By: Farouk Luqman

ew individuals are those who change the course of history generally or in a serious manner. Fewer still are those who alter the map of the world. Nearly none of them go on to create a large new state.'  - Stanley Wolpert, American historian  -

In 1902 a young man called Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud recaptured the city of Riyadh. After his family had lost its kingdom in the vast lands of the Arabian Peninsula, he had sought refuge in nearby Kuwait. Supported by only 39 men and equipped with only swords and a few rifles, it must have seemed a well-nigh impossible task. His small troop possessed only a few camels and horses, and hardly had any food or water. They did, however, share a strong spirit. Indeed, they would need this if they were to cross the desert from Kuwait to Riyadh. The odds were stacked against them, not least in the form of sand-storms, hunger, disease and hostile tribesmen. They did however achieve the seemingly impossible.

Riyadh was then the capital of the Al-Rashid dynasty who had wrested its control from the Al-Sauds. It was well-fortified and sited far away from any potential enemy.

Abdulaziz, still only in his twenties, was nonetheless determined to recapture it at any cost. His life, as the Arabs say, was in the palms of his own hands. If he failed, he knew that he and his followers would loose everything. If he won, he had ahead of him one of the most arduous tasks in nation building that the world had ever seen. With the help of God, Abdulaziz succeeded, with fewer casualties than even he could have envisaged. Dispensing with his adversary, and forgiving many others, he set about firmly restoring his family's seat of power. Little did he know, however, that the road ahead to a Kingdom of his making would take 30 years, from 1902-1932, and that even thereafter, until 1953, the going would be incredibly difficult. He would have to endure great hardships before his dream was finally realized.

Abdulaziz's choice of Riyadh as his starting point was no coincidence. It was the alliance between this political centre and nearby Dir'iyah, the religious centre that had helped shape the region's history. The Riyadh of the early twentieth century was a small walled town with a market located in its centre. At one side of it stood a large mosque and at the other a huge fortified palace, which served as the Saud seat of government. The massive expansion and development in the area that ensued after Adulaziz's gaining of power, however, made Riyadh the fastest growing city in the Middle East.

The expansion of the royal household and the influx of migrants from all over the Kingdom as well as from other countries after the discovery of oil led to the growth of a modern city far beyond its walls. It was no longer a city shrouded in mystery to which intrepid nineteenth century Westerners and other travelers journeyed.

The unification of the tribes of Arabia into a modern state was an arduous and complex process that occupied Abdulaziz and his supporters for three decades, essentially from 1902-1932. There were threats to deflect and vast territories over which to extend control. As part of his overall strategy, Abdulaziz helped local tribes develop a supplementary agricultural base for themselves. He had also created several communities whose men were to become the core of the Saudi forces.

In this way, after Riyadh's recapture and the subsequent unification of the Arab tribes, King Abdulaziz achieved his third objective: namely, the creation of a vast Kingdom, the largest independent state in the Middle East and Africa, and one of the largest in the world. It was solidly unified behind his throne from the extreme north, bordering Jordan and Iraq, to the extreme south, adjacent to Yemen and Oman, with the Red Sea on the west, and the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf States on the east.

Until 1938, the country had not been one of the richest nations economically. Spiritually, however, it was the richest Islamic state. It had been blessed for 1,400 years with the presence of the two holy mosques in Makkah Al-Mukarrama and Al-Madinah Al-Munawarra.

The King is called the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The two sites are visited by millions of Muslims every year to perform their religious rites  - 'Umra,' the lesser pilgrimage and 'Hajj,' the major pilgrimage. Hajj (1) forms one of the five pillars of Islam (to be performed once in a person's lifetime if possible) together with the declaration (2) that there is no God but The One God and that Muhammad is His Prophet. The other three are: (3) 'Salat' (prayers), (4) 'Siam' (fasting) and (5) 'Zakat' (the annual giving of alms, in the amount to two and a half percent of an individual's yearly accumulated wealth). Hundreds of millions of Muslims turn to face Makkah five times a day to perform their prayers.

