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History

General History

Saudi Arabia is situated on the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia at the crossroads of Asia and Africa. The region has been home to human cultures for millennia and contains some of the earliest traces of human activity in the world. While ancient Saudi Arabia did host some permanent cities and civilizations, many of its people throughout history lived as nomads and kept limited written records.

In the early 7th century CE, Saudi Arabia was the birthplace of Islam, now the world's second-largest religion. It began with the prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah ﷺ, a merchant living in Mecca in the western Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula, whose spiritual yearnings led to divine communications with the angel Gabriel. His teachings emphasized carrying for the socially underprivileged and submission (literally islām إِسْلام in Arabic) a loving and omnipotent God. Despite severe persecution, Muhammad ﷺ and his followers successfully laid the foundations of a the new religion, following in the Abrahamic tradition of Judaism and Christianity. By the time of Muhammad's ﷺ death in 632 CE, most of the Arabian Peninsula had accepted Islam. In the decades and centuries that followed, the religion spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, reaching regions as distant as the Iberian Peninsula, India, and Central Asia.

In the 16th Century, the Ottoman Empire ruled over the region (Hejaz, Asir, and Al Ahsa), naming it Ottoman Hejaz. The Ottomans ruled till the end of WWI when the British aided the local Arab tribes in defeating the weakening Ottoman authority. In 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by King Ibn Saud, who fought to unite all four regions of Saudi Arabia, Hijaz, Najd, Eastern Arabia, and Southern Arabia. The kingdom is currently ruled by his descendants.

Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Mecca and in Medina, the two holiest places in Islam.

Timeline

• 1744: The foundation of the first Saudi state by the Emir of Diriyah, Muhammad ibn Saud and Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, after which the Wahabbi movement is named.
• 1818: The first Saudi state falls to the Ottoman Empire.
• 1902: King Ibn Saud captures Riyadh, marking the beginning of the unification of Saudi Arabia.
• 1916-1918: During World War I, the British support the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire
• 1924-1925: King Ibn Saud conquers and unites the Hejaz region, including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
• 1932: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is officially established by King Ibn Saud.
• 1953: King Ibn Saud passes away, and his son Saud becomes king.