The
history of Saudi Arabia in its current form as a state began with its foundation in 1932 by
Abdulaziz Al Saud, although the human history of the region that is now
Saudi Arabiaextends as far as 20,000 years ago. The region has twice in world history had a global impact:
[who?][citation needed]
- in the 7th century it became the cradle of Islam and the first center of the Arab Empire
- from the mid-20th century the discovery of vast oil deposits propelled it into a key economic and geo-political role
At other times, the region existed in relative obscurity and isolation, although from the 7th century the cities of
Mecca and
Medina had the highest spiritual significance for the
Muslim world, with Mecca becoming the destination for the
Hajj annual pilgrimage.
For much of the region's history a patchwork of tribal rulers controlled most of the area. The
Al Saud (the Saudi royal family) emerged as minor tribal rulers in
Najd in central Arabia. From the mid-18th century, imbued with the religious zeal of the
Wahhabi Islamic movement, they became aggressively expansionist. Over the following 150 years, the extent of the Al Saud territory fluctuated. However, between 1902 and 1927, the Al Saud leader, Abdulaziz, carried out a series of wars of conquest which resulted in his establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
From 1932 until his death in 1953, Abdulaziz ruled Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy. Thereafter six of his sons in succession have reigned over the kingdom:
- Saud, the immediate successor of Abdulaziz, faced opposition from most in the royal family and was eventually deposed.
- Faisal replaced Saud in 1964. Until his murder by a nephew in 1975, Faisal presided over a period of growth and modernization fueled by oil wealth. Saudi Arabia's role in the 1973 oil crisis and, the subsequent rise in the price of oil, dramatically increased the country's political significance and wealth.
- Khalid, Faisal's successor, reigned during the first major signs of dissent: Islamist extremists temporarily seized control of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979.
- Fahd became king in 1982 - during his reign Saudi Arabia became the largest oil producer in the world. However, internal tensions increased when the country allied itself with the United States, and others, in the Gulf War of 1991. In the early 2000s, the Islamicist opposition to the regime carried out a series of terrorist attacks.
- Abdullah succeeded Fahd in 2005. He instituted a number of mild reforms to modernize many of the country's institutions and, to some extent, increased political participation.
- Salman became king in 2015
Pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia
There is evidence that human habitation in the
Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
[1]
Archaeology has revealed some early settled civilizations: the
Dilmun civilization on the
Persian Gulf, and
Thamud north of the
Hejaz. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.
[2]
There is also evidence from Timna (Palestine) and Tell el-Kheleifeh (Jordan) that the local Qurayya/Midianite pottery originated within the Hejaz region of NW Saudi Arabia, which suggests that the biblical Midianites originally came from the Hejaz region of NW Saudi Arabia before expanding into Jordan and Southern Palestine.
[3][4]
The spread of Islam
Following Muhammad's death in 632,
Abu Bakr became leader of the Muslims as the first
Caliph. After putting down a rebellion by the Arab tribes (known as the
Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy"), Abu Bakr attacked the
Byzantine Empire. On his death in 634, he was succeeded by
Umar as caliph, followed by
Uthman ibn al-Affan and
Ali ibn Abi Talib. The period of these first four caliphs is known as the
Rashidun or "rightly guided" Caliphate (
al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn). Under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their
Umayyad successors, the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the
Byzantine army and destroyed the
Persian Empire,
conquering huge swathes of territoryfrom the
Iberian peninsula to India. The political focus of the Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories.
[5][6]
Umayyad and Abbasid periods
Despite its spiritual importance, in political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of the Muslim world, in which the most important
medieval Islamic states were based at various times in such far away cities as
Damascus,
Baghdad, and
Cairo. Most of what was to become Saudi Arabia reverted to traditional tribal rule soon after the initial Muslim conquests, and remained a shifting patchwork of tribes and tribal
emirates and confederations of varying durability.
[9][10]
Muawiyah I, the first
Umayyad caliph, took an interest in his native Mecca, erecting buildings and digging wells.
[11] Under his
Marwanidssuccessors, Mecca became the abode of poets and musicians. Even then, Medina eclipsed Mecca in importance for much of the Umayyad period, as it was home to the new Muslim aristocracy.
[11] Under
Yazid I, the revolt of
Abd Allah bin al-Zubair brought Syrian troops to Mecca.
[11] An accident led to a fire that destroyed the Kaaba, which was rebuilt by
Ibn al-Zubair.
[11] In 747, a Kharidjit rebel from Yemen seized Mecca unopposed, but he was soon defeated by
Marwan II.
