Sponsors: 

Saudi Arabia, monarchy in southwestern Asia, occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is bounded on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; on the east by the Persian Gulf and Qatar; on the southeast by the United Arab Emirates and Oman; on the south by the Republic of Yemen; and on the west by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The country�s border with the United Arab Emirates is not precisely defined. Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2,240,000 sq km (about 864,900 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Riyadh.

Considerably more than half the area of Saudi Arabia is desert. Rub� al Khali, known in English as the Great Sandy Desert and as the Empty Quarter, extends over much of the southeast and beyond the southern frontier. Partially unexplored, Rub� al Khali has an estimated area of about 650,000 sq km (about 250,000 sq mi). An extension of the Syrian Desert projects into northern Saudi Arabia, and extending southeast from this region is An Nafūd, an upland desert of red sand covering an area of about 57,000 sq km (about 22,000 sq mi). Ad Dhanā�, a narrow extension of this desert, links An Nafūd and Rub� al Khali. A central plateau region, broken in the east by a series of uplifts, extends south from An Nafūd. Several wadis (watercourses), dry except in the rainy season, traverse the plateau region. Its western limits are delineated by a mountain range extending generally northwest and southeast along the eastern edge of the regions of Al Ḩijāz (Hejaz) and �Asīr. The highest point in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Sawdā� (3,207 m/10,522 ft), is located in the southwestern portion of the country. Between the range, which has an average elevation of about 1,200 m (about 4,000 ft), and the Red Sea is a narrow coastal plain. In the east, along the Persian Gulf, is a low-lying region known as Al Aḩsā�. It is underlain by great petroleum deposits.

Extreme heat and aridity are characteristic of most of Saudi Arabia. The average temperature range in January is 8� to 20�C (47� to 68�F) in Riyadh and 19� to 29�C (66� to 83�F) in Jiddah. The average range in July is 27� to 43�C (81� to 109�F) in Riyadh and 27�to 38�C (80�to 100�F) in Jiddah. The Arabian Peninsula is one of the few places in the world where summer temperatures above 48�C (120�F) are common, while in winter frost or snow can occur in the interior and the higher mountains. Precipitation is sparse throughout the country. Annual rainfall in Riyadh averages 100 mm (4 in) and falls almost exclusively between January and May; the average in Jiddah is 54 mm (2.1 in) and occurs between November and January. Because of the general aridity, Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes.

Fertile oases, many of which are the sites of towns and villages, are scattered through the Saudi Arabian deserts north of Rub� al Khali, and larger tracts of pasturage are in Ad Dhanā� and the plateau region. The great Saudi Arabian oil fields are located in the coastal area adjoining the Persian Gulf. Because of the general aridity the vegetation is not extensive. Various fruit trees, notably the date palm, and a wide variety of grains and vegetables thrive in the oases and in other areas where water is available. The indigenous wildlife includes the antelope, bustard, fox, gazelle, hyena, ibex, ostrich, panther, pigeon, quail, wildcat, wild cow, and wolf.

Environmental protection is an ancient tradition in Arabia, and special reserves were known long before the advent of Islam. Today Saudi Arabia has an extensive system of protected areas, including one national park, a number of nature reserves, and several classes of special-use areas. Some protection has been extended to sensitive marine habitats off the coasts.

Saudi Arabia is mostly desert. Only 0.1 percent (1995) is forested, although the government conducts a reforestation program. Livestock grazing represents the largest environmental threat to the sparse natural vegetation. A high population growth rate has put extreme pressure on the delicate arid environments of the interior and created concern over the management of scarce resources, especially water. Underground aquifers are overdrafted, and the government has spent huge sums on desalinization plants to provide artificially processed fresh water.

Saudi Arabia is one the world�s largest producers of petroleum products and suffers a number of related problems, including oil spills on land and off its coasts. Marshes and other sensitive marine habitats, especially in the Persian Gulf, have been in decline for decades because of oil pollution. They are important not only as rare habitat but as key elements in the ecology of commercially harvested fish and shrimp. The 1991 Persian Gulf War caused catastrophic damage to some of these areas.

