Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is a kingdom in West Asia covering most of the Arabian Peninsula, between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Its roughly 2,149,690 km2 (830,000 sq mi) are mostly desert, including the Rub' al Khali, the largest continuous sand desert on earth.

Riyadh is the capital and largest city, and Arabic is the official language. Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam, lie in the Hejaz in the west. Ancient cultures here included Dilmun on the Gulf coast and Midian in the northwest, and the Nabataeans took Hegra around 65 BCE. Islam arose in the early 7th century, when Muhammad united the peoples of the peninsula, and after his death in 632 his followers carried Muslim rule far beyond Arabia. The Al Saud family rose at Diriyah, where Muhammad bin Saud became emir in 1727. King Abdulaziz began his campaigns in 1902 and in 1932 joined Hejaz, Najd and other regions into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is an absolute monarchy under the House of Saud, and its Basic Law of 1992 names the Quran and the Sunnah as its constitution. Oil was found at Al-Ahsa on the Persian Gulf in 1938, full production began in 1941 under Aramco, and by 1980 the state had bought out the American stake. Petroleum earns most of the export income, and the country also mines gold at Mahd adh Dhahab and grows vegetables, fruit and dates. Its ports at Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City are being expanded for trade between Europe and Asia, and since 2019 a tourist visa has opened the country to non-Muslim visitors.

In 2024 archaeologists announced al-Natah, a town in the Khaybar oasis about 4,000 years old with some 500 houses. Men traditionally wear the white ankle-length thawb with a keffiyeh. Al Fallah, launched in 1920, was the first newspaper in the Persian Gulf region, and the English-language Arab News followed in 1975. Football is the national sport, and the national team won the AFC Asian Cup in 1984, 1988 and 1996. Camel and horse racing are old pastimes, and the King's Camel Race has been held every year since 1974.