E book

Country e-book as a part of IGPE assignment

Submitted to Prof. Bibhas Basumatary

By Kunal Bhasin

PGCM(4)-1415

INTRODUCTION Saudi Arabia officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Ara-bia,is the largest Arabstate in Western Asia by land area (approximately 2,150,000 km

2 (830,000 sq mi), constituting

the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest geographically in the Arab world after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the north-east, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and much of its terrain consists of inhospitable desert. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Ara-bia (Al-Hasa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). Saudi Arabia is the world's dominant oil producer and exporter, and controls the world's second larg-est hydrocarbon reserves.Backed by its fossil fuels, the

kingdom is categorized as a high income economy with a high Human Development Index ( HDI).

HISTORY In pre-Islamic times, apart from a small number of urban trading settlements (such as Mecca and Medina), most of what was to become Saudi Arabia was populated by nomadic tribal societies in the inhospitable desert. The Islamic prophet, Muhammad, was born in Mecca in about 571 A.D. In the early 7th century, Muham-mad united the various tribes of the peninsula and created a sin-gle Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his follow-ers rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Ara-bia, conquering huge swathes of territory (from the Iberian Penin-sula in west to modern day Pakistan in east) in a matter of dec-ades. In so doing, Arabia soon became a politically peripheral re-gion of the Muslim world as the focus shifted to the more devel-oped conquered lands. In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz, Asir and Al-Hasa) to the Empire and claimedsuzerainty over the interior. One rea-son was to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea (hence the Hejaz) and the Indian Ocean..Several attacks were there and many fights were fought but In 1932 the two kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd were united as the Kingdom of Saudi Ara-bia.

Total population 2013

( people) 29,994,272 *

Saudi population

growth rate 2013 2.15%

The cost-of-living index

2014 130.1

Unemployment Rate ( >

15 years) 2014 5.7%

Growth of exports of

non-oil goods for 2013 6.14%

Infants mortality rate

(per thousand live

births) 2013

15.9

Rate of illiteracy of the

population (2013) 5.6%

Largest City Riyadh

1.252 Billion POPULATION 28.83 Million

1.877 USD GDP 25,961.81 USD

73% LITERACY RATE 96%

2.50 BIRTH RATE 2.70

7.4 per 1000 DEATH RATE 3.71 per 1000

10.5 per 1,00,000 SUICIDE RATE 5.9 per1,00,000

5 GROWTH RATE 1.49

3,287,590 sq km TOTAL AREA 2,149,690 sq km

CAMEL IS THEIR FAVOURITE RIDE.ONE CAN

SEE A LOT OF CAMELS IN SAUDI ARABIA

MADINA IS THE SACRED PLACE. POTTERY BEING AN ANCIENT FORM OF ART

HAS BEEN STILL ARABIANS FAVOURITE PIECE

OF ART AND ITS UNIQUE AS WELL.

DANCE FOOD DRESS

CODE

Saudi Arabia was an absolute monarchy in 1992. The king was not con-

strained by a written constitution, a legislative assembly, or elections.

Since 1962, Saudi kings periodically promised to establish a majlis ash

shura, or consultative council, to advise them on governmental

matters, but none of them undertook practical steps to establish such a

body. In March 1992, King Fahd once again announced that a majlis ash

shura would be appointed and specified its responsibilities . Later came

the govt. into being. Saudi Arabia consisted of fourteen provinces, or

amirates, each governed by an amir (governor) appointed by the king. In 1992 these amirates included Al Banah, Al Hudud ash

Shamaliyah, Al Jawf, Al Madinah, Al Qasim, Al Qurayyat, Ar Riyadh, Ash Sharqiyah, Asir, Hail, Jizan, Makkah, Najran, and

Tabuk. The larger, more populous amirates were subdivided into districts and subdistricts. Saudi Arabia is still under King.Here

King holds the government.

Saudi oil reserves are the second largest in the world, and Saudi Arabia is the world's leading oil exporter and second largest producer. Proven re-serves, according to figures provided by the Saudi government, are estimat-ed to be 260 billion barrels (41 km

3), about one-quarter of world oil reserves.

Petroleum in Saudi is not only plentiful but under pressure and close to the earth's surface. This makes it far cheaper and thus far more profitable to ex-tract than oil at many other fields. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 92.5% of Saudi budget revenues,90% of export earnings, and 55% of GDP.

Another 40% of GDP comes from the private sector. An estimated 7.5 (2013)

million foreign workers play a crucial role in the Saudi economy, for example,

in the oil and service sectors.

Mr Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, told The Independ-ent in a series of messages that judges in Saudi Ara-bia’s criminal court want him to undergo a re-trial for apostasy. If found guilty, he would face a death sentence.

She said the “dangerous information” had come

from “official sources” inside the conservative king-

dom, where Mr Badawi has already been sentenced

to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes – adminis-

tered at a rate of 50 per week – for criticising the

country’s clerics through his liberal blog.