Islamic City Of Saudi Arabia 1
Saudi Arabia, arid, sparsely populated kingdom of the Middle East that in the 20th century became one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries in terms of output. It is ruled by the Saud family,which in the austere and conservative Wahhabi Islamic movement. Mohammed bin salman, the forceful crown prince, is the defacto ruler, acting on behalf of his elderly father king Salman.Extending across most of the northern and central Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia is a young country.that is heir to a rich history. In its western highlands, along the Red Sea , lies the Hejaz,which is the cradle of Islam and the site of that religion’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. In the country’s geographic heartland is a region known as Najd (“Highland”), a vast arid zone that until recent times was populated by nomadic tribes.
Country Facts
Head of State and Government: king: salman bin Abdulaziz , assisted by prime Minister: Mohammed bin salman.
Capital:Riyadh
Population: (2024est) 33,145,000
Currency Exchange Rate: 1USD equals 3.750 Saudi Arabian riyal
Form of Government: monarchy
Land
The country occupies about four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jorden, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; by the persian Gulf, Qater, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman to the east;by Yemen to the south and southwest; and by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west. Long running border disputes were nearly resolved with Yemen (2000) and Qatar (2001);
Relief
The Arabian Peninsula is dominated by a plateau that rises abruptly from the Red Sea and dips gently toward the persian Gulf. In the north, the western highlands are upward of 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) above Sea Level, decreasing slihtly to 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) in the vicinity of Medina and increasing southeastward to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). Mount Sawda, which is situated near Abha in the south, is generally considered the highest point in the country. The gulf coastline is irregular, and the coastal waters are very shallow.
Drainage and Soils
There are virtually no permanent surface streams in the country, but wadis are numerous. Those leading to the Red Sea are short and steep, though one unusually long extension is made by Wadi Al-Hamd, which rises near Medina and flows inland to the northwest for 100 miles (160km) before turning westward; those draining eastward are longer and more developed except in Al-Nafud and the Rub al-khali. Soils are poorly developed. Large areas are covered with pebbles of varying sizes. Alluvial deposits are found in wadia, basins, and oases. Salt flats are especially common in the east.
Climate of Saudi Arabia
There are three climatic zones in the kingdom: (1) desert almost everywhere, (2) steppe along the western highlands, forming a strip less than 100 miles (160km) wide in the north but becoming almost 300 miles (480 km) wide at the latitude of Mecca, and (3) a small area of humid and mild temperature conditions, with long summers, in the highlands just north of Yemen.
In winter, cyclonic weather systems generally skirt north of the Arabian Peninsula, moving eastward from the Mediterranean Sea. though sometimes they reach eastern and central Arabia and the persian Gulf. Some weather systems move southward along the Red Sea trough and provide winter precipitation as far south as Mecca and April, some precipitation, normally torrential, falls. In simmer, the highlands of Asir siutheast of Mecca, receive enough precipitation from the monsoonal winds to support a steppelike strip of land..
Languages
Arabic is a Semitic language of numerous vernacular dialects .