For a country largely composed of desert, Saudi Arabia has fairly rich biodiversity. Eighteen percent of its invertebrate animals, seven of its nine amphibians, and all of its indigenous freshwater fish are found nowhere else. There are an estimated 3,500 species of plants and 59 terrestrial mammals, 19 of which are endangered, vulnerable, or rare. Government-sponsored wildlife teams are working to increase populations of threatened houbara bustards and Arabian oryx. In addition, there are 413 recorded species of birds, 11 of which are rare or endangered.

Saudi Arabia participates in international environmental agreements pertaining to climate change, hazardous wastes, and ozone layer protection. Regionally, the country has committed itself to the cooperative protection of shared marine environments in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

The resident population of Saudi Arabia is composed mainly (82 percent) of Arabs whose ancestors have lived in the area for many centuries. A substantial minority (13 percent) consists of Yemenis and other Arabs who came to Saudi Arabia after the 1950s because of the economic opportunities the country afforded. Nomads, known as Bedouins, make up a declining proportion of the population, and the number of settled residents has also decreased. In the early 1990s, 27 percent of the people in the country were nonresident foreign workers, primarily from Asia and Africa. By 1999 an estimated 85 percent of the population was urban. The national language is Arabic. Virtually all Saudis are Muslims. The great majority are of the Sunni sect (see Sunnites), although some Shiites live in the east. The Wahhabi sect, comprised of reformers who settled in Arabia during the 18th century and who have sought to purify and simplify the practice of Islam, has greatly influenced the Sunnites of Saudi Arabia.

According to the 1992 census, Saudi Arabia had a population of 16,929,294. The 2001 estimate is 22,757,092, yielding an average population density of 10 persons per sq km (26 per sq mi).

The capital of Saudi Arabia is Riyadh. Other important cities include Jiddah, a port city on the Red Sea; Mecca, one of the great Muslim pilgrimage centers; Medina, a holy city and cultural center of Islam; and Ad Dammām, an oil center on the Persian Gulf. In the 1980s two large new industrial centers, Al Jubayl, on the Persian Gulf, and Yanbu� al Baḩr, on the Red Sea, were built at an estimated cost of more than $45 billion.

Education in Saudi Arabia is free but not compulsory. In the 1996 school year the country had 11,506 primary schools with a total enrollment of 2.3 million pupils; secondary schools enrolled 1.5 million students. Some 94 percent of Saudi adults were literate in 2001, a dramatic increase from the less than 3 percent literacy rate in the early 1960s. In recent decades, teacher-training institutes have been established with the aim of reducing the country�s great dependence on other Arab countries for teachers. King Saud University was founded as the University of Riyadh in 1957; the Islamic University, in Medina, in 1961; King Abdulaziz University, in Jiddah, in 1967; King Faisal University, in Ad Dammām, in 1975; and Umm al-Qura University, in Mecca, in 1979. Founded in Riyadh in 1953, the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud attained university status in 1974. Three other institutions for advanced learning are the Technical Institute (1964), at Riyadh, the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (1963), at Dhahran, and a college of Islamic studies, founded in 1933, at Mecca. Additional institutes for religious training are located in Riyadh and other cities and towns. Instruction at the higher levels is frequently in English, which, after Arabic, is Saudi Arabia�s major language. Altogether, some 273,990 Saudis were enrolled in institutions of higher education in 1996-1997. Every year a number of qualified young Saudis enroll for advanced study in Europe and the United States.

Some of the largest libraries of Saudi Arabia are situated in Riyadh; the King Saud University libraries contain 1.1 million volumes. Collections of religious materials are housed in libraries in Mecca and Medina. The Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, which was founded in Riyadh in 1978, features displays and exhibits on a wide variety of topics.

Agriculture and livestock raising have historically been the basic economic activities of Saudi Arabia, but since the development of the oil industry, the government has sought to diversify its industrial base and improve its basic economic structure, developing roads, airports, seaports, and the power industry. Through a sharp increase in oil prices beginning in 1973, Saudi Arabia began to amass a tremendous cash reserve. The government used its newfound wealth to transform its economy at a rate almost without precedent in modern history. A lack of trained and skilled labor was partially offset by millions of guest workers. By the mid-1980s, however, oil prices were in decline as a system of production quotas created by oil-exporting nations began to break down, and high prices encouraged exploration and development of oil reserves elsewhere. Saudi Arabia began to spend more than it took in, drawing down its cash reserves. By the mid-1990s continued declines in oil sales forced the Saudi government to reduce expenditures. Residents anticipated a reduction in government subsidies on telephone calls and public services, and consideration was given to privatization of some government assets.

