud. His advice was sought and deferred to in all matters by his brothers.
Sa'ad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud was the brother of Abdulaziz, Emir of Nejd. He was one of Abdulaziz's most devoted supporters and a key lieutenant in his early military campaigns.
Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud was an Arabian soldier and politician who played a role in the conquests of his half-brother Abdulaziz that led to the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Otaibah is one of the biggest Arabian tribes originating in the Arabian Peninsula. Their distribution spans throughout Saudi Arabia, especially in Najd and Hejaz. and the Middle East. The Otaibah are descended from the Bedouin. They trace back to the Mudar family and belong to the Qays ʿAylān confederacy through its previous name, Hawazin.
The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign in which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the central Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud. Unification started in 1902 and continued until 1932, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of Abdulaziz, known in the West as Ibn Saud, creating what is sometimes referred to as the Third Saudi State, to differentiate it from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, also House of Saud states.
Sultan bin Bajad bin Humaid al-'Utaybi was the Sheikh of the Otaibah tribe and one of the prominent leaders of the Ikhwan movement in the Arabian Peninsula. This tribal army supported King Abdulaziz in his efforts to unify Saudi Arabia between 1910 and 1927.
The Saudi conquest of Hejaz or the Second Saudi-Hashemite War, also known as the Hejaz-Nejd War, was a campaign by Abdulaziz al-Saud of the Saudi Sultanate of Nejd to take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–25, ending with conquest and incorporation of Hejaz into the Saudi domain.
The following is a Gregorian timeline of the history for the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The king of Saudi Arabia, officially the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the head of state and head of government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family, the House of Saud. The king is the commander-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and the head of the Saudi national honors system. The king is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. The title has been used many times through the history of Islam. The first Saudi king to use the title was Faisal; however, King Khalid did not use the title after him. In 1986, King Fahd replaced "His Majesty" with the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and it has been since used by both King Abdullah and King Salman. The king has been named the most powerful and influential Muslim and Arab leader in the world according to the Muslim 500.
The Declaration of theUnification of Saudi Arabia was officially announced by Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz, the Viceroy of Hejaz and future monarch on behalf of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud on September 23, 1932, at 9:00 am from al-Hamidiyah Palace in Mecca. Faisal read out the Royal Decree No. 2716 issued by Abdulaziz ibn Saud on September 18, 1932, that renamed the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its annexes as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Founding Day, officially the Founding Day, is a public holiday in Saudi Arabia celebrated annually on February 22 to commemorate the enthronement of Muhammad bin Saud as the emir of the oasis town of Diriyah in 1727 following the death of his father Saud al-Muqrin, the eponymous ancestor of the al-Saud family. His hereditary succession is considered as the prelude to the inception of the First Saudi State, the antecedent to the Second Saudi State and present-day Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 2022 on its 295th anniversary when King Salman bin Abdulaziz issued a royal decree that designated it as a legal holiday to be observed as per the Gregorian calendar. It is one of the three non-religious national holidays observed in the country, other being the Saudi National Day and Saudi Flag Day.
↑ Caryl, Sue (20 February 2014). "1938: Oil Discovered in Saudi Arabia". National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 12 December 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
↑ Learsy, Raymond (2011). Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption. p.89.
1 2 3 Robert Lacey, The Kingdom: Arabia & The House of Sa'ud, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1981 (Hard Cover) and Avon Books, 1981 (Soft Cover). LCCN81-83741ISBN0380617625
↑ "Report of Study of US Foreign Aid In M.E. & African Countries", US Congress 1963, p. 387
↑ "Israel Urges UN Adopt Direct Peace Talk Move. The Jewish Floridian, 21 December 1962, p.1a". Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.One of the principal Arab detractors of Israel was missing today, and the Saudi Arabian position in the committee chamber was vacant. Shukairy left here Saturday, unannounced but not unnoticed. Having been recalled from his post by Saudi Arabia's King Feisal. A number of delegates, including Arabs embarrassed by his volatile speeches stirring anti-Semitism and endorsing the neo-Nazi Tacuara movement of Argentina, had asked King Feisal to take him away from the already highly charged UN scene.
↑ archive.com/hutchinson-news-dec-12-1962-p-1 Hutchinson News Newspaper Archives. 12 December 1962 p. 1Archived 1 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine . "Ambassador Under Fire" Arab diplomats, so annoyed at Saudi Aradian Ambassabor Shukairy for his rash speech advocating anti-Israel action that they consider urging Saudi Prince Faisal to recall him, That comes from diplomats who claim to be in close touch with the Saudi Arabian government. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Mr. Shukairy has aired his personal views on the subject. He has delivered similar speeches here and Arabs were just and unappreciative then.
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