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SAUDI ARABIA

Learn about Saudi Arabia's monarchy, governmental structure, cultural practices, and the role of women in society. Discover how religion and government intertwine, and the country's significant oil reserves.

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SAUDI ARABIA

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  1. SAUDI ARABIA http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/saudiarabia.html

  2. Saudi Arabia covers most of the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly desert, so most people live in cities.

  3. GOVERNMENT: Unifying a Diverse Land Saudi Arabia is a monarchy – not a democracy. Freedom of speech is verylimited.

  4. 2015 2015 The country is named for the Saud family, which has ruled Saudi Arabia since 1932.

  5. The current ruler is King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud – a.k.a. KingSalman. born 1935

  6. King Salman is one of 45 sons of Saudi Arabia’s first king.

  7. How do you get that many sons??He had 22 wives(but not all at once). WHY????? He did it to unify the new nation.

  8. The Saud family pulled Arabia together from MANY different ethnic tribes. That could have led to dangerous power struggles.

  9. FOR EXAMPLE, Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s neighbor, has constant war among their different ethnic tribes. KINGDOM of SAUDI ARABIA

  10. Saudi Arabia’s first king decided that EVERYONE should feel connected to the government. So he set up a democracy.

  11. No, actually:To avoid those conflicts, the first king married wives from many powerfulfamilies across Saudi Arabia.He also married a women from the main family of Muslim leaders.

  12. His 45 sons – Saudi princes – represented people from all over Saudi Arabia. Those princes became governors, mayors, and other government officials of the country.

  13. That meant ALL major groups felt connected to the ruling family.

  14. Another way Saudi Arabia’s government works to unify the nation is with their Advisory Council.

  15. It’s a little like our Congress. But they are advisors, not legislators. And the 150 Council members are notelected. They are picked by the King.

  16. The king chooses the members from many different tribes. Again, this helps unify the country.

  17. Since 2013, the king has required that at least 20% of the Council be women. This helps gain loyalty from the women.

  18. The Advisory Council cannot pass laws (like our Congress can). They CAN:  recommend laws to the King  interpret laws  investigatestate leaders  advise the King

  19. Religion and government are all mixed together there.A law passed in 1992 made the Qur’an is the official constitution of Saudi Arabia.

  20. The Saudi flag has the first Pillar of Islam written on it: "There is no god but the one God; Muhammad is His Messenger."

  21. Their laws are based on 1400-year-old writings in the Qur'an. http://wemeantwell.com/blog/2015/01/22/isis-v-saudi-arabia-implementation-of-sharia-law/

  22. You don’t have to be racially Arab to become a citizen of the country. But you do have to be Muslim. And it is illegal there for Muslims to change to a different religion.

  23. Mecca in Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and the site of the Hajj. Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter Mecca – except for a few who have special work permits.

  24. Since Mecca is the holiest city for Islam, why isn’t it the capital of Saudi Arabia?

  25. Religious leaders want to keep Saudi Arabia very strict. It’s illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia. They use cabs or a male relative drives. Or they walk.

  26. In 2005, their king said women should be allowed to drive cars. But so many Saudis were upset about it that he had to backdown.

  27. But public opinion did not stop King Abdullah from appointing 30 women to the Advisory Council in 2013.

  28. Many Saudi religious leaders claim Islam forbids women to drive. But many Saudi men think that’s crazy. They say: Look, in Mohammed’s day, they had camels instead of cars. Mohammed was fine with women “driving” camels. So how is that different? It’s not about religion. It’s because you want to limit women.

  29. "As head of my family, I make the decisions - not the women," one man said.

  30. This man was angry about the new rule. He posted a video online: "I swear on God's words, I'll burn the car of any woman whose vehicle breaks down in the middle of the road." He has been arrested.

  31. All women over 12 must have their head, neck, arms and legs covered in public.  Boys and girls attend separate schools, and do not socialize with each other (except relatives).

  32. There are many well-educated, professional Saudi women. But it’s rare for them to work directly with men.

  33. Saudi Arabia is a political friend of the United States. But political freedoms there are verylimited.

  34. Many people worry about the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.

  35. But in a region where the U.S. doesn’t have many allies, Saudi Arabia is important to the U.S.

  36. http://www.oilempire.us/oil-jpg/worldoil.gif NATURAL RESOURCES In Saudi Arabia, the main one is oil.They have about onethird of the world’s reserves of petroleum – more than any other country.

  37. Oil is their major export. That’s been a major step up from their former main export – dried dates (fruit of the date palm tree),

  38. Oil money made it possible for Saudi Arabia to modernize in many ways.

  39. 1980s2010s Riyadh http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/google_map_Riyadh.htm

  40. One natural resource they’re short on is fresh water.

  41. They get very little rainfall. They have lots of dry wadis but not many active rivers. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18181361

  42. In the 1970s, the Saudi government encouraged farming using irrigation from groundwater.But they’ve irrigated so much that their aquifer is getting low.

  43. So now they are trying to use more efficient irrigation. http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec47211/037.htm

  44. The Saudis also use sea water to make more pure water – even though it’s very expensive process.

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