The estimated annual budget in the mid-1990s included revenues of about $39 billion and expenditures of about $50 billion. Saudi Arabia�s gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999 was $139.4 billion. The government was the largest employer in Saudi Arabia in the mid-1990s, engaging about 34 percent of the workforce. Industry employed 28 percent, including 5 percent in the oil industry, while 22 percent were in trade and other services, and 16 percent in agriculture or fishing.

The Saudi oil industry was founded in 1938 by the Arabian-American Oil Company (Aramco) when a productive field was found at Ad Dammām on the Persian Gulf. Aramco was originally owned by four American oil companies, but in 1974 the Saudi government acquired controlling interest. The country�s vast reserves and high level of oil production have made Saudi Arabia a leading producer and a strong voice in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has much influence over international oil pricing. Saudi Arabia�s proven reserves of petroleum exceed 260 billion barrels, more than one-quarter of the world supply. Annual production in the late 1980s was some 2 billion barrels of oil, and output increased substantially after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. In 1999 Saudi Arabia produced 3.1 billion barrels of petroleum, the most produced by any country. Saudi Arabia is the world�s leading exporter of oil. Most oil is produced in the eastern part of the country; offshore drilling takes place in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia also produces considerable quantities of natural gas; the output in 1999 was 46.2 billion cu m (1.6 trillion cu ft). To facilitate the movement of crude petroleum to major markets, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, known as Tapline, was completed in 1950. It carries crude oil to Şaydā (Sidon), Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea. Another pipeline, linking the eastern oil fields around Abqaiq with the Red Sea port of Yanbu� al Baḩr, was completed in the early 1980s. Most oil, however, continued to be exported from Persian Gulf ports, especially Ras Tanura and Ad Dammām.

In 1975 the government of Saudi Arabia announced an ambitious five-year development plan based on continued oil revenues, calling for expenditures of about $150 billion, with much of this amount devoted to improving the country�s infrastructure. Priority in the industrial sector was given to the development of a petrochemical industry, the building of liquefied natural-gas plants and petroleum-based industries, and production of steel and cement to facilitate the large-scale construction required by the plan. A subsequent development plan, for 1980 to 1985, called for expenditures of some $236 billion, with emphasis on diversifying industry. The five-year plan for 1985 to 1990 called for $277 billion in development spending, but continued weakness in oil prices and declines in petroleum revenues forced the government to scale down many programs. The plan also encouraged private enterprise, which grew in importance during the late 1980s, reaching 70 percent of non-oil GDP. A plan for the first half of the 1990s focused on the country�s defense forces, social services, and the creation of greater employment opportunities for Saudi citizens through the reduction of foreign workers in the country. The initial intent of a plan beginning in 1995 was to lower the cost of government services while expanding educational training. The plan also called for reducing dependence on the petroleum sector through economic diversification.

Because Saudi Arabia has long been a net food importer, agriculture has been targeted as a key area of development. Since the late 1980s a large wheat surplus has been exported, and the country has achieved self-sufficiency in many dairy and poultry products. The lack of water results in only 1.7 percent of the land area being cultivated. Irrigated lands located near oases have been virtually the only sites of cultivation. Many of the foreign workers and technicians who have been brought in are engaged in agricultural projects.

Saudi Arabia�s crop (with annual output in metric tons) in 2000 included cereals such as wheat, barley, and sorghum, 2.44 million; fruits such as dates, grapes, and citrus, 1.2 million; and vegetables and melons such as tomatoes, watermelons, and onions, 2.3 million. Livestock, many used for dairy production, included 8.3 million sheep, 4.7 million goats, 428,000 camels, and 265,000 cattle.

Only 0.7 percent of Saudi Arabia is forested. Shrimp, the only significant fish export, are taken from the Persian Gulf. A variety of fin fishes are caught for domestic consumption.

