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125-447: Rear Admiral Fahd Al-Shamrani is reported as the fleet commander ("fleet operations manager"). The Royal Saudi Navy was founded in 1957. This Saudi Arabia related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . [REDACTED] KF Naval Base [REDACTED] KA Naval Base Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia , officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( KSA ),

250-485: A utopian society. The Qarmatians' goal was to build a society based on reason and equality. The state was governed by a council of six with a chief who was primus inter pares . All property within the community was distributed evenly among all initiates. The Qarmatians were organized as an esoteric society but not as a secret one; their activities were public and openly propagated, but new members had to undergo an initiation ceremony involving seven stages. For much of

375-472: A "Neolithic Revolution" in human knowledge and handicraft skills. The culture is characterized as being one of the world's first to involve the widespread domestication of animals, particularly the horse, during the Neolithic period. Al-Magar statues were made from local stone, and it seems that the statues were fixed in a central building that might have had a significant role in the social and religious life of

500-625: A 20% control in Aramco, thereby decreasing US control over Saudi oil. In 1973, Saudi Arabia led an oil boycott against the Western countries that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria, leading to the quadrupling of oil prices. In 1975, Faisal was assassinated by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid and was succeeded by his half-brother King Khalid . By 1976, Saudi Arabia had become

625-564: A chairman and 60 members—all chosen by the King. Fahd made it clear that he did not have democracy in mind, saying: "A system based on elections is not consistent with our Islamic creed, which [approves of] government by consultation [shūrā]." In 1995, Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke, and the Crown Prince, Abdullah , assumed the role of de facto regent; however, his authority was hindered by conflict with Fahd's full brothers (known, with Fahd, as

750-464: A growth in unemployment have contributed to discontent and have been reflected in a rise in civil unrest, and discontent with the royal family. In response, a number of limited reforms were initiated by King Fahd. In March 1992, he introduced the " Basic Law ", which emphasized the duties and responsibilities of a ruler. In December 1993, the Consultative Council was inaugurated. It is composed of

875-574: A large statue dating to the Dilmunite period (mid 3rd millennium BC). The statue was locally made under the strong Mesopotamian influence on the artistic principle of Dilmun. By 2200 BC, the centre of Dilmun shifted for unknown reasons from Tarout and the Saudi Arabian mainland to the island of Bahrain, and a highly developed settlement emerged there, where a laborious temple complex and thousands of burial mounds dating to this period were discovered. By

1000-484: A new city there and named it "Batan Ardashir" after his father. Mazun stretched from Oman in the south to the Shatt al-Arab in the north, and included the archipelago of Bahrain; thus it is roughly coterminous with the modern definition of Eastern Arabia. It was subdivided into the three districts of Haggar ( Hofuf , Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir ( Al-Qatif , Saudi Arabia), and Mishmahig ( Muharraq , Bahrain), which included

1125-778: A pan- Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire to create a united Arab state. Although the revolt failed in its objective, the Allied victory in World War I resulted in the end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia, and Hussein bin Ali became King of Hejaz . Ibn Saud avoided involvement in the Arab Revolt and instead continued his struggle with the Al Rashid. Following the latter's final defeat, he took

1250-773: A provincial official located in Dilmun, Ilī-ippašra , to his friend Enlil-kidinni in Mesopotamia. The names referred to are Akkadian . These letters hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon . Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun, with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be "King of Dilmun and Meluhha ". Assyrian inscriptions at this time also recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during

1375-574: A score of 8 out of 100 for 2023. According to the 2023 V-Dem Democracy Indices , Saudi Arabia is the least democratic country in the Middle East . In the absence of national elections and political parties, politics in Saudi Arabia takes place in two distinct arenas: within the royal family, the Al Saud, and between the royal family and the rest of Saudi society. Outside of the Al Saud, participation in

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1500-507: A series of benefits for citizens amounting to $ 36 billion, of which $ 10.7 billion was earmarked for housing. No political reforms were included, though some prisoners indicted for financial crimes were pardoned. Abdullah also announced a package of $ 93 billion, which included 500 000 new homes to a cost of $ 67 billion, in addition to creating 60 000 new security jobs. Although male-only municipal elections were held on 29 September 2011 , Abdullah allowed women to vote and be elected in

1625-568: A series of conquests , beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh , the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud . Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute monarchy governed by an authoritarian regime without public input. In its Basic Law , Saudi Arabia defines itself as a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its official religion and Arabic as its official language. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam

1750-504: Is Riyadh ; other major cities include Jeddah and the two holiest cities in Islam , Mecca and Medina . With a population of almost 32.2 million , Saudi Arabia is the fourth most populous country in the Arab world . Pre-Islamic Arabia , the territory that constitutes modern-day Saudi Arabia, was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations; the prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of

1875-456: Is 60 km (37 miles) inland and thus less likely to be the starting point for a trader's route, making the location within the archipelago of islands comprising the modern Kingdom of Bahrain , particularly the main island of Bahrain itself, another possibility. Various other identifications of the site have been attempted, with Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville choosing Qatif and Carsten Niebuhr preferring Kuwait. The island of Bahrain

2000-711: Is a country in West Asia . Located in the centre of the Middle East , it is one of the countries situated in the Gulf region . It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about 2,150,000 km (830,000 sq mi), making it the fifth-largest country in Asia , the largest in the Middle East , and the 12th-largest in the world. It is bordered by the Red Sea to

2125-711: Is a part of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf . The modern-day states of Bahrain , Iraq , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates are the most commonly listed Gulf Arab states . Most of Saudi Arabia is not geographically a part of Eastern Arabia. In Arabic, Baḥrayn is the dual form of baḥr ( Arabic : بَحْر , lit.   'sea'), so al-Baḥrayn means "the Two Seas". However, which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in

2250-576: Is about 60% of the annual precipitation. Saudi Arabia is home to five terrestrial ecoregions: Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert , Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna , Southwestern Arabian montane woodlands , Arabian Desert , and Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert . Wildlife includes the Arabian leopard , Arabian wolf , striped hyena , mongoose , baboon , Cape hare , sand cat , and jerboa . Animals such as gazelles, oryx , leopards and cheetahs were relatively numerous until

2375-550: Is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125 000 years ago. A 2011 study found that the first modern humans to spread east across Asia left Africa about 75 000 years ago across the Bab-el-Mandeb connecting the Horn of Africa and Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula is regarded as central to the understanding of evolution and dispersals of Man. Arabia underwent an extreme environmental fluctuation in

2500-774: Is normally translated as "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" in English, but literally means "the Saudi Arab Kingdom ", or "the Saudi Kingdom of Arabia " (compare the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ). The word "Saudi" is derived from the element as-Suʿūdīyya in the Arabic name of the country, which is a type of adjective known as a nisba , formed from the dynastic name of the Saudi royal family,

2625-460: Is that the more formal name Bahri (lit. “belonging to the sea”) would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. The term "Gulf Arab" or " Khaleeji " refers, geographically, to inhabitants of eastern Arabia. However, today the term is often applied to the inhabitants of the GCC countries in the Arabian Peninsula . "Khaleeji" has evolved into a socio-political regional identity that distinguished

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2750-490: Is the highest point in the country. Saudi Arabia is home to more than 2,000 dormant volcanoes. Lava fields in Hejaz, known locally by their Arabic name of harrat (the singular is harrah), form one of Earth's largest alkali basalt regions, covering some 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi). Except for the southwestern regions such as Asir, Saudi Arabia has a desert climate with very high day-time temperatures during

2875-637: Is undefined. The United Nations Statistics Division estimates 2 149 690  km ( 830 000  sq mi) and lists Saudi Arabia as the world's 12th largest state. It is geographically the largest country in the Middle East and on the Arabian Plate . Saudi Arabia's geography is dominated by the Arabian Desert , associated semi-desert, shrubland, steppes, several mountain ranges, volcanic lava fields and highlands. The 647 500  km ( 250 001  sq mi) Rub' al Khali ("Empty Quarter") in

3000-562: Is usually identified with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel. Dilmun, sometimes described as “the place where the sun rises” and “the Land of the Living”, is the scene of some versions of the Eridu Genesis , and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim ( Ziusudra ), was taken by

3125-435: The majlis . In many ways the approach to government differs little from the traditional system of tribal rule. Tribal identity remains strong, and outside of the royal family, political influence is frequently determined by tribal affiliation, with tribal sheikhs maintaining a considerable degree of influence over local and national events. In recent years there have been limited steps to widen political participation such as

3250-463: The 2015 municipal elections , and also to be nominated to the Shura Council . Saudi Arabia occupies about 80% of the Arabian Peninsula (the world's largest peninsula), lying between latitudes 16° and 33° N , and longitudes 34° and 56° E . Because the country's southeastern and southern borders with the United Arab Emirates and Oman are not precisely marked, the exact size of the country