World War II interrupted the Saudi production of oil. This had commenced in 1938, and was only resumed in the late 1940s. From then on, the going became much easier. Although a great deal of money was now available, it was a time to build a nation on a huge scale  - a formidable task for any state during the twentieth century.

King Abdulaziz had achieved the enormous task of creating a state from scratch and his passing away in 1953 saw Saudi Arabia as a well established Kingdom at peace with itself and its neighbors. It was accumulating great wealth from its oil production and was destined to be the largest producer and owner of one quarter of the planet's entire oil reserves.

King Abdulaziz had organized and ordained a succession system that has survived and prospered until this day. When King Fahad had peacefully passed away on August 1st, 2005, he was succeeded the same day by King Abdullah who named his brother Defense Minister Prince Sultan as Crown Prince and successor.

The five decades following King Abdulaziz's death have been years of heavy construction and infrastructure building.

King Abdulaziz had to literally, tame and cultivate the whole subcontinent sized country, town by town and village by village. He had to contend with highly individualistic tribal chieftains, Turkish Ottoman domination and potentates whose domain included the all-important holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah.

The remarkable task of unifying an impossibly diverse and disunited territory, one that occupies more than 80 percent of the Arabian Peninsula and is a staggering 2,217,949 square kilometers in size, was not an easy undertaking. Although the land was sparsely populated, Abdulaziz's unification objective met with fierce resistance and had to be implemented in phases, initially at least, with severely limited resources.

In 1902 he captured Riyadh, the Al-Saud dynasty ancestral capital. Continuing his conquests, he subdued Al-Hasa, the rest of Nejd and the Hijaz between 1913 and 1926. On January 8, 1926 Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud became the King of Hijaz. On January 29, 1927 he took the title King of Nejd (his previous Nejdi title was Sultan). By the Treaty of Jeddah, signed on May 20, 1927, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of Abdulaziz's realm (then known as the Kingdom of Hijaz and Nejd). In 1932, these regions were unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The discovery of oil on March 3, 1938 transformed the country.

Boundaries with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait were established by a series of treaties negotiated in the 1920s, with two 'neutral zones' created  - one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait. The Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone was administratively partitioned in 1971, with each state continuing to share the petroleum resources of the former zone equally. A tentative agreement on the partition of the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone was reached in 1981, and partition was finalized by 1983. The country's southern boundary with Yemen was partially defined by the 1934 Treaty of Taif. A June 2000 treaty further delineated portions of boundary with Yemen. The location and status of Saudi Arabia's boundary with the United Arab Emirates reflects a 1974 agreement. The border between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was resolved in March 2001.

King Abdulaziz was succeeded by his eldest son Saud, who reigned for 11 years. In 1964 Saud abdicated in favor of his brother Faisal, who had served as Foreign Minister. Earlier in 1958, King Saud had delegated direct conduct of  Saudi Government affairs to Faisal as Prime Minister. In November 1962, Faisal outlined a broad reform program, stressing economic development. Proclaimed King in 1964 Faisal also continued to serve as Prime Minister. This practice has been followed by subsequent kings.

King Faisal was succeeded in 1975 by his brother Khaled as King and Prime Minister; their brother Prince Fahad was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime  Minister. King Khaled empowered Crown Prince Fahad to oversee many aspects of the government's international and domestic affairs. Economic development continued rapidly under King Khaled, and the Kingdom assumed a more influential role in regional politics and international economic and financial matters.

King Fahad's reign coincided with an oil boom during which the price per barrel shot up from a few dollars below $10 to $20, and then to $30 and $40. In this way, the country grew rich beyond any previous estimates or expectations: it was exporting between eight to ten million barrels per day.

The Ministry of Information states that through five-year development plans, the government has sought to allocate its petroleum income to transforming its oil-based economy into that of a modern industrial state. This, at the same time as maintaining the kingdom's traditional Islamic values and customs. Although economic planners have not achieved all their goals, the economy has progressed rapidly. Oil wealth has increased the standard of living for the Saudi citizen. Heavy dependence on petroleum revenue continues, but industry and agriculture now account for a larger share of economic activity.