Apart from petroleum and petroleum-related products, the only significant minerals extracted in Saudi Arabia are limestone, gypsum, marble, clay, and salt. Gold production began in the late 1980s, and reserves of metal ores have been located.

Saudi Arabia�s manufacturing sector has diversified since the 1970s. Major products include refined petroleum, petrochemicals, plastics, processed food, clothing, fertilizer, and cement. In 1999 the country produced 120 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity; all of it was produced by thermal installations.

Saudi Arabia�s unit of currency is the riyal, which is divided into 100 halalah (3.74 riyals equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). Because of Saudi Arabia�s reliance on foreign sales of petroleum, its yearly exports rose rapidly in the 1970s but declined almost as sharply in the 1980s; the nation�s exports dropped from $111 billion in 1981 to $23 billion in 1987, while imports decreased from $30 billion to $18 billion. In 1999 exports totaled $58 billion, and imports $28.4 billion. Exports are primarily petroleum and petroleum products. Japan and the United States are by far the leading purchasers, followed by South Korea, Singapore, France, and India. Chief imports are transportation equipment, machinery, basic metals, textiles, chemicals and chemical products, food products, and animals and animal products. Leading suppliers of imports are the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and Switzerland. The large numbers of Muslim pilgrims who make annual visits to Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and Medina, the site of his tomb, spend considerable sums of money in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has an expanding transportation network. In 1999 the country had 151,470 km (94,119 mi) of roads; there were 90 passenger vehicles in use for every 1,000 people. Saudi Arabia was served by some 1,392 km (865 mi) of operated railroad track, with the main line connecting Riyadh and Ad Dammām. The ports of Jiddah and Yanbu� al Baḩr are on the Red Sea, and Al Jubayl, Ad Dammām, and Ras Tanura are major oil-exporting ports on the Persian Gulf. Government-run Saudi Arabia Airlines provides domestic and international flights. Major airports are at Dhahran, Jiddah, and Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has 13 daily newspapers, some of which are published in English. The government operates radio and television broadcasting services, and in 1997 there were 321 radio receivers and 262 television sets for every 1,000 residents. In 1999 Saudi Arabia had 129 telephone mainlines per 1,000 people.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. The government is based on the Sharia, the sacred law of Islam, which is interpreted according to the strict Hanbali rite by the learned religious elders, or ulama. Saudi Arabia has no formal constitution; however, in March 1992 a series of royal decrees established a bill of rights, increased the powers of provincial governments, and provided for a Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura), to be appointed by the king.

The chief government and religious official of Saudi Arabia is a king. Succession to the office is not hereditary, and the crown prince, who succeeds the king, is chosen from among the Saud royal family by the family in consultation with religious and government leaders. The king usually also serves as Saudi Arabia�s prime minister. The royal family and a few other prominent families provide most higher government officials. The king�s power is effectively determined by his personality and his interaction with the leading families and religious officials of the country. Saudi Arabia has no separate legislature or political parties. Laws are issued by the king and his ministers. In 1992 King Fahd established the Consultative Council, a body of 60 members selected by the king as advisers.The council has no legislative powers. In 1997 its membership was increased to 90.

The judicial system of Saudi Arabia is based on the Sharia, which is derived from the Qur'an (Koran) (the holy book of Islam) and the Sunna (traditions) of the prophet Muhammad. The principal tribunals of the country are the Supreme Council of Justice, the Court of Cassation, general courts, and summary courts.

Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 administrative districts. Large cities elect their own municipal governments. Towns and villages are governed by councils of elders.

Since the mid-1960s Saudi Arabia�s defense expenditures have increased dramatically. The country maintains two separate armies. The first is the national guard, or the white guard, which is a conglomeration of tribal levies organized along traditional lines and has about 77,000 active members. In 1999 the regular armed forces included an army of 75,000 soldiers, an air force of 20,000, a navy of 15,500, and an air defense force. These forces, trained in part with U.S. assistance, are equipped with modern weapons and advanced aircraft.

Arabia was probably the original home of the Semites. Beginning in the 4th millennium bc, these ancient peoples moved into Mesopotamia and Palestine, where they came to be identified as Assyro-Babylonians, Canaanites, and Amorites.