3375-732: The Akkadian period (c. 2300 BC), but the trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2600 BC). Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports, but by the Isin-Larsa Period (c. 1900 BC), Dilmun monopolized the trade. The Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age" lasted from c. 2200 BC to 1600 BC. In the Epic of Gilgamesh , Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu to reach Dilmun. Mount Mashu

3500-511: The Al Saud ( Arabic : آل سعود ). Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the personal possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al , meaning "family of" or "House of", to the personal name of an ancestor. In the case of Al Saud, this is Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin , the father of the dynasty's 18th-century founder, Muhammad bin Saud . There

3625-633: The Gulf Arabic dialect, its influence reaches as far as Tunisia . Kuwaiti popular culture, in the form of poetry, film, theater, and soap operas, is exported to neighbouring states. The Arab world's three largest broadcast networks ( Al Jazeera Network , Al Arabiya , and MBC Group ) are all located in Eastern Arabia as well. Islam is dominant in Eastern Arabia. The main sects are Sunni Islam , Ibadi Islam (dominant in Oman); and Shia Islam . Before

3750-568: The Gulf Cooperation Council , United Nations , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , Arab League , and OPEC , as well as a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation . Following the amalgamation of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd , Abdulaziz bin Saud issued a royal decree on 23 September 1932 naming the new state al-Mamlaka al-ʿArabiyya as-Suʿūdiyya ( Arabic المملكة العربية السعودية ), which

3875-678: The Gulf War (1990–1991). Saudi Arabia's relations with the West was one of the issues that led to an increase in Islamist terrorism in Saudi Arabia, as well as Islamist terrorist attacks in Western countries by Saudi nationals. Osama bin Laden was a Saudi citizen (until stripped of his citizenship in 1994) and was responsible for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa and the 2000 USS Cole bombing near

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4000-477: The Human Development Index , Saudi Arabia offers tuition-free university education , no personal income tax, and free universal health care . With its dependency on foreign labour , Saudi Arabia has the world's third-largest immigrant population . Saudi Arabians are among the world's youngest people , with approximately half being under 25 years old. Saudi Arabia is an active and founding member of

4125-536: The Quaternary that led to profound evolutionary and demographic changes. Arabia has a rich Lower Paleolithic record, and the quantity of Oldowan -like sites in the region indicate a significant role that Arabia had played in the early hominin colonization of Eurasia. In the Neolithic period, prominent cultures such as Al-Magar , whose centre lay in modern-day southwestern Najd, flourished. Al-Magar could be considered

4250-502: The Qur'an , but does not refer to the modern island —originally known to the Arabs as “Awal”—but rather to the oases of al-Qatif and Hadjar (modern Al-Aḥsā). It is unclear when the term began to refer exclusively to the archipelago in the Gulf of Bahrain , but it was probably after the 15th century. Today, Bahrain's "two seas" are instead generally taken to be the bay east and west of the coast,

4375-665: The Quran , while the Quran and the Sunnah (the traditions of Muhammad) are declared to be the country's constitution. No political parties or national elections are permitted. While some critics consider it to be a totalitarian state, others regard it as lacking aspects of totalitarianism but nevertheless classify it as an authoritarian regime. The Economist ranked the Saudi government 150th out of 167 in its 2022 Democracy Index , and Freedom House gave it its lowest "Not Free" rating, giving it

4500-505: The Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1517), and Fatimid (909–1171) caliphates, as well as numerous other dynasties in Asia, Africa , and Europe . The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz (also known as Ibn Saud ), who united the regions of Hejaz , Najd , parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and South Arabia ( 'Asir ) into a single state through

4625-477: The United Arab Emirates . The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as " Bahrain " for a millennium. Until very recently, the whole of Eastern Arabia, from the Shatt al-Arab to the mountains of Oman , was a place where people moved around, settled and married unconcerned by national borders. The people of Eastern Arabia shared a culture based on the sea , as seafaring peoples . Nowadays, Eastern Arabia

4750-682: The third "Saudi state" . Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan , a tribal army inspired by Wahhabism and led by Faisal Al-Dawish , and which had grown quickly after its foundation in 1912. With the aid of the Ikhwan, Ibn Saud captured Al-Ahsa from the Ottomans in 1913. In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain (which was fighting the Ottomans in World War I ), the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali , led

4875-521: The various tribes of the peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his followers expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering territory in the Iberian Peninsula in the west to parts of Central and South Asia in the east in a matter of decades. Arabia became a more politically peripheral region of the Muslim world as the focus shifted to

