Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is not only the homeland of the Arab peoples it is thought that the first Arabs originated on the Arabian Peninsula but also the homeland of Islam.

Saudi Arabia occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east. Neighboring countries are Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and Bahrain, connected to the Saudi mainland by a causeway.

The country it self  contains the world’s largest continuous sand desert, the Rub Al-Khali, or Empty Quarter. Its oil region lies primarily in the eastern province along the Persian Gulf.

In the mid-20th century, most of Saudi Arabia still embraced a traditional lifestyle that had changed little over thousands of years. Since then, the pace of life in the country has accelerated rapidly.

By the early 21st century, the estimated number of foreign workers was between one-fourth and one-fifth of the country’s total population, despite efforts by the Saudi authorities to encourage citizens to occupy positions typically held by foreigners.