Saudi Arabia Fast Facts
(CNN) —
Here’s a have a look at Saudi Arabia, a big, oil-rich Middle Eastern nation bordering Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is house to Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.
(from the CIA World Factbook)
Area: 2,149,690 sq km, about one-fifth the scale of the United States
Population: 34,783,757 (July 2021 est.) notice: immigrants/international staff make up 38.3% of the total population, according to UN data (2019)
Median age: 30.8 years
Capital: Riyadh
Ethnic Groups: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%
Religion: Muslim (85-90% Sunni and 10-15% Shiite, residents solely), Other (consists of Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh) (2012 est.)
Unemployment: 6% (2017 est.) notice: information are for complete inhabitants
Economy –
Saudi Arabia possesses roughly 22% of the world’s oil reserves. It is the world’s largest exporter of petroleum liquids and depends on the oil business for nearly half of its GDP.
Foreign Relations –
Since the top of World War II, Saudi Arabia and the United States have maintained a relationship primarily based on an trade of oil for safety. Their mutual pursuits have included the free circulation of oil and preventing the unfold of communism and extremist teams resembling al Qaeda and ISIS. Saudi Arabia and the United States haven’t agreed on assist for Israel or engagement with Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran.
Saudi Arabia was a founding member of the Arab League in 1945.
It presently maintains shut ties with its neighbor, Bahrain, and helped the Sunni monarchy there put down an Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
Saudi Arabia was a longtime supporter of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak earlier than his overthrow in 2011. It didn’t assist the successor authorities of Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood. After Morsy’s overthrow in 2013, Saudi Arabia returned its assist to new president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
After a few years of strained relations, Saudi Arabia started constructing a fortified fence along its 1,060-mile border with Yemen in 2003. This was in response to the ongoing unrest in Yemen resulting from Shiite Houthi rebels and Sunni terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In 2014, it started building on a 600-mile barrier alongside the border with Iraq, to forestall border incursions by the terrorist group ISIS.
Religion –
The Wahhabi, or Salafi, department of Sunni Islam has been carefully tied to the Saud household for the reason that 18th century. When the Saud household established the fashionable nation of Saudi Arabia within the Nineteen Thirties, the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam develop into the nation’s official state-sponsored faith.
One of the 5 pillars of Islam is performing Hajj, by touring to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at the very least as soon as. Approximately two million individuals a 12 months make the pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia bans public worship by non-Muslims and severely restricts public shows of faith by non-Wahhabi sect Muslims, together with Shiites.
Women’s Rights –
Saudi Arabia has a guardianship system primarily based on strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. The system shouldn’t be a proper legislation. Under the guardianship system, ladies can not marry, divorce, travel, get a job or have elective surgery without permission from their male guardians. Also, ladies can’t combine freely with members of the alternative intercourse and should put on a full-length black abaya in public. In 2011, King Abdullah announced that women will be allowed to nominate candidates for the next set of municipal elections. In December 2015, ladies voted for the primary time, 979 ladies ran for workplace, and 17 had been elected. In September 2017, a royal decree was issued to allow women in the country to drive, and the ban formally ended June 2018. Saudi Arabia allowed women into three sports stadiums for the first time in January 2018.
September 23, 1932 – Abd-al-Aziz Bin-Abd-al-Rahman Bin-Faysal Bin-Turki Bin-Abdallah Bin-Muhammad Al Saud, also referred to as Ibn Saud, establishes the dominion of Saudi Arabia, 30 years after Saud’s household returned to the Arabian Peninsula from exile.
1939 – Saudi Arabia declares its neutrality on the outbreak of World War II and maintains it for many of the battle.
1944 – California-Arabian Standard Oil modifications its title to Arabian American Oil (Aramco).
February 14, 1945 – Ibn Saud meets with US President Franklin Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy within the Suez Canal. This meeting establishes “the marriage of convenience” between the two countries, which continues to this day.
February-March 1945 – Saudi Arabia declares battle on Germany and Japan.
October 24, 1945 – Joins the United Nations as a founding member.
1948 – Sends a number of hundred troops to struggle within the first Arab-Israeli War after Israel declares its independence.
1950 – Aramco begins sharing 50% of its earnings with the federal government of Saudi Arabia.
1953 – Ibn Saud dies and is succeeded by his son Saud Ibn Abd al-Aziz.