5000-524: The " Sudairi Seven "). Signs of discontent included, in 2003 and 2004, a series of bombings and armed violence in Riyadh, Jeddah, Yanbu and Khobar. In February–April 2005, the first-ever nationwide municipal elections were held in Saudi Arabia. Women were not allowed to take part. In 2005, King Fahd died and was succeeded by Abdullah, who continued the policy of minimum reform and clamping down on protests. The king introduced economic reforms aimed at reducing

5125-654: The 10th century the Qarmatians were the most powerful force in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, controlling the coast of Oman, and collecting tribute from the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad and from the rival Ismaili Fatimid caliph in Cairo , whom they did not recognize. The land they ruled over was extremely wealthy, with a huge slave-based economy. According to academic Yitzhak Nakash: The Qarmatian state had vast fruit and grain estates both on

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5250-589: The 14th century. The Jabrids took control of the region after overthrowing the Jarwanids in the 15th century and clashed with Hormuz for more than two decades over the region for its economic revenues, until finally agreeing to pay tribute in 1507. Al-Muntafiq tribe later took over the region and came under Ottoman suzerainty . The Bani Khalid tribe later revolted against them in the 17th century and took control. Their rule extended from Iraq to Oman at its height, and they too came under Ottoman suzerainty. In

5375-552: The 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz, Asir and Al-Ahsa ) to the empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior. One reason was to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea (hence the Hejaz) and the Indian Ocean. The Ottoman degree of control over these lands varied over the next four centuries with the fluctuating strength or weakness of

5500-440: The 19th century, when extensive hunting reduced these animals almost to extinction. The culturally important Asiatic lion occurred in Saudi Arabia until the late 19th century before it was hunted to extinction in the wild. Birds include falcons (which are caught and trained for hunting), eagles, hawks, vultures, sandgrouse , and bulbuls . There are several species of snakes, many of which are venomous. Domesticated animals include

5625-511: The 7th century CE , the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of partially Christianized Arabs , Arab Zoroastrians , Jews and Aramaic -speaking agriculturalists. Some sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia exhibit Akkadian , Aramaic and Syriac features. The sedentary people of ancient Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language . The Kingdom of Dilmun first appears in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to

5750-409: The Al Saud faces political opposition from four sources: Sunni Islamist activism; liberal critics; the Shi'ite minority —particularly in the Eastern Province; and long-standing tribal and regionalist particularistic opponents (for example in the Hejaz). Of these, the minority activists have been the most prominent threat to the government and have in recent years been involved in violent incidents in

5875-407: The American interests in Aramco. King Khalid died of a heart attack in June 1982. He was succeeded by his brother, King Fahd , who added the title "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" to his name in 1986 in response to considerable fundamentalist pressure to avoid the use of "majesty" in association with anything except God. Fahd continued to develop close relations with the United States and increased

6000-429: The Arabian Peninsula, only 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the ancient burial grounds of Dilmun on the island of Bahrain. Prior to Gerrha, the area belonged to the Dilmuni civilization. Gerrha itself was the center of an Arab kingdom from approximately 650 BC to circa 300 AD. The kingdom was attacked by Antiochus III the Great in 205-204 BC, though it seems to have survived. It is unknown exactly when Gerrha fell, but

6125-408: The Bahrain archipelago. The Christian name used for the region encompassing north-eastern Arabia was Beth Qatraye, which translates to "region of the Qataris " in Syriac . It included Bahrain , Tarout , Al-Khatt , Al-Aḥsā , and Qatar. By the 5th century, Beth Qatraye was a major center for Nestorian Christianity , which had come to dominate the southern shores of the Persian Gulf. Within

6250-483: The Byzantine Empire, Nestorians were persecuted as heretics, but as eastern Arabia was far enough from the empire's borders that Nestorianism flourished. Several notable Nestorian writers originated from Beth Qatraye, including Isaac of Nineveh , Dadisho Qatraya , Gabriel of Qatar and Ahob of Qatar. Christianity declined with the arrival of Islam in Eastern Arabia in 628. By 676, the bishops of Beth Qatraye had stopped attending synods; although Christianity persisted in

6375-401: The GCC inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula from the wider Arab world building on the perceived cultural homogeneity within the Gulf states and their shared history. The inhabitants of Eastern Arabia's Gulf coast share similar cultures and music styles, such as fijiri , sawt and liwa . The most noticeable cultural trait of Eastern Arabia's Gulf Arabs is their orientation and focus towards