[11] In 750, Mecca, along with the rest of the caliphate, was passed to the Abbasids.
[11]
Sharifate of Mecca
The Arabian Peninsula in 1914
From the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the
Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the
Hejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of
Mecca and
Medina but in the 13th century it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz. Although the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz, they were usually subject to the
suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the
Abbasids of
Baghdad, and the
Fatimids,
Ayyubids and
Mamluks of Egypt.
[9]
Ottoman Era
Beginning with
Selim I's acquisition of
Medina and
Mecca in 1517, the
Ottomans, in the 16th century, added to their Empire the Hejaz and
Asir regions along the
Red Seaand the
Al Hasa region on the
Persian Gulf coast, these being the most populous parts of what was to become Saudi Arabia. They also laid claim to the interior, although this remained a rather nominal
suzerainty. The degree of control over these lands varied over the next four centuries with the fluctuating strength or weakness of the Empire's central authority. In the Hejaz, the
Sharifs of Mecca were largely left in control of their territory (although there would often be an
Ottomangovernor and garrison in
Mecca). On the eastern side of the country, the
Ottomans lost control of the
Al Hasa region to Arab tribes in the 17th century but regained it again in the 19th century. Throughout the period, the interior remained under the rule of a large number of petty tribal rulers in much the same way as it had in previous centuries.
[12]
Rise of Wahhabism and the first Saudi state
Arabia in the 19th century
The
Rashidi realm 1830-1921, at its greatest extent
The emergence of the Saudi dynasty began in central Arabia in 1744. In that year,
Muhammad ibn Saud, the tribal ruler of the town of
Ad-Dir'iyyah near
Riyadh, joined forces with the religious leader
Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab,
[13] the founder of the
Wahhabi movement.
[14] This alliance formed in the 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. Over the next 150 years, the fortunes of the
Saud family rose and fell several times as Saudi rulers contended with
Egypt, the
Ottoman Empire, and other Arabian families for control of the peninsula.
[1][9]
Return to Ottoman domination
The Al Saud returned to power in 1824 but their area of control was mainly restricted to the Saudi heartland of the
Najd region, known as the
second Saudi state. However, their rule in Najd was soon contested by new rivals, the
Rashidis of
Ha'il. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud and the Al Rashid fought for control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia. By 1891, the Al Saud were conclusively defeated by the Al Rashid, who drove the Saudis into exile in
Kuwait.
[1][9][9][16]
Meanwhile, in the Hejaz, following the defeat of the first Saudi State, the Egyptians continued to occupy the area until 1840. After they left, the Sharifs of Mecca reasserted their authority, albeit with the presence of an Ottoman governor and garrison.
[9]
Arab Revolt
Main article:
Arab Revolt
By the early 20th century, the
Ottoman Empire continued to control or have
suzerainty (albeit nominal) over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers (including the Al Saud who had returned from exile in 1902 –
see below) with the Sharif of Mecca having preeminence and ruling the Hejaz.
[9][12][17]
Soldiers in the Arab Army during the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918, carrying the
Flag of the Arab Revolt and pictured in the Arabian Desert.
The Arab army comprised
bedouin and others from across the peninsula, but not the Al Saud and their allied tribes who did not participate in the revolt partly because of a long-standing rivalry with the
Sharifs of Mecca and partly because their priority was to defeat the Al Rashid for control of the interior. Nevertheless, the revolt played a part in the
Middle-Eastern Front and tied down thousands of Ottoman troops thereby contributing to the Ottomans' World War I defeat in 1918.
[9][19]
However, with the subsequent
partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, the British and French
reneged on promises to Hussein to support a pan-Arab state. Although Hussein was acknowledged as King of the Hejaz, Britain later shifted support to the Al Saud, leaving him diplomatically and militarily isolated. The revolt, therefore, failed in its objective to create a pan-Arab state but Arabia was freed from Ottoman suzerainty and control.
[19]
Unification
By 1906, Abdulaziz had driven the Al Rashid out of Najd and the Ottomans recognized him as their client in Najd. His next major acquisition was
Al-Hasa, which he took from the Ottomans in 1913, bringing him control of the
Persian Gulf coast and what would become Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves. He avoided involvement in the
Arab Revolt, having acknowledged Ottoman suzerainty in 1914, and instead continued his struggle with the Al Rashid in northern Arabia. In 1920, the Ikhwan's attention turned to the south-west, when they seized
Asir, the region between the Hejaz and
Yemen. In the following year, Abdul-Aziz finally defeated the Al Rashid and annexed all northern Arabia.
