Keys to the Kingdom

By Kristina Dell

THE RULING FAMILY

KING FAHD Prime Minister Ruler since 1982, he began to diversify the country's economy. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995

CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH First Deputy Prime Minister Half brother of King Fahd's, he handles day-today government operations

PRINCE SULTAN Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense He has helped build and modernize the kingdom's armed forces

PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL Minister of Foreign Affairs Son of former King Faisal, he graduated from Princeton University in 1964

PRINCE BANDAR Ambassador to the U.S. Son of Prince Sultan, he received fighter pilot training in the U.S. and Britain

A BRIEF HISTORY How one tribe eventually conquered and united most of the Arabian Peninsula

RISE OF WAHHABIS Early 1800s The Wahhabis, an orthodox Islamic sect that eventually allied with the prominent al Saud family, launch outward from central Arabia, invading Hejaz and Syria, taking Mecca in 1806

COUNTERSTRIKE 1818 to 1922 The Ottoman Empire and Egypt took back the land by 1818. But in 1902 Abdul Aziz ibn Saud led a Saudi resurgence, successfully uniting the different regions into one nation

A NEW COUNTRY 1932 to present The kingdom was proclaimed on Sept. 23, 1932, but its borders have fluctuated. Neutral zones with Iraq and Kuwait existed until 1966 and 1981, respectively

A SEA OF SAND AND OIL

SIZE 756,978 sq. mi. (1,960,582 sq km), about 1/5 the size of the U.S.

LANGUAGE Arabic

POPULATION 24.3 million Includes 5.6 million nonnationals, mostly guest workers, who make up almost 70% of the total work force. Fifty percent of the population is younger than 18

OIL Saudi Arabia is the world's No. 1 oil exporter and the leading supplier of crude oil to the U.S. It has onequarter of the world's proven oil reserves

POROUS BORDER The 506-mile (814-km) border with Iraq is a largely uninhabited, vast stretch of open desert. The Saudis say those attempting to cross could easily be spotted by patrols

ISLAM'S HOLIEST SITES King Fahd's official title includes Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina. More than 2 million Muslims make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca

SOUTHERN PROVINCES 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers had Saudi citizenship. Eight of them were linked to towns in Baha and Asir provinces

URBAN SCENE Saudi Arabia averages 32 people per sq. mi. (12 per sq km), but most of the population lives in the larger cities

CLOSING BASES Since the first Gulf War, the U.S. has stationed about 5,000 troops in Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year the U.S. began pulling out, primarily to an expanded base in Qatar. Only a handful of U.S. personnel remain to wind down operations at Prince Sultan Air Base. A few hundred troops will stay to train Saudi soldiers

SMUGGLERS' HAVEN The full border with Yemen was not demarcated until June 2000. Illegal immigration and smuggling of explosives are common in the rugged, isolated mountains

BLACK GOLD Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in the mid-1930s. Today, petroleum accounts for 75% of the kingdom's revenue, 45% of its GDP and 90% of its export earnings

BARREN LAND The country has no permanent rivers or lakes. The "empty quarter" is one of the largest sand deserts in the world

Sources: Defense Department; Library of Congress; Embassy of Saudi Arabia; CIA; Air Force; Council on Foreign Relations; Energy Information Administration; Atlas of World History; Historical Atlas of the 20th Century;