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6500-434: The Indus Valley city of Harappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify. A number of these Indus Valley seals have turned up at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites. The “Arabian Gulf” types of circular, stamped (rather than rolled) seals known from Dilmun appear at Lothal in Gujarat , India, as well as in Mesopotamia. These seals support

6625-493: The Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia. Instances of all of these trade goods have been found. The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not used in Southern Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian trade documents, lists of goods, and official inscriptions mentioning Meluhha supplement Harappan seals and archaeological finds. Literary references to trade with Meluhha date from

6750-418: The Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria ... With the waning of Seleucid Greek power, Tylos was incorporated into Characene , the state founded by Hyspaosines in 127 BC in modern-day Kuwait . A building inscription found in Bahrain indicates that Hyspoasines occupied

6875-441: The Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf. In the 3rd century AD, the Sasanians succeeded the Parthians and held the area until the rise of Islam four centuries later. Ardashir , the first ruler of the Sasanian dynasty, conquered Bahrain and northern Oman, and appointed his son, Shapur I , as the governor of eastern Arabia, the province of Mazun . Shapur constructed

7000-438: The Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton trees, from which are manufactured clothes called sindones , of different degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is mostly confined to India, but extends also to Arabia.” The Greek historian, Theophrastus , states that much of the archipelago was covered in these cotton trees and noted that textiles were a major industry. According to him, Tylos

7125-445: The Phoenicians originated from Bahrain. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren who said that: "In the Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos , and Arad, Bahrain , which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples." The people of Tyre in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, and

7250-454: The Qarmatians in Bahrain and al-Hasa with the help of the Seljuq Empire and founded the Uyunid dynasty . The Uyunid Emirate later underwent expansion with its territory stretching from Najd to the Syrian Desert . They were overthrown by the Usfurids in 1253. Usfurid rule was weakened after Persian rulers of Hormuz captured Bahrain and Qatif in 1320. The vassals of Ormuz, the Shia Jarwanid dynasty came to rule eastern Arabia in

7375-445: The Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The main topographical feature is the central plateau which rises abruptly from the Red Sea and gradually descends into the Nejd and toward the Arabian Gulf. On the Red Sea coast, there is a narrow coastal plain, known as the Tihamah , parallel to which runs along an imposing escarpment. The southwest province of Asir is mountainous and contains the 3 002  m ( 9 849  ft) Jabal Ferwa , which

7500-445: The United States to intervene. King Fahd allowed American and coalition troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia. He invited the Kuwaiti government and many of its citizens to stay in Saudi Arabia, but expelled citizens of Yemen and Jordan because of their governments' support of Iraq . In 1991, Saudi Arabian forces were involved both in bombing raids on Iraq and in the land invasion that helped to liberate Kuwait, which became known as

7625-458: The appointment of the country's first female deputy minister. On 29 January 2011, hundreds of protesters gathered in Jeddah in a rare display of criticism against the city's poor infrastructure after flooding killed 11 people. Police stopped the demonstration after about 15 minutes and arrested 30 to 50 people. Since 2011, Saudi Arabia has been affected by its own Arab Spring protests . In response, King Abdullah announced on 22 February 2011

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7750-417: The area was under Sassanid Persian control after 300 AD. Gerrha was described by Strabo as inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon , who built their houses of salt and repaired them by the application of salt water. Pliny the Elder ( Natural History , 6.32) says it was 8 kilometres (5 mi) in circumference with towers built of square blocks of salt. Gerrha was destroyed by the Qarmatians at

7875-437: The area. Al Khamis Mosque , built during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Umar II , was one of the earliest mosques built in eastern Arabia. The expansion of Islam did not affect eastern Arabia's reliance on trade, and its prosperity continued to be dependent on markets in India and Mesopotamia. After Baghdad emerged as the seat of the caliph in 750 following the Abbasid Revolution , eastern Arabia greatly benefited from

8000-414: The beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have a suzerainty over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz. In 1902, Abdul Rahman 's son, Abdul Aziz—later known as Ibn Saud —recaptured control of Riyadh bringing the Al Saud back to Nejd, creating

8125-459: The city's increased demand for foreign goods, especially from China and South Asia. Eastern Arabia, and Bahrain more specifically, became a principal centre of knowledge for hundreds of years stretching from the early days of Islam in the 6th century to the 18th century. Philosophers of eastern Arabia were highly esteemed, such as the 13th-century mystic, Sheikh Maitham Al Bahrani (d. 1299). The mosque of Sheikh Maitham and his tomb can be visited in