[10][16]
Prior to 1923, Abdulaziz had not risked invading the Hejaz because
Hussein bin Ali, King of the Hejaz, was supported by Britain. However, in that year, the British withdrew their support. At a conference in Riyadh in July 1924 complaints were stated against the Hejaz; principally that pilgrimage from Najd was prevented and it boycotted the implementation of certain public policy in contravention of
shari'a. Ikhwan units were massed on a large scale for the first time, and under Khalid bin Lu'ayy and
Sultan bin Bajad rapidly advanced on Mecca and plundered it, laying waste to symbols of "heathen" practices.
[22] The Ikhwan completed their conquest of the Hejaz by the end of 1925. On 10 January 1926 Abdulaziz declared himself King of the Hejaz and, then, on 27 January 1927 he took the title King of Najd (his previous title was Sultan). The use of the Ikhwan to effect the conquest had important consequences for the Hejaz: The old cosmopolitan society was uprooted, and a radical version of Wahhabi culture was imposed as a new compulsory social order.
[23]
By the
Treaty of Jeddah, signed on 20 May 1927, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of Abdul-Aziz's realm (then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd).
[10][16] After the conquest of the Hejaz, the Ikhwan leaders wanted to continue the expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British protectorates of
Transjordan,
Iraq and Kuwait. Abdul-Aziz, however, refused to agree to this, recognizing the danger of a direct conflict with the British. The
Ikhwan therefore revolted but were defeated in the
Battle of Sabilla in 1930, and the Ikhwan leadership were massacred.
[24]
In 1932, the two kingdoms of the Hejaz and Najd were united as the 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia'.
[16][20]Boundaries with Transjordan, Iraq, and Kuwait were established by a series of treaties negotiated in the 1920s, with two "
neutral zones" created, one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait. The country's southern boundary with Yemen was partially defined by the 1934 Treaty of
Ta'if, which ended a
brief border warbetween the two states.
[25]
Modern history
Abdulaziz's military and political successes were not mirrored economically until vast reserves of
oilwere discovered in 1938 in the
Al-Hasa region along the
Persian Gulf coast. Development began in 1941 and by 1949 production was in full swing.
In February 1945, King Abdul Aziz met President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal. A historic handshake agreeing on supplying oil to the USA in exchange for guaranteed protection to the Saudi regime is still in force today. It has survived seven Saudi Kings and twelve US presidents.
Abdulaziz died in 1953.
King Saud succeeded to the throne on his father's death in 1953. Oil provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and a great deal of political leverage in the international community. At the same time, the government became increasingly wasteful and lavish. Despite the new wealth, extravagant spending led to governmental deficits and foreign borrowing in the 1950s.
[10][26][27]
However, by the early 1960s an intense rivalry between the King and his half-brother,
Prince Faisal emerged, fueled by doubts in the royal family over Saud's competence. As a consequence, Saud was deposed in favor of
Faisal in 1964.
[10]
The mid-1960s saw external pressures generated by Saudi-Egyptian differences over
Yemen. When civil war broke out in 1962 between Yemeni royalists and republicans, Egyptian forces entered Yemen to support the new republican government, while Saudi Arabia backed the royalists. Tensions subsided only after 1967, when Egypt withdrew its troops from Yemen. Saudi forces did not participate in the
Six-Day (Arab-Israeli) War of June 1967, but the government later provided annual subsidies to
Egypt,
Jordan, and
Syria to support their economies.
[10][28]
During the
1973 Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia participated in the
Arab oil boycott of the
United States and
Netherlands. A member of the
OPEC, Saudi Arabia had joined other member countries in moderate oil price increases beginning in 1971. After the 1973 war, the price of oil rose substantially, dramatically increasing Saudi Arabia's wealth and political influence.
[10]
King Faisal was succeeded by his half-brother
King Khalid during whose reign economic and social development continued at an extremely rapid rate, revolutionizing the infrastructure and educational system of the country; in foreign policy, close ties with the US were developed.
King Khalid died in June 1982.
[10] Khalid was succeeded by his brother
King Fahd in 1982, who maintained Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy of close cooperation with the United States and increased purchases of sophisticated military equipment from the United States and Britain.
In 2005,
King Fahd died and his half-brother,
Abdullah ascended to the throne. Despite growing calls for change, the king has continued the policy of moderate reform.
[32] King Abdullah has pursued a policy of limited deregulation, privatization and seeking foreign investment. In December 2005, following 12 years of talks, the
World Trade Organization gave the green light to Saudi Arabia's membership.
[33]
As the
Arab Spring unrest and protests began to spread across Arab world in early 2011, King Abdullah announced an increase in welfare spending. No political reforms were announced as part of the package.
