General Resources : Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is located on the Arabian peninsula in South Asia. It borders two waterways: the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and seven countries: Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. It has a total area of 1,960,582 square kilometers of which 2 percent is arable, and 56 percent can only be used for pasture. The Saudi population was estimated at 22,757,092 in 2001, of which about 20 percent were non-nationals. Ethnically, the indigenous population is 90 percent Arab and 10 percent Afro-Asian. Saudis are Sunni Muslims, and the majority adhere to the Wahabi school of theology. Arabic is the official language and the language of the people. In 1902 King Abd al-~Aziz ibn Sa`ud captured Riyadh and set out on a thirty year military campaign to unify the tribes of the Arabian peninsula and create the state of Saudi Arabia. Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are the two holiest cities in Islam. Each year an estimated two million Muslim pilgrims from all over the world visit Mecca. Politically, Saudi Arabia is ruled by a hereditary monarchy, namely, the Al-Sa`ud family. It has a 90 member consultative council which represents the legislative branch of government and a Supreme Council of Justice. The legal system is based on Shari`a or Islamic law. In 1930, oil was discovered and the wealth from the oil revenues was used to build a very modern infrastructure and provide every Saudi with a high standard of living. Today Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves of any country (26 percent of proved reserves), and ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum in the world. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 75% of budget revenues, 40% of GDP, and 90% of export earnings.

For Library of Congress contact information and materials, consult the Saudi Arabia Country page of the Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division or the Library of Congress Online Catalog. To track bills and other Congressional materials having to do with the topic, consult the Library's Thomas Legislative Information page.

These sites have been chosen for their utility in providing information, directories and portals on all aspects of Saudi life and culture. As the links to Saudi Arabia are sometimes inactive, we recommend that you try again if you are not successful the first time.

Alnokhba  (http://www.alnokhba.com/cgi-alnokhba/home-index.cgi)
A small portal that focuses on various aspects of life in the city of Jiddah.

Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development  (http://www.arabfund.org/)
Search for information on projects funded throughout the Arab world.

Arab German Consulting  (http://www.arab.de/links.htm)
Major portal site on the Arab countries. Includes up-to-date information on the government, history, economy, education systems.

Arab Net  (http://www.arab.net/)
It is a major Arab website that contains information on the government, history, geography, business, culture, transport, tourism of each country, and provides links to other relevant websites.

Awal.Net  (http://www.awalnet.net.sa/arabic/files/default.asp)
An Arabic language portal that covers a number of aspects of Saudi life.

CIA -- The World Factbook  (https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html)
An annual publication of the CIA, contains up-to-date information on all aspects of the political, social and military history of a particular country.

Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade  (http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/middle%5Feast/)
This site provides important country information and links to major websites for Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Middle East.

Country Reports about ...  (http://www.countryreports.org/)
Offers links to sites about many countries by such subjects as government, the military, economy, the weather, etc.

Development Gateway Country Overview  (http://www.developmentgateway.org/)
“The Development Gateway helps communities, organizations, and individuals build partnerships, share ideas, and work together to reduce poverty.” Search by development projects as well as by country to identify additional web sites and documents.

Encyclopedia.com  (http://www.encyclopedia.com)
From the Electronic Library, searching the Encyclopedia.com by country provides numerous narrative articles on its history, culture, politics.

The Gulf / 2000 Project - SIPA - Columbia University (http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/)
This site was developed by the Gulf/2000 Project at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University in New York City. It is designed to make available in a single location a wealth of information on the eight countries of the Persian Gulf region--Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Click on a flag above to visit one of these countries.

Gulf Site  (http://www.aiwagulf.com/directory/)
A directory of resources in a large number of fields including, health, business, the arts and many others for all the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. Includes addresses and telephone numbers.

Harvard Middle East Center  (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~mideast/)
Major Middle East portal site. Search by country.

Infoplease  (http://www.infoplease.com/)
Part of the electronic Learning Network, this homepage allows searches by country which yield articles in almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical works, etc. Additional reference links are provided as well.

Islamic Calendar Converter  (http://www.oriold.unizh.ch/static/hegira.html )
This English language website not only converts the present Gregorian date, in common use in the West, to its modern Hijra equivalent (in common use in the Islamic World), it also provides a mechanism, based on software developed by Waleed A. Muhanna, to convert all past dates from Gregorian-Hijra or Hijra-Gregorian.

Library of Congresss. Virtual Reference Shelf  (http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/virtualref.html)
The Library of Congress has mounted this useful site on its home page to give scholars and researchers access to common online sources which are excellent for initial stages of research. These online tools are organized by subject and format, e.g., "Almanacs and Fast Facts," "Directories," "Libraries," etc.

Lonely Planet - Destinations  (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/)
Search by country to find information on travel, attractions, history, culture, and environment. of that location.

Middle East – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (http://www.carnegieendowment.org/programs/global/index.cfm?fa=proj&id=107&proj=zme)
The main feature of the Carnegie Arabic Web Portal is the Arabic-language version of the Arab Reform Bulletin, an online monthly journal on the latest political reform developments from Arab and Western perspectives. Also included are Arabic translations of select Carnegie Papers, commentaries on the Middle East and related subjects such as nuclear nonproliferation, as well as writings originally published in Arabic.

Middle East News - Saudi Arabia  (http://www.middleeastnews.com/SaudiArabia.html)
This is a Middle East News and World Report portal for Saudi Arabia, and lists a significant number of important websites in various fields.

OneWorld.net  (http://www.oneworld.net/)
Searchable by country, regions and topics. Includes current headlines and special reports.

Princeton University Library: Near Eastern Studies Resources  (http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/)
Princeton Library’s site dedicated to Near Eastern Studies provides not only invaluable information about Princeton’s programs and collections, but also extensive links to sites (libraries, universities, institutes, think tanks, directories, gateways, newspapers, etc.) around the world concerning all aspects of the discipline.

Saudi Cities  (http://www.saudicities.com/)
Includes background information on Saudi cities, culture, history and tourism.

Saudi Embassy Site  (http://www.saudiembassy.net/)
The site contains a comprehensive profile of Saudi culture, society, history, politics, geography and natural resources. Includes embassy information and publications.

Saudi Ministry of Information  (http://www.saudinf.com/)
The official site of the Saudi Ministry of Information - contains data on every aspect of society, culture, law, government, the economy, the media and much more.

Saudi Network  (http://www.the-saudi.net/)
A small Saudi portal on economic, political, historical aspects of Saudi society.

Saudi Online  (http://www.saudia-online.com/)
An important portal site on social, economic and political aspects of Saudi society.

United Nations  (http://www.un.org)
The official site of the United Nations provides articles, reports, etc. in several languages on all aspects of the initiatives and mission of that organization as well as on the contemporary life, culture, society, international relations, etc. of all the countries and peoples of the world.

United States. Agency for International Development. Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC)  (http://dec.usaid.gov/)
“The purpose of the DEC is to strengthen USAID's development projects, activities, and programs by making ... development experience documents available to USAID offices and mission staff, PVO's, NGO's, universities and research institutions, developing countries, and the public worldwide.”

United States. Department of State  (http://www.state.gov)
Numerous documents concerning diplomatic and international relations, travel advice and warnings relating to the countries of the world are available on the State Department’s official site by searching under a particular country’s name.

United States. Library of Congress Country Studies  (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/)
A series published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Studies Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army.

University of Texas Middle East Website  (http://link.lanic.utexas.edu/menic/countries/)
Excellent website on the government, politics, news and media, education and the social sciences in the Middle East.