Saudi Arabia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 07/2015
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
المملكة العربية السعودية
Al-Mamlakah al-Arabiyah as-Sa'ūdiyah
Motto: لا إله إلا الله، محمد رسول الله
"Lā ʾilāha ʾillāl–lāh, Muhammadun rasūl allāh"
"There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God." (Shahada)
Anthem: السلام الملكي (as an instrumental)
"as-Salām al-Malakiyy"
"The Royal Salute"
Capital and largest city
• Riyadh
(24°39′N 46°46′E)
Official languages
• Arabic
Ethnic groups
• 90% Arab
• 10% Afro-Arab
Religion
• Islam (official)
Demonym
• Saudi Arabian
• Saudi (informal)
Government
• Absolute monarchy
King
• Salman bin Abdulaziz
Crown Prince
• Muhammad bin Nayef
Deputy Crown Prince
• Mohammad bin Salman
Legislature
• None
Establishment
Kingdom founded
•23 September 1932
Area:
• Total: 2,149,690 km2 (13th)- 830,000 sq mi
• Water (%): 0.7
Population: 2014 estimate
• 30,770,375 (41st)
Density:
• 12.3/km2 (216th)- 31/sq mi
GDP (PPP):
2015 estimate
• Total: $1.668 trillion (14th)
• Per capita: $53,149 (12th)
Currency:
Saudi riyal (SR) (SAR)
Time zone: AST (UTC+3)
Drives on the right
Calling code: +966
ISO 3166 code: SA
Internet TLD: .sa
السعودية.
(Legislation is by king's decree. The Consultative Assembly exists to advise the king.)
Saudi Arabia, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area (approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi)), constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest geographically in the Arab world.
It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid inhospitable desert or barren landforms.
The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd, and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir).
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud.
He 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, the House of Saud.
The country has since been an absolute monarchy governed along Islamic lines.
Wahhabi Islam has been called "the predominant feature of Saudi culture".
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.
The Kingdom has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners.
Saudi Arabia is the world's second largest oil producer and largest exporter, and controls the world's second largest hydrocarbon reserves.
Backed by its fossil fuels, the kingdom is categorized as a high income economy with a high Human Development Index (HDI), and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies.
However, Saudi Arabia has the least diversified economy in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).
It is ruled by an authoritarian regime and is ranked as "Not Free" by Freedom House.
Saudi Arabia has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world, and in 2010-14, SIPRI found that Saudi Arabia was the world's second largest arms importer.
Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power.
In addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC.
ETYMOLOGY
Following the unification of the kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah (a transliteration of المملكة العربية السعودية in Arabic) by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud (Ibn Saud).
Although this is normally translated as "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" in English it literally means "the Arab Saudi Kingdom".
The word "Saudi" is derived from the element as-Suʻūdīyah in the Arabic name of the country, which is a type of adjective known as a nisba, formed from the dynastic name of the Saudi royal family, the Al Saud (آل سعود).
Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the personal possession of the royal family.
Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning "family of" or "House of", to the personal name of an ancestor. In the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynasty's 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud.
Those who do not recognize Saudi rule (particularly the Islamic State) call the nation the "land of Haramayn (the two holy places)" in reference to Mecca and Medina.