Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . . .
The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
comprises almost four-fifths of
the Arabian Peninsula, an area
approximately one-third the size
of the continental United
States. Geographically, it is
situated in the southwestern
part of Asia. The eastern part
of Saudi Arabia is a plateau
that begins with the great Nafud
desert in the north, continues
along the Arabian Gulf and
culminates in the world's
largest sand desert, the Rub Al-Khali
(Empty Quarter), in the south.
To the west of this plateau is
the Najd, the heartland of the
peninsula, known for its
spectacular escarpments and
gravel and sand deserts.
The capital city of Riyadh is
located in Najd. A chain of
mountains in western Saudi
Arabia runs parallel to the Red
Sea. The Hijaz region along the
Red Sea contains the holy cities
of Makkah and Madinah, the port
city of Jeddah and the summer
capital of Taif.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has
made great progress in realizing
the long-held objective of
achieving self-sufficiency in
food production. Saudi Arabia's
agricultural development is one
of the major accomplishments of
modern agriculture in the Middle
East. The country's leaders have
always encouraged the growth of
the agricultural sector, not
only for its role in food
security, but also for its
contribution to diversifying the
economy away from oil. Today,
the agricultural sector employs
a significant number of people
and utilizes the latest
techniques to produce a variety
of goods, stocking shelves in
stores in Saudi Arabia and
exporting excess supplies to
countries across the globe.
This agricultural success is all
the more impressive considering
the geography of the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is a large country
without permanent rivers, and
less than two percent of its
land surface is under
cultivation. The Rub Al-Khali
(Empty Quarter), the largest
sand desert in the world,
stretches across the southern
part of the Kingdom. Overall,
only an average of about four
inches of rain falls annually in
the country - one of the lowest
rates in the world. At the same
time, the Arabian Peninsula has
always harbored fertile regions.
The farmers of Asir Province in
the southwest have long
practiced rain-fed agriculture,
raising maize, wheat, barley and
an array of vegetables and fruit
in their terraced fields.
Verdant palm oases, such as Al-Qatif
and Al-Hasa in the Eastern
Province, have always enlivened
the brown of the desert. In the
provinces of Hail and Qasim,
long stretches of arable
farmland yield grains and
vegetables and are dotted today
with chicken and dairy farms.
Water, of course, is the key to
agriculture in Saudi Arabia. The
Kingdom has successfully
implemented a multifaceted
program to provide the vast
supplies of water necessary to
achieve the spectacular growth
of the agricultural sector. A
network of dams has been built
to trap and utilize precious
seasonal floods. Vast
underground water reservoirs
have been tapped through deep
wells. Desalination plants have
been built to produce fresh
water from the sea for urban and
industrial use, thereby freeing
other sources for agriculture.
Facilities have also been put
into place to treat urban and
industrial run-off for
agricultural irrigation. These
efforts collectively have helped
transform vast tracts of the
desert into fertile farmland.
Land under cultivation, less
than 400,000 acres in 1976,
reached millions of acres by the
21st century.
For thousands of years, the
people of the Arabian Peninsula
have been at the geographic,
commercial and cultural
crossroads of the world. As
early as 3,000 BC, the people of
the western region of the
peninsula were part of a
far-reaching commercial network
extending to south Asia, the
Mediterranean and Egypt. The
discovery some 1,900 years ago
of the cyclical pattern of trade
winds known as the monsoon
increased the importance of the
peninsula. Trade flourished,
with merchants of the peninsula
acting as the vital link between
India and the Far East on the
one side and Byzantium and the
Mediterranean states on the
other. Interaction with other
cultures of east and west over
the centuries enriched the
ancient traditions and culture
of the people of the peninsula.
The introduction of Islam to the
Arabian heartland in the seventh
century AD further strengthened
the region's cultural heritage.
Within a century, Islam spread
west to the Atlantic Ocean and
as far east as the Indian
subcontinent and China. With
Makkah as its core, the Islamic
world witnessed a flowering of
culture, the sciences and the
arts unparalleled in human
history. Every year for the past
fourteen centuries, Muslim
pilgrims from around the world
have traveled to Islam's holiest
sites in Makkah and Madinah,
helping further enrich the
culture of the people of the
peninsula.
