The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (in Arabic,
al-Mamlaka al-Arabiya as-Saudiya
) occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, the original homeland of
the
Arab people and of Islam. The cultural identities Saudi Arabian
citizens
express are principally those of Muslim and Arab, linking them to
millions
of people beyond the nation's borders. They also identify with the
contemporary state and its national culture; the country's name
links the ruling dynasty, Al Saud, with the state's cultural and
geographic setting.
Identities connected to the traditional ways of life of the
Bedouin and of
oasis-dwelling farmers, fishers, craftspeople and artisans, and
merchants,
caravaneers, and long-distance traders remain in force even as
economic
changes have transformed or ended those ways of life. Regional and
kin-based tribal and clan identities are shared among Saudi
Arabian
citizens.
Saudi Arabia occupies 868,730 square miles (2,250,000 square
kilometers).
It is bounded on the east by the Arabian (Persian) Gulf; on the
west by
the Red Sea; to the south and southeast by Yemen, Oman, the United
Arab
Emirates, and Qatar; and to the north and northeast by Jordan,
Iraq, and
Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia has a hot desert climate with high humidity on the
coastal
fringes. Rainfall is scarce except in the area of Asir, where it
is
sufficient for agriculture on terraced farms and upper slopes and
alluvial
planes.
Rainfall is adequate for the nomadic herding of sheep, goats, and
camels
and for the sustenance of nondomesticated desert fauna, but crop
production is dependent on irrigation from underground aquifers.
Saudi
Arabia has no rivers or permanent bodies of water other than
artificial
lakes and pools. Wadis, the dry beds of ancient rivers, sometimes
flow
with runoff from downpours and seep with underground water.
Saudi Arabia has four main regions. Najd, the geographic center
and
political and cultural core, is a vast plateau that combines rocky
and
sandy areas with isolated mountains and wadi systems. Agricultural
oases
are the sites of villages, towns, and cities. This area's
rangelands have long sustained nomadic pastoral production and are
the
homelands of the main Bedouin communities. Najd is bordered to the
west by
the regions of Hijaz and Asir along the Red Sea. A narrow coastal
plane
known as Tihama is predominant in the south, while a mountain
chain with a
steep western escarpment runs through these areas.
Hijaz has strong and ancient urban traditions and is the location
of Mecca
(Makkah) and Medina (al-Madinah). Other important Hijazi cities
are
Jiddah, a seaport, a commercial center, and formerly diplomatic
capital;
Taif, summer capital; and Yanbu, a newly developing industrial and
longtime port city. Hijaz has agricultural oases, and a history of
tribally organized nomadic pastoralism.
Asir has several cities and some nomadic presence, yet it is
rural, with
farmers living in settled communities largely organized in
accordance with
tribal and clan identities. The seaports of Hijaz and Asir also
have
populations traditionally oriented toward the sea, for trade or
fishing, a
characteristic they share with the Eastern Province.