8250-399: The coast and occasional other features such as cylinders (such as the Blue Hole at Dahab ). These coastal reefs are also visited by pelagic species, including some of the 44 species of shark . There are many offshore reefs including several atolls . Many of the unusual offshore reef formations defy classic (i.e., Darwinian) coral reef classification schemes and are generally attributed to

8375-498: The corruption and un-Islamic nature of the Saudi government. The government regained control of the mosque after 10 days, and those captured were executed. Part of the response of the royal family was to enforce the much stricter observance of traditional religious and social norms in the country (for example, the closure of cinemas) and to give the ulema a greater role in government. Neither entirely succeeded as Islamism continued to grow in strength. In 1980, Saudi Arabia bought out

8500-406: The country . However, open protest against the government, even if peaceful, is not tolerated. Eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia ( Arabic : ٱلْبَحْرَيْن , romanized :  Al-Baḥrayn ), is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain , Iraq , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia ( Eastern Province ), and

8625-414: The country's reliance on oil revenue: limited deregulation , encouragement of foreign investment, and privatization . In February 2009, Abdullah announced a series of governmental changes to the judiciary, armed forces, and various ministries to modernize these institutions including the replacement of senior appointees in the judiciary and the Mutaween (religious police) with more moderate individuals and

8750-451: The danger of a direct conflict with the British. At the same time, the Ikhwan became disenchanted with Ibn Saud's domestic policies which appeared to favour modernization and the increase in the number of non-Muslim foreigners in the country. As a result, they turned against Ibn Saud and, after a two-year struggle, were defeated in 1929 at the Battle of Sabilla , where their leaders were massacred. On Ibn Saud's behalf, Prince Faisal declared

8875-401: The direction of the Hajar , are close to the sea ... Tuwwam has been dominated by a branch of the Quraysh ... From the time when Islam emerged in the 7th century until the early 16th century, the term Bahrain referred to the wider historical region of eastern Arabia stretching from Bubiyan Island to the Strait of Hormuz along the coast of the Persian Gulf . Eastern Arabians were amongst

9000-461: The earliest exploiters of the domestication of camels that enabled them to navigate through the harsh terrains of the region. At the end of the 7th century BC, an emerging kingdom appeared in north-western Arabia. It started as a sheikdom of Dedan, which developed into the kingdom of Lihyan . During this period, Dedan transformed into a kingdom that encompassed a much wider domain. In the early 3rd century BC, with bustling economic activity between

9125-586: The earliest traces of human activity outside Africa. Islam , the world's second-largest religion, emerged in what is now Saudi Arabia in the early seventh century. Islamic prophet Muhammad united the population of the Arabian Peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his followers expanded Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering territories in North Africa , Central , South Asia and Iberia within decades. Arab dynasties originating from modern-day Saudi Arabia founded

9250-572: The early 11th century BC. Politically, the Midianites were described as having a decentralized structure headed by five kings (Evi, Rekem, Tsur, Hur, and Reba); the names appear to be toponyms of important Midianite settlements. It is common to view that Midian designated a confederation of tribes, the sedentary element settled in the Hijaz while its nomadic affiliates pastured and sometimes pillaged as far away as Palestine . The nomadic Midianites were one of

9375-505: The empire's central authority. These changes contributed to later uncertainties, such as the dispute with Transjordan over the inclusion of the sanjak of Ma'an , including the cities of Ma'an and Aqaba . The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud, began at the town of Diriyah in Nejd in central Arabia with the accession as emir of Muhammad bin Saud on 22 February 1727. In 1744 he joined forces with

9500-457: The end of fourth millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna , in the city of Uruk . The demonym "Dilmun" is used to describe a type of axe and the ethnicity of an official in these tablets. Dilmun was also mentioned in two letters, recovered from Nippur , which were dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II (c. 1370 BC), a king of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon . These letters were from

9625-452: The end of the 9th century, and all 300,000 inhabitants were killed. It was 3 kilometres (2 mi) from the Persian Gulf near current day Hofuf . The researcher Abdulkhaliq Al Janbi argued in his book that Gerrha was most likely the ancient city of Hajar, located in modern-day Al-Ahsa , Saudi Arabia. Al Janbi's theory is the most widely accepted one by modern scholars, although there are some difficulties with this argument given that Al Ahsa

9750-611: The establishment of the Consultative Council in the early 1990s and the National Dialogue Forum in 2003. In 2005, the first municipal elections were held. In 2007, the Allegiance Council was created to regulate the succession. In 2009, the king made significant personnel changes to the government by appointing reformers to key positions and the first woman to a ministerial