September 14, 1960 – OPEC is shaped in Baghdad, Iraq, by founding members Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
1962 – Yemen’s civil battle pits Saudi Arabia and Egypt towards one another for 5 years.
November 1964 – King Saud is deposed and changed by his half-brother Faisal.
October 1973 – The United States helps Israel in the course of the Yom Kippur War with Egypt, Syria and different Mideast nations. In response, Saudi Arabia and the opposite OPEC member countries impose an oil embargo against the United States.
March 25, 1975 – King Faisal is murdered by a nephew. His half-brother Khalid succeeds him.
March 26, 1979 – Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic relations with Egypt after President Anwar Sadat indicators the Camp David peace treaty with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
December 1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, starting a 10-year occupation. Saudi Arabia and the United States assist the Afghan resistance often called the Mujahideen. Many young Saudis, including Osama bin Laden, spend time in Afghanistan and be a part of the jihadist motion.
1980 – The Saudi authorities good points full management of Aramco.
September 1980 – The eight-year-long battle between Iran and Iraq begins. Saudi Arabia helps Iraq and the federal government of Saddam Hussein towards the predominantly Shiite nation of Iran, with billions in loans. The battle ends in a stalemate in 1988.
May 1981 – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates set up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
June 13, 1982 – King Khalid dies and is succeeded by his half-brother Crown Prince Fahd.
November 1987 – Saudi Arabia and Egypt restore diplomatic ties.
August 2, 1990 – Iraq invades neighboring Kuwait. King Fahd, fearing an Iraqi invasion, permits a multi-national power of greater than 500,000 troops to arrange navy bases within the nation. This angers many Saudis, who take into account the international troops infidels.
February 27-March 1991 – US and coalition forces defeat Iraq and liberate Kuwait.
November 13, 1995 – A bomb destroys a building used by the US military in Riyadh, killing five US service members.
June 25, 1996 – A bunch of terrorists assault the US Air Force housing complicated often called Khobar Towers in Dhahran. Nineteen service members are killed.
August 7, 1998 – Almost concurrently, bombs explode at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 individuals. More than 5,000 are wounded. Twelve of these killed in Kenya are US residents. The bombings, orchestrated by al Qaeda, happen eight years to the day after US troops had been ordered to Saudi Arabia within the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
June 22, 2001 – US authorities indict thirteen Saudis and one Lebanese man for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing.
September 11, 2001 – The deadliest terrorist attack in US history takes place when 19 males hijack 4 business airways certain for west coast locations. The plot is orchestrated by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A complete of two,977 individuals are killed in New York, Washington and out of doors of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers are from Saudi Arabia.
2003 – Saudi Arabia opposes the US invasion of Iraq.
April 29, 2003 – US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declares the withdrawal of US forces from Saudi Arabia.
May 12, 2003 – Assailants set off automobile bombs at three housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Approximately 23 individuals are killed, together with 9 Americans.
August 1, 2005 – King Fahd dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah.
2011 – The Arab Spring results in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Shiite protests in Eastern Saudi Arabia are suppressed.
January 23, 2015 – King Abdullah dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Salman.
April 29, 2015 – King Salman, in a shock power-shifting transfer, appoints Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince, changing his half-brother Prince Muqrin as his successor, and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, his son, as deputy crown prince.
December 14, 2015 – At least 17 women are elected to public office within the first elections wherein ladies within the nation are permitted to vote and to run for workplace.
January 2, 2016 – Saudi Arabia declares it has executed 47 prisoners who had been convicted of terrorism over the past decade – most prominently, a Shiite cleric named Nimr al-Nimr, who had spoken out against the ruling Al Saud family. This mass execution, which came about in 12 completely different Saudi websites, marks the nation’s highest one-year complete in nearly twenty years. The executions spark demonstrations all through the area.
January 3, 2016 – Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says his country is severing ties with Iran after an assault on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
January 4, 2016 – The Saudi authorities declares that each one flights to and from Iran are suspended instantly, based on the Saudi Press Agency. In addition, Bahrain announces it is severing ties with Iran, whereas the United Arab Emirates says it’s “downgrading” diplomatic relations with Iran, and Sudan expels the Iranian ambassador and the complete Iranian diplomatic mission in its nation.
August 24-25, 2016 – US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubier, crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, deputy crown prince bin Salman and different representatives from the area, to debate plans to finish the escalating violence in Yemen.
