Saudi Arabia

**Saudi Arabia** is an Islamic absolute monarchy located in the Arabian Peninsula. With its capital at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a large Arabic Muslim state that is mainly composed of desert, with cities being located along the coast and near oases. The vast country only has a population of 30,000,000 people due to the restraints on living conditions in some parts of the region. Saudi Arabia is so-called because of the ruling House of Saud, which united Arabia in 1923, and its rulers have been of the Saudi dynasty ever since. The country's leaders pride themselves as the leaders of Sunni Islam due to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina being located in the kingdom, leading to rivalry with Iran, the center of Shia Islam; the two countries have fought proxy wars in the 2000s and 2010s in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and in other Middle Eastern countries.

## History

Saudi Arabia gained independence in 1932 after Hejaz and Nejd were unified by the ancient House of Saud, which had ruled the Arabian Peninsula since the 1800s. Saudi Arabia's first king was Abdulaziz, better known as "Ibn Saud", and under his rule Saudi Arabia took advantage of its large oil resource storage to become a wealthy state. It was the center of Islam because it was home to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and it was also the home of the prophet Muhammad, who was born in Arabia in the 500s. By 1976 Saudi Arabia was the largest oil producer in the world, and in 1973 oil prices in the United States quadrupled after Saudi Arabia cut off their oil supply to them due to their support of the Jewish state of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Saudi Arabia later came into conflict with Iran when their new Shi'ite theocracy overthrew the Shah and implemented a worse regime, one that inspired terrorism in other countries. In 1979, the same year as the Iranian Revolution, several rebellions broke out in the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia across the Persian Gulf from Iran by Shi'ites, and they had to be suppressed by the military.

Today, Saudi Arabia is known as an extremely-popular tourist spot for the international community, with most tourists being Muslims making their pilgrimage (*hajj*) to Mecca and others being people who wanted to see the holy sites of Islam. However, King Abdullah I of Saudi Arabia was rated the 5th worst dictator in the world in 2003 and later moved up to 2nd worst because of his legalization of amputation as a punishment for theft, beheading for rape, murder, and other serious crimes, and his suppression of human rights, primarily those of women and Shi'ites.

## Culture

Saudi Arabia's population in 2014 was 29,994,272 people, with 1,300,000 Indians, 1,500,000 Pakistanis, 900 thousand Egyptians, 800 thousand Yemenis, 500 thousand Bangladeshis, 500,000 Filipinos, 260,000 Jordanians, 250 thousand Indonesians, 350 thousand Sri Lankans, 250,000 Sudanese, 240,000 Palestinians, 100,000 Syrians, and 100,000 Turks. 100,000 Westerners live in Saudi Arabia in either gated communities or in compounds, mainly due to religious and ethnic persecution and possible violence.

All of the non-foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are Muslim, with 97% being Muslim including the 3% of foreign workers. In 1985 the last Christian priest was expelled and conversion of Muslims in Saudi Arabia in punishable by death. In late November-early December of 1979, Juhayman al-Otaybi and 500 zealot militants occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca, but the Saudi National Guard, Pakistani Army, and France's GIGN recaptured the mosque and 63 rebels were hung; 117 were killed. 127 Saudi troops were killed and 451 wounded.

Popular Saudi food includes Shawarma (sandwiches filled with meat fried for around a day), yogurt, and Falafel (deep-fried balls filled with chickpeas or beans). Saudi Arabia is under sharia law, meaning that it outlaws the consumption of pork or the drinking of alcohol.