Saudi Arabia

I

Introduction

Saudi Arabia, monarchy in southwestern Asia, occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is a land of vast deserts and little rainfall. Huge deposits of oil and natural gas lie beneath the country’s surface. Saudi Arabia was a relatively poor nation before the discovery and exploitation of oil, but since the 1950s income from oil has made the country wealthy. The religion of Islam developed in the 7th century in what is now Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, and it has been ruled by his descendants ever since.

Saudi Arabia is bounded on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; on the east by the Persian Gulf and Qatar; on the southeast by the United Arab Emirates and Oman; on the south by Yemen; and on the west by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The country’s border with the United Arab Emirates is not precisely defined. Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2,240,000 sq km (about 864,900 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Riyadh.

II

Land and Resources

The Arabian Peninsula is essentially a huge, tilted block of rock, highest in the west and sloping gradually down to the east. Most of this slab of rock is covered with the sand of several large deserts. Saudi Arabia’s landscape also contains mountain ranges, flat coastal plains, and the rocky remains of hardened lava flows. The country’s climate is hot and dry, and there are no permanent rivers or lakes.

A

Natural Regions

Saudi Arabia can be divided into four natural regions. These are the mountainous western highlands; the rocky central plateau; the more fertile, eastern low-lying coastal plain; and the sandy desert areas of the north, east, and south.

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A

1

Highlands of Al Ḩijāz and ‘Asīr

A string of mountain ranges stretches along the western edge of Saudi Arabia. The northern segment of these highlands, known as Al Ḩijāz (Hejaz), has a general elevation of 600 to 900 m (2,000 to 3,000 ft), with some mountains exceeding 2,000 m (6,500 ft). Rainfall here is infrequent, but streams flowing down the west side of the highlands allow limited agriculture in valleys and on the narrow coastal plain. On the eastern slopes of the highlands, prehistoric lava flows solidified to form vast, barren fields of dark-colored, broken basaltic stone known as harras. South of Al Ḩijāz the highlands continue into the region known as ‘Asīr. Here, the highlands are rugged and reach considerably higher elevations than in Al Ḩijāz: Much of ‘Asīr lies between 1,500 and 2,000 m (5,000 and 7,000 ft). The highest point in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Sawdā’ (3,207 m/10,522 ft), is located in this region, near the border with Yemen. ‘Asīr receives more rainfall than Al Ḩijāz, allowing more widespread farming.

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