With the formation of the modern
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932,
King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman
Al-Saud directed his efforts to
preserving and perpetuating Arab
traditions and culture. His
legendary dedication to this
cause was emulated by his sons
and successors at a crucial time
when the nation was entering an
era of rapid economic
development.
That Saudi Arabia has
successfully preserved and
strengthened its cultural
heritage while achieving the
spectacular development and
modernization of the past three
decades is testimony to the
resilience of Saudi culture and
the nation's determination to
cherish and protect it. Today
amid the bustle of life in the
21st century in modern Saudi
society contemporary Saudi
writers look to the past for
inspiration. Popular musicians
incorporate ancient rhythms and
instruments into their modern
music and painters capture
traditional scenes.
The accelerating pace of
development in the 1970s,
however, led Saudi leaders to
take additional steps to
preserve the nation's cultural
and artistic heritage. When the
General Presidency of Youth
Welfare (GPYW) was established
in 1974, one of its main
functions was to strengthen an
understanding and respect for
the nation's culture and arts
among young people: this
function was taken over by the
Ministry of Culture and
Information in April 2003.
In 1974, the Department of
Museums and Antiquities was
formed in the Ministry of
Education. Today, in addition to
the National Museum in Riyadh
there are major museums in each
of the Kingdom's thirteen
provinces, and many smaller
ones, some of them
privately-owned.
Saudi Arabia's economic system
is based on free and private
enterprise. Saudi citizens have
the opportunity to initiate and
participate in economic
activities and reap the rewards
of their enterprise and hard
work. Respect for private
property, freedom to engage in
the economic field of an
individual's choice and
encouragement of private
investment in the development of
the nation are principles upheld
by Islam and observed by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Opportunities for economic
growth have increased steadily
over the decades since King
Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud
founded the Kingdom in 1932. At
that time, prospects for growth
and development seemed limited.
There were no airports and the
only seaports dealt primarily
with pilgrimage travel.
Transportation between cities
separated by miles of barren
desert was on rough unpaved
roads. Agriculture was limited
and industry was almost
nonexistent. The primary source
of revenue was from the annual
pilgrimage of Muslims to the
Holy Cities of Makkah and
Madinah.
Undaunted by these obstacles,
the visionary King Abdulaziz
began to make plans for the
laying down of the country's
infrastructure. Addressing the
most fundamental concerns -
education, health,
transportation, agriculture and
industry - he initiated the
remarkable development that
continues today. This
development was enhanced by the
discovery of oil in the late
1930s.
Having invested about one
trillion U.S. dollars in
developing its social and
economic structure, Saudi Arabia
has undergone a remarkable
transformation over the
relatively short time span of
some seven decades. Where it
once was obliged to import all
of the manufactured products it
consumed, Saudi Arabia now has a
vast industrial base and its
factories supply a large portion
of the needs of the country's
domestic markets. Fishing
villages on the Red Sea and the
Arabian Gulf that were once a
collection of huts have been
transformed into bustling
centers of industry, producing
everything from petrochemicals
to electronics and exporting
them to over 90 countries.
One of the fastest developing
countries in the world, Saudi
Arabia is the most dynamic
economic power in the Arab world
and ranks 20th globally in the
size of its economy.
Formal primary education began
in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s. By
1945, King Abdulaziz bin
Abdelrahman Al-Saud, the
country's founder, had initiated
an extensive program to
establish schools in the
Kingdom. Six years later, in
1951, the country had 226
schools with 29,887 students. In
1954, the Ministry of Education
was established, headed by then
Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz as the
first Minister of Education. The
first university, now known as
King Saud University, was
founded in Riyadh in 1957.
Today, Saudi Arabia's nationwide
public educational system
comprises eight universities,
more than 24,000 schools, and a
large number of colleges and
other educational and training
institutions. Open to every
citizen, the system provides
students with free education,
books and health services. A
measure of the government's
substantial commitment to this
sector is the allocation of over
25 percent of the annual State
budget for education including
vocational training.
Saudi Arabia prizes education
because of its critical
importance in developing the
country's human potential, and
in the 21st century private
education facilities are opening
all over the Kingdom. King Fahd
bin Abdulaziz often stressed how
the young people of Saudi Arabia
are the country's most valuable
resource. Education is a central
aspect of family and community
life. Parents are deeply
involved in their children's
education, and the close links
between home and school serve to
reinforce the structure of the
community and the nation.
|