In the 1st millennium bc the Minaean kingdom was well established in �Asīr and southern Al Ḩijāz along the Red Sea coast; its capital was at Karna, also spelled Qarnah (present-day Şa�dah, Yemen). The Minaeans were nomads and herders, who eventually became the chief traders of incense throughout northern Al Ḩijāz. After the Minaeans withdrew from their trading post at Dedān (now Al �Ulá) in the 1st century bc, the Nabataeans founded a commercial center at Madā�in Şāliḩ, just to the north.

In the eastern part of the country was Dilmun, which seems to have been a politicocultural federation centered on the Persian Gulf shore. Dilmun has sometimes been identified with the island of Bahrain, although it certainly included parts of the mainland and traded with the inland sections of what is now Saudi Arabia.

Alexander the Great of Macedonia had plans to conquer Arabia before his untimely death in 323 bc; the Ptolemies of Egypt later gained a toehold at Yanbu� al Baḩr but were thwarted by the Nabataeans. The country was further subject to Ethiopian and Persian struggles for control. By the 5th century ad Mecca had superseded the Nabataean city of Petra in importance.

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in 570. His teachings angered local residents and Muhammad left for Medina. In 630 he returned with his followers and conquered Mecca, setting into motion the rapid expansion of Islam across the Middle East. The founding of Islam in the 7th century altered profoundly the course of Saudi history. Muhammad�s successors, known as caliphs, went on to conquer and convert the entire Middle East. As the caliphate was established, first in Damascus (Dimashq) in 660, and then in Baghdād, Muhammad�s homeland itself became less important within the Islamic empire. After 1269 most of Al Ḩijāz was under the nominal suzerainty of the Egyptian Mamluks. The Ottoman Turks gained control of the region when they conquered Egypt in 1517, but they were unable to extend their authority into the interior. During the 15th century the Saud dynasty was founded near modern-day Riyadh by Muhammad ibn Saud.

In the mid-18th century the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed his fundamentalist sect, and supported by Saudi armies the movement soon established a nationalist Arab state in the Najd. In 1802 the Wahhabis captured Mecca, and although they were expelled from the city in 1812, they were not defeated. The Wahhabis and Saudis retreated to Riyadh, where they founded their capital in 1824. From there the Saudis reconquered most of the land they had lost. After 1865 the dynasty fell into civil war and the kingdom was divided among various clans and the Ottomans. Defeated, the Saudi family fled into exile in Kuwait. In 1902, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud retook Riyadh and by 1906 his forces controlled the Najd region. He captured the region of Al Aḩsā� in 1913, the Jebel Shammar in 1921, Mecca in 1924, Medina in 1925, and �Asīr in 1926. He then proclaimed himself king of Al Ḩijāz. In 1932, after unifying the conquered territories, he renamed his vast realm Saudi Arabia.

Before 1938, when the first petroleum deposit was discovered in Saudi Arabia, socioeconomic conditions in the country differed little from those prevailing in antiquity. As royalties from the oil industry increased, King Ibn Saud developed an extensive modernization program, particularly in such areas as water supply, agriculture, manufacturing, and public health. Concurrently he strengthened relations with other states of the Middle East and adopted a friendly policy toward the United States and the United Kingdom. A supporter of the Allied cause in World War II (1939-1945), he permitted construction of a U.S. air base in Dhahran but remained officially neutral until March 1945, when he declared war on Germany and Japan.

In 1945 Saudi Arabia joined the United Nations (UN) and the Arab League. Saudi Arabia opposed the creation of Israel but took only a minor part in the league�s war against the Jewish state in 1948 and 1949. In December 1950 a new agreement with the Arabian-American Oil Company (Aramco) provided that 50 percent of the company�s net earnings should be paid to Saudi Arabia. In June 1951, Saudi Arabia agreed to grant the United States use of the Dhahran air base for another five years in return for U.S. technical aid and permission to purchase arms under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act.