Saudi Arabia's first two development plans, covering the 1970s, emphasized infrastructure. The results were impressive  - the total length of paved highways tripled, power generation increased by a multiple of 28, and the capacity of the seaports grew tenfold. For the third plan (1981-1985), the emphasis changed. Spending on infrastructure dropped, but it rose markedly on education, health, and social services. Diversifying and expanding productive sectors of the economy (primarily industry) were also addressed. The two industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu were largely completed around the use of the country's oil and gas reserves to produce steel, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and refined oil products.

In the fourth plan (1986-90), the country's basic infrastructure was viewed as largely complete, but education and training remained areas of concern. Private enterprise was encouraged, and foreign investment in the form of joint ventures with Saudi public and private companies was welcomed. The private sector became more important, rising to 70% of non-oil GDP by 1987. While still concentrated in trade and commerce, private investment increased in industry, agriculture, banking, and construction companies. These private investments were supported by generous government financing and incentive programs. The objective was for the private sector to have 70% to 80% ownership in most joint venture enterprises.

The fifth plan (1991-95) emphasized consolidation of the country's defenses; improved and more efficient government social services; regional development; and most importantly, creating greater private-sector employment opportunities for Saudis by reducing the number of foreign workers.

The sixth plan (1996-2000) focused on lowering the cost of government services without cutting them and sought to expand educational training programs. The plan called for reducing the Kingdom's dependence on the petroleum sector by diversifying economic activity, particularly in the private sector, with special emphasis on industry and agriculture. It also continued the effort to 'Saudize' the labor force.

The seventh plan (2001-2005) focuses more on economic diversification and a greater role of the private sector in the Saudi economy. For the period 2000-04, the Saudi Government has aimed at an average GDP growth rate of 3.16% each year, with projected growths of 5.04% for the private sector and 4.01% for the non-oil sector. The government also has set a target of creating 817,300 new jobs for Saudi nationals.

1975 coincided with a large scale boom as oil prices soared. At this time, the government had already embarked on the country's five year plans, attracting millions of expatriates to help build a new and modern state from a rudimentary structure.

It was all 'Go, go, go!' according to Minister of Industry, Ghazi Al Gosaibi, now Minister of Labor. 'The government poured billions of dollars into the infrastructure,' he continued, 'at amazing speed. You name it, from schools and colleges to municipal services, ports, airports, expressways and hospitals. Probably the most spectacular road construction project of all has been the building of the King Fahad Causeway, connecting the Saudi Arabian mainland with the island of Bahrain. Now millions use it yearly, driving to and from. The private sector followed and flourished with 'souks' and ultra-modern shopping malls sprouting all over the place. Factories of all sorts from steel to perfume were built. The Kingdom's first civil aviation academy, named after Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, now Crown Prince, was established in Jeddah. It provides pilot and cabin crew training as well as aircraft maintenance training to Saudi youths.

The phenomenal transformation of Saudi Arabia started by King Abdulaziz, began with patches of oases and vast arid deserts. He had neither industry nor infrastructure of any kind to assist him. Yet he transformed all this into a modern state. Today, Saudi Arabia possesses some of the finest hospitals in the Middle East, like the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and some of the most reputable universities, like the King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals in the Eastern Region. There are 22 million people, including expatriates, in the Kingdom, all well fed, well paid, well housed and well educated. This country will continue to progress. Brand new petrochemical projects and vast intermediate industries will be created; new tourism projects are on the horizon; and infrastructure plans will have to be constantly upgraded.

This is almost certainly in King Abdullah's mind. For he is not new to the job of governing, planning and resolving large-scale problems. He was in fact, actual day-to-day ruler for 11 years after the late King Fahad delegated his powers to him during his time of illness. He has been commander of the National Guard, for several decades, in addition to his diplomatic experience, with both Arab and international countries.

King Abdullah has always been close to the people. He visits them in their homes, welcomes them personally in his palace, and listens to their pleas and reads their petitions. He then orders a specially formed panel of staff to study each request and suggestion, and to solve problems within a few days. He is an energetic monarch, and with the assistance of his brilliant and knowledgeable Crown Prince, Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in good hands indeed