[34] At the same time Saudi troops were sent to participate in the crackdown on unrest in Bahrain. King Abdullah gave asylum to deposed President
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and telephoned President
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (prior to his deposition) to offer his support.
[35]
See also
This audio file was created from a revision of the "
History of Saudi Arabia" article dated 2008-03-30, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (
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References
- ^ a b c d Saudi Embassy (US) Website retrieved 20 January 2011
- ^ Philip Khuri Hitti (2002), History of the Arabs, Revised: 10th Edition
- ^ http://www.pnas.org/content/105/43/16460.full
- ^ Bimson, John J.; Tebes, Juan Manuel, Timna revisited : egyptian chronologyand the copper mines of the southernArabah Antiguo Oriente Vol. 7, 2009
- ^ See: Holt (1977a), p.57, Hourani (2003), p.22, Lapidus (2002), p.32, Madelung (1996), p.43, Tabatabaei (1979), p.30–50
- ^ L. Gardet; J. Jomier. "Islam". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online.
- ^ Farah, Caesar (1994). Islam: Beliefs and Observances (5th ed.),pp.145–147 ISBN 978-0-8120-1853-0
- ^ Goldschmidt, Jr., Arthur; Lawrence Davidson (2005). A Concise History of the Middle East (8th ed.), p.48 ISBN 978-0-8133-4275-7
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabiaretrieved 18 January 2011
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Joshua Teitelbaum. "Saudi Arabia History". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
- ^ a b c d e f M. Th. Houtsma (1993). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. BRILL. pp. 441–442. ISBN 978-90-04-09791-9. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- ^ a b Goodwin, Jason. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire (2003) Amazon.com
- ^ King Abdul Aziz Information Resource – First Ruler of the House of Saud retrieved 20 January 2011
- ^ 'Wahhabi', Encyclopædia Britannica Online retrieved 20 January 2011
- ^ The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam. Library of Congress Country Studies.
- ^ a b c d e Global Security Retrieved 19 January 2011
- ^ David Murphy, The Arab Revolt 1916-18: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze, Osprey Publishing, 2008,
- ^ Murphy, David The Arab Revolt 1916-1918, London: Osprey, 2008 page 18
- ^ a b David Murphy, The Arab Revolt 1916-18: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze, Osprey Publishing, 2008
- ^ a b King Abdul Aziz Information Resource retrieved 19 January 2011
- ^ 'Arabian Sands' by Wilfred Thesiger, 1991
- ^ Schulze, Reinhard, A Modern History of the Islamic World (New York: New York University Press, 2002) ("Schulze"), p. 70.
- ^ Schulze, p. 69.
- ^ 'Arabian Sands' by Wilfred Thesiger, 1991, pps 248-249
- ^ Country Data – External boundaries retrieved 19 January 2011
- ^ a b c al-Rasheed, Madawi, A History of Saudi Arabia (Cambridge University Press, 2002) ISBN 0-521-64335-X
- ^ a b c Robert Lacey, THE KINGDOM: Arabia & The House of Sa'ud, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1981 (Hard Cover) and Avon Books, 1981 (Soft Cover). Library of Congress: 81-83741 ISBN 0-380-61762-5
- ^ "Background note: Saudi Arabia". US State Department. 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
- ^ Robert Lacey, The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud(Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich Publishing: New York, 1981) p. 426.
- ^ a b c 'Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979' by Thomas Hegghammer, 2010, Cambridge Middle East Studies ISBN 978-0-521-73236-9
- ^ Hegghammer 2010, p. 112
- ^ "Saudi Arabia | The Middle East Channel". Mideast.foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
- ^ "Accession status: Saudi Arabia". WTO. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
- ^ "Saudi king announces new benefits". Al Jazeera English. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
- ^ Black, Ian (31 January 2011). "Egypt Protests could spread to other countries". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 11 June 2011.
Further reading
- Bowen, Wayne H. The History of Saudi Arabia (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations, 2007)
- Determann, Jörg. Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State in the Middle East (2013)
- Kostiner, Joseph. The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916-1936: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State (1993)
- Parker, Chad H. Making the Desert Modern: Americans, Arabs, and Oil on the Saudi Frontier, 1933–1973 (U of Massachusetts Press, 2015), 161 pp.
- al-Rasheed, Madawi. A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd ed. 2010)
- Vassiliev, Alexei. The History of Saudi Arabia (2013)
- Wynbrandt, James and Fawaz A. Gerges. A Brief History of Saudi Arabia (2010)