King Ibn Saud died on November 9, 1953. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud. Advocating Arab neutrality in the Cold War, Saudi Arabia opposed the Middle Eastern Treaty Organization (METO), formed in 1955 by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. Representatives from Saudi Arabia attended the Bandung Conference held April 18 to 24, 1955, in Bandung, Indonesia. In October 1955 it signed a mutual-defense pact with Egypt. In the same month British-led forces from the sultanate of Masqaţ and Oman (now Oman) recaptured an oasis in a disputed area that had been occupied in 1952 by Saudi Arabian police. Saudi Arabia appealed vainly to the United Nations for support against the British. In November King Saud agreed to lend Syria $10 million for economic and military purposes. A loan of $10 million was made to Egypt in August 1956, after Egypt�s funds in foreign banks were frozen following the nationalization of the Suez Canal on July 26. After the joint Israeli, British, and French attack on Egypt in October and November, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom and France, and cut off oil supplies to their tankers.

King Saud visited the United States in January 1957; shortly afterward it was announced that the United States would sell arms and supply other aid to Saudi Arabia in exchange for permission to use the Dhahran air base. In April of that year Saudi Arabia declared the Gulf of Aqaba to be territorial waters and announced that Israeli ships would be denied passage through the gulf. Despite the declaration, no attempts were made to interfere with the passage of Israeli ships. In February 1958 Saudi Arabian territorial waters were extended to 19 km (12 mi).

In March 1958 King Saud transferred legislative and executive powers, formerly included among his own absolute powers, to the prime minister, his brother Crown Prince Faisal; Saud reserved for himself the right of veto. In May a royal decree established a cabinet system.

At a conference held in Baghdād from September 10 to 14, 1960, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and Kuwait founded the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to coordinate their policies and help sustain oil prices. On December 21, Saud reclaimed control of the government from Faisal and made himself prime minister.

In October 1962 King Saud again relinquished the premiership to Faisal. Meanwhile, Saudi relations with Egypt had deteriorated considerably. Serious tension developed after the September 1962 revolution in Yemen; Egypt supported the new republican government, while Saudi Arabia gave refuge to the overthrown Yemeni imam and pledged to support his efforts to regain his throne. After Saudi royalist attacks against Yemen, Egyptian planes bombed Saudi towns in November, and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Egypt and mobilized its armed forces on January 3, 1963.

Prince Faisal, who had been consolidating his power and introducing major social and economic reforms, replaced Saud as king on November 2, 1964. He designated his half brother, Prince Khalid ibn Abdul, as the new prime minister.

In 1967, as the Arab-Israeli conflict intensified prior to the Six-Day War, King Faisal expressed full support for Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and dispatched 20,000 troops to Jordan to face Israeli forces. On June 6 all Saudi oil exports to Britain and the United States were suspended, but diplomatic ties were not broken; the oil trade was resumed after the Arab defeat. An Arab summit conference later in the year resulted in Egyptian withdrawal from Yemen, and the Saudis extended large-scale aid to Egypt to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the closing of the Suez Canal during the war. King Faisal continued to call for pan-Islamic action against Israel and, under internal pressures, criticized alleged United States complicity with Israel. He remained unwilling, however, to articulate a militant anti-Western position, and in 1971 Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf states concluded a five-year pact with 23 Western oil companies, including 17 U.S. firms. In July 1970, Saudi Arabia formally recognized the republican government of Yemen after seven years of intermittent border fighting.

Saudi Arabia sent a small number of troops and weapons (notably aircraft) to aid the Arab states in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. In the aftermath of that conflict the government played a leading role in organizing a short-term oil boycott against countries that had supported Israel and quadrupling the international price of petroleum. The latter development, and Saudi Arabia�s 1974 takeover of controlling interest in the huge Aramco, greatly increased government revenue, thus providing funds for a massive economic development plan.

In March 1975 King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew and was succeeded by Prince Khalid. Khalid, however, was in poor health and his half brother, Crown Prince Fahd, became the power behind the throne. The country remained conservative, and its influence kept OPEC from raising its prices to the extent most member countries wanted. In 1980 it was announced that the Saudi government had taken full control of Aramco�s assets retroactively from January 1976. Much of the petroleum money that poured into the country was reinvested in the West or spent on arms, but domestic inflation and a barely manageable pace of development were continuing problems.

