Saudi Arabia is still a land of mystery largely due to its fundamentalist Islam state form and its rigid admission policy.About half of Saudi Arabia consists of uninhabitable desert. Here there are no permanent rivers and lakes and the average temperature in July is about 40ºC. These unfriendly circumstances have deeply influenced the Arab way of life. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East. The Saudi Arabian state was first established in the central region of the Arabian Peninsula in the early 18th Century, but king Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud founded the present day state only in 1932.
Saudi Arabia is a fairly rich country, due to its vast oilfields, but this wealth is not evenly divided. The royal family effectively owns the country. There is minimal political freedom and little tolerance for opposition groups.The country's capital is Riyadh, situated in the very interior of the country, 300 km from the Persian Gulf. It's a modern oil booming city with lots of high rising buildings. Most interesting cities are the holy cities of Mecca and Medina .
History
Except for a few major cities and oases the harsh climate historically prevented much settlement of the Arabian Peninsula. People of various cultures have lived there over a span of more than 5 000 years. The Dilmun culture along the Gulf coast was contemporaneous with the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians and most of the empires of the ancient world traded with the states of the peninsula.
The Saudi state began in central Arabia in about 1750. A local ruler Muhammad bin Saud joined forces with an Islamic reformer Muhammad Abd Al-Wahhab to create a new political entity. 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 on the peninsula. The modern Saudi state was founded by the late King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud (known internationally as Ibn Saud). In 1902 Abdul Aziz recaptured Riyadh the Al-Saud dynasty's ancestral capital from the rival Al-Rashid family. Continuing his conquests Abdul Aziz subdued Al-Hasa the rest of Nejd and the Hijaz between 1913 and 1926. In 1932 these regions were unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Alphabetical Listing of Hotels in Saudi Arabia (Makkah)
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF HOTELS WITH PAYMENT DIRECTLY AT THE HOTEL FRONT DESK