August 25, 2016 – The United Nations issues a report calling for an investigation into potential human rights violations in Yemen. The UNHCHR says the battle between pro-Saudi authorities forces, Houthi and different rebels, has resulted within the loss of life of three,799 civilians, 6,711 wounded civilians, and tens of millions of others displaced from their house. The humanitarian group says air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition that it monitored made up the “single largest cause of [civilian] casualties,” roughly one-third of the deaths and accidents they recorded.
March 20, 2017 – Families of 850 victims who died on 9/11 and 1,500 people injured that day file a lawsuit against the Saudi government, alleging that the federal government supplied monetary, sensible and materials assist to al Qaeda via its ministries and officers and an enormous community of charities. Saudi Arabia has denied any position within the September 11 assaults and has by no means been formally implicated.
May 20, 2017 – During US President Donald Trump’s go to to Saudi Arabia, the two countries sign an arms deal wherein the United States is promoting Saudi Arabia tanks, fighter jets, fight ships and the THAAD missile protection system for almost $110 billion, based on the White House. The deal is a part of a extra intensive ten-year $350 billion protection settlement which the White House says reveals the US’ dedication to Saudi Arabia and expands alternatives for American corporations within the area.
November 4, 2017 – The official Saudi information company stories that the nation’s navy intercepted a Yemen-borne ballistic missile north of the capital metropolis of Riyadh, that was focusing on King Khalid International Airport.
November 6, 2017 – Saudi Arabia’s newly formed anti-corruption committee arrests at least 17 princes and top officials, according to a list obtained by CNN and cited by a senior royal court official. The record consists of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire businessman who owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, which holds stakes in international corporations resembling Citigroup, Twitter, Apple and News Corp. Also, at the very least 38 former, present and deputy ministers, have additionally been arrested on accusations of corruption.
November 7, 2017 – Supplying rebels in Yemen with missiles was a “direct military aggression by the Iranian regime,” declares Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman.
November 7, 2017 – The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) confirms that it has frozen the private financial institution accounts of the royal members of the family and senior officers after the arrests associated to the federal government’s anti-corruption sweep.
June 24, 2018 – Saudi women drivers take to the roads legally for the first time within the kingdom’s historical past, as its decades-old ban on ladies driving is lifted.
October 2, 2018 – The fiancée of journalist Jamal Khashoggi stories that he’s missing after having entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a critic of present Saudi management, is a columnist on the Washington Post.
October 6, 2018 – Unnamed Turkish officers chatting with the Washington Post and Reuters say that Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Turkish authorities is investigating.
October 10, 2018 – As issues mount over the destiny of Khashoggi and the rising diplomatic rift between Saudi Arabia and the West, some information retailers start to withdraw sponsorship of the Saudi authorities’s Future Investment Initiative (also referred to as “Davos in the desert”), which begins October 23.
October 11, 2018 – A joint investigation team between the Kingdom and Turkey is created. Although Turkish authorities consider Saudi officers will not be being fully cooperative, permission is granted for Turkish authorities to enter the premises of the consulate and the residence of the consul normal to analyze. The search takes place six days later.
October 19, 2018 – After first reporting that Khashoggi had left the consulate the day of his disappearance, the Saudi authorities says that the journalist was killed throughout an altercation whereas on the consulate however takes no direct duty for his loss of life. According to the announcement on State TV, a Saudi commission will release a report on its investigation in one month. Five high-ranking officers are dismissed, and eighteen others are detained.
READ MORE: Saudi Arabia’s full statement on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
October 22, 2018 – A senior Turkish official tells CNN that Mustafa al-Madani, a member of the 15-man workforce suspected within the loss of life of Khashoggi, was captured on surveillance cameras round Istanbul wearing Khashoggi’s garments the day the journalist was killed maybe to offer the looks that it was Khashoggi who had left the consulate.
October 23, 2018 – Crown Prince bin Salman addresses the killing of Khashoggi for the first time whereas talking on the Future Investment Initiative convention. He describes the killing as “heinous” and says he’ll “bring to justice” those that are accountable whereas proclaiming “We know that many are trying to use this painful thing to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey … Justice will be seen in the end.”
October 25, 2018 – According to a press release issued by the Saudi state information company, Saudi Attorney General Shaikh Suood bin Abdullah Al Mo’jab says that Khashoggi’s death was premediated, repeating what Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged two days earlier. Mo’jab stories that the brand new data relies on findings by the Turkish and Saudi joint investigation.
