The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

                                                                                

                                                                         

                           The kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

                          المملكة العربية السعودية                                         

            Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam’s two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. The king’s official title is the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The modern Saudi state was founded in 1932 by ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman AL SAUD (Ibn Saud) after a 30-year campaign to unify most of the Arabian Peninsula. A male descendent of Ibn Saud, his son ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz, rules the country today as required by the country’s 1992 Basic Law. Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000 refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops to deploy on its soil for the liberation of Kuwait the following year. The continuing presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil after the liberation of Kuwait became a source of tension between the royal family and the public until all operational US troops left the country in 2003. Major terrorist attacks in May and November 2003 spurred a strong on-going campaign against domestic terrorism and extremism.

• Full name: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Population: 25.6 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Riyadh
• Area: 2.24 million sq km (864,869 sq miles)
• Major language: Arabic
• Major religion: Islam
• Life expectancy: 70 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Riyal = 100 halalah
• Main exports: Oil, gas, cereals
• GNI per capita: US $11,770 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .sa
• International dialling code: +966