Saudi Arabia took a dim view of the conciliatory overtures by Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat to Israel in 1977, and after the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979, Saudi Arabia cut off financial aid to Egypt and severed diplomatic relations. The Islamic revolution in Iran that year and the subsequent seizure by fundamentalist Muslim guerrillas of the Grand Mosque in Mecca jolted the Saudi government, which afterward placed an increased emphasis on military preparedness and security. To ensure Saudi security, the United States in 1981 agreed to sell several Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes to the Saudis, an arrangement that provoked heavy opposition from Israel and its friends in the United States, who feared an upset of the military balance in the Middle East.

King Khalid died in June 1982 and was succeeded by Fahd. As king, Fahd sought to maintain Saudi Arabia�s traditional Islamic values, while continuing the process of rapid modernization made possible by the nation�s abundant oil resources. In 1986 he assumed the religious title �Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques� in an effort to safeguard the Western-friendly Saudi regime from opposition by Islamic militants. Nevertheless, King Fahd faced difficulties within and beyond his country. In July 1987 at least 400 people were killed in Mecca when Iranian Shiite pilgrims clashed with Saudi police. More than 1,400 pilgrims died in July 1990 after a bridge and tunnel accident caused a panic.

Iraq�s takeover of Kuwait in August 1990 had significant military, political, and economic consequences for Saudi Arabia. To counter the Iraqi military threat, the Saudi government provided for temporary deployment on its own territory of hundreds of thousands of U.S. and allied troops, and it contributed forces to the multinational coalition that fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf War in early 1991. Through the late 1990s Saudi Arabia continued to serve as the main base for American air patrols over southern Iraq.

After the war, Saudi Arabia increased its oil output to compensate for the loss of petroleum supplies from Iraq and Kuwait. Economic problems became evident, however, in 1993. The United States had insisted that Saudi Arabia pay for the costs of U.S. military protection during the war, costing the country $51 billion. Meanwhile, the Saudi economy was feeling the effects of a budget operating under deficit since 1983. War payments and declining oil prices forced the Saudi government to cut social and defense spending and to take out loans from international banks. Despite these problems, in 1994 Saudi Arabia helped defeat a campaign by Iran and other OPEC member countries to lower OPEC�s overall production ceiling so that limited supply would prompt a rise in prices. As oil prices continued to fall in the late 1990s, Saudi Arabia reversed its position and led an initiative for OPEC to reduce production in order to raise the price of oil. In March 1999 OPEC, along with four independent oil-producing nations, approved a yearlong production cutback. Saudi Arabia committed to the largest cutback, reducing production by 7 percent.

Political reforms decreed by King Fahd in 1992 established a consultative council to serve in an advisory capacity, provided for a bill of rights, and changed the rules of succession. The Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) was convened for the first time in December 1993. Social reforms were less evident, however. Saudi men and women still were not permitted to attend public events together, and workplaces remained segregated. Government officials in the United States voiced continuing concern about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, particularly the abuse of prisoners by guards and police.

King Fahd remained an active sponsor of Islamic causes worldwide in his second decade as Saudi leader. In 1992 he conducted an extensive campaign to end the bloodshed in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same year, Fahd�s government established diplomatic links with the Muslim republics formerly included in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In January 1994, Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasir Arafat visited Riyadh to discuss with King Fahd the prospects for Middle East peace. The meeting represented a significant rapprochement between the two leaders, whose relations had been strained since the Persian Gulf War. In March 1991, Fahd chose not to receive Jordan�s King Hussein, who was visiting Mecca for the annual hajj (pilgrimage). Relations between the Arab leaders had been unfriendly due to Jordan�s support for Iraq during its invasion of Kuwait.

In February 1995 the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen agreed to negotiate a settlement to their long-standing dispute over their shared border; the agreement followed several months of small-scale fighting in the border region. More than five years later, in June 2000, the two countries finally announced an agreement settling the border dispute. Meanwhile, in 1998 Saudi Arabia began production in an oil field lying in the disputed region of its border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia failed to meet the UAE�s demand for a share of the oil and gas produced from the field. In 1999 the UAE protested by boycotting an oil ministers� meeting in Saudi Arabia that was to formally inaugurate the field.