SA'UDI ARABIA



Kingdom of Sa'udi Arabia

Al-Mamlakah al-'Arabiyah as-Sa'udiyah

CAPITAL : Riyadh (Ar-Riyad)

FLAG : The national flag bears in white on a green field the inscription, in Arabic, "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is the messenger of Allah." There is a long white sword beneath the inscription; the sword handle is toward the fly.

ANTHEM : The National Anthem is a short instrumental selection.

MONETARY UNIT : The Sa'udi riyal ( SR ) is divided into 20 qursh (piasters), in turn divided into 5 halalah. There are coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 halalah and notes of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 riyals. SR 1 = $0.2666 (or $1 = SR 3.75) as of May 2003.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES : The metric system has been officially adopted.

HOLIDAYS : Muslim religious holidays include 1st of Muharram (Muslim New Year), 'Id al-Fitr, and 'Id al-'Adha'.

TIME : 3 PM = noon GMT.


FLORA AND FAUNA

Vegetation is sparse, owing to aridity and soil salinity. The date palm, mangrove, tamarisk, and acacia are prevalent. Wild mammals include the oryx, jerboa, fox, lynx, wildcat, monkey, panther, and jackal. The favorite game bird is the bustard. The camel and Arab stallion are renowned, as is the white donkey of Al-Ahsa. Fish abound in the coastal waters and insects, scorpions, lizards, and snakes are numerous.

FISHING

Fishing provides employment and self-sufficiency to some communities on both Sa'udi coasts, although cash earnings are negligible. With rare exceptions, traditional fishing techniques are used. One of the few growth areas in this sector has been the export of Gulf shrimp. The fish catch was estimated at 49,650 tons in 2000.

FORESTRY

The only forest growth is found in the mountainous area that extends from southern Hijaz to Asir, accounting for no more than0.6% of the total area. The principal varieties—acacia, date, juniper, wild olive, sidr, tamarind, and tamarisk—are generally not useful for timber, but some wood from date palms is used for construction. The trade deficit in forestry products was $735.5 million in 2000.

DEPENDENCIES

Sa'udi Arabia has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abir, Mordechai. Sa'udi Arabia: Government, Society, and the Gulf Crisis. New York: Routledge, 1993.

Al Munajjed, Mona. Women in Sa'udi Arabia Today. Houndmills, U.K.: Macmillan, 1997.

Anscombe, Frederick F. The Ottoman Gulf: The Creation of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Bahgat, Gawdat. The Gulf Monarchies: New Economic and Political Realities. London: Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, 1997.

Beling, Willard A. (ed.). King Faisal and the Modernization of Sa'udi Arabia. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1980.

Dukheil, Abdulaziz M. The Banking System and its Performance in Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi Books, 1995.

Farsy, Fouad. Modernity and Tradition: The Saudi Equation. New York: Kegan Paul International, 1990.

Gause, F. Gregory. Saudi-Yemeni Relations: Domestic Structures and Foreign Influence. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Harrison, Martin. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy: Relations with the Superpowers. Durham, N.C.: Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham Press, 1995.

Holden, David, and Richard Johns. The House of Saud. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.

Katz, Mark N. Russia and Arabia: Soviet Foreign Policy Toward the Arabian Peninsula. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 9th ed. London: Stacey International, 1993.

Kostiner, Joseph. The Making of Sa'udi Arabia, 1916–1936: from Chieftancy to Monarchical State. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Long, David E. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.

Looney, Robert E. Economic Development in Sa'udi Arabia: Consequences of the Oil Price Decline. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1990.

Munro, Alan. An Arabian Affair: The Gulf War from Saudi Arabia. London: Brassey's, 1996.

Peterson, John. Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993.

Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the United States. Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Transition. Beltsville, Md.: Amana Publications, 1993.

Vasil'ev, Aleksei M. The History of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi Books, 1998.

User Contributions:

1
Rony
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