October 25, 2018 – Members of the European Parliament vote overwhelmingly to undertake a decision that urges EU nations to impose an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
November 10, 2018 – Turkey’s President Erdogan says recordings related to Khashoggi’s death have been passed on to Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
November 16, 2018 – The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman personally ordered the killing of Khashoggi, regardless of the Saudi authorities’s denials that the de facto ruler was concerned, based on a senior US official and a supply aware of the matter.
November 20, 2018 – In a statement subtitled “America First!” Trump alerts that he will not take strong action against Saudi Arabia or Prince bin Salman, saying “our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
December 9, 2018 – According to a source briefed on the investigation, Khashoggi’s last words were “I can’t breathe.” The supply, who has learn a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi’s painful final moments, stated it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition try, however the execution of a premeditated plan to homicide the journalist.
February 23, 2019 – Saudi Arabia appoints its first feminine ambassador, naming Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud as ambassador to the United States.
June 19, 2019 – Agnes Callamard, the United Nations particular rapporteur, stated there’s “sufficient credible evidence” that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince bears responsibility for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and he must be investigated for it.
August 1, 2019 – According to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information, a new amendment was approved by the Saudi Cabinet, and will allow all Saudi women to apply for passports “like all citizens” and for women aged 21 and above to travel independently without a male guardian. The modification takes impact on the finish of the month.
September 14, 2019 – Coordinated cruise missile and drone strikes on key Saudi Arabian oil facilities disrupt about half of the dominion’s oil capability. That’s greater than 5 million barrels a day and 5% of the each day international oil provide. Saudi Arabia and the United States are investigating whether the strikes came from Iran.
September 27, 2019 – The Kingdom announces it will likely be granting entry visas to vacationers for the primary time. Travelers from 49 different countries will be capable of enter via an e-visa and visa-on-arrival program. The new drive for tourism is a part of the Vision 2030 undertaking, which goals to scale back the nation’s dependence on oil, diversify the economic system and promote the nation’s nationwide id.
February 27, 2020 – Saudi Arabia announces it is temporarily suspending pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina for individuals outdoors the nation over novel coronavirus fears.
March 6, 2020 – Several senior Saudi royals are arrested in Riyadh. They embrace Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al Saud, a brother of King Salman, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the king’s nephew.
January 27, 2021 – The Biden administration pauses arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates because it conducts a wider evaluation of agreements price billions of {dollars} made by the Trump administration, sources aware of the matter inform CNN.
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia tourism: The conservative Middle Eastern nation has introduced plans to roll out a brand new customer visa that can permit vacationers to enter as soon as in 30 days.
PHOTO:
Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Visitor trial: Earlier in 2018, foreigners had been invited to hitch about 600,000 spectators throughout Saudi Arabia’s month-long King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, providing an opportunity to pattern the expertise of being within the nation.
PHOTO:
Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Annual occasion: There’s an on-site dome enclosure the place vacationers can view uncommon and particular camels, in addition to actions together with camel racing and a camel magnificence pageant.
PHOTO:
Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Surgical enhancements: After a botox scandal, there’s now a three-step course of to forestall camel enhancements. Here, officers test their camels earlier than the subsequent day’s magnificence pageant.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Star attraction: Journalist Danae Mercer shares a kiss with one of many hundreds of camels on the competition.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Long standing custom: “We need people outside Saudi Arabia to see how we live, to see what the camel means for us,” says Sultan Al-Bogomi, an official spokesperson of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Record numbers: The 2018 competition set a brand new Guinness World Record for the most important variety of camels taking part in races, with some 6,120 participating this 12 months.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Desert tour: King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is hosted in Al-Dahna, an empty swathe of desert about 90 minutes’ drive from Riyadh. It is an efficient occasion to time a visit to Saudi Arabia round.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Family-friendly event: A younger boy watches the proceedings on the camel competition whereas sporting a shawl to maintain mud off his face.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Tourism drive: The new visa scheme is a part of a daring plan to extend customer numbers past the tens of millions of Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca yearly.
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Thuymi Do
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Changing instances: It’s been a 12 months for the reason that conservative nation started permitting female-only gyms, whereas King Salman issued a decree permitting ladies to drive for the primary time in September 2017.
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FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: What to see while you go to Saudi Arabia
Top attraction: Sights like Edge of the World, which is accessible by 4×4, and actions resembling climbing will probably be highlights for guests as soon as the nation begins opening to tourism.
PHOTO:
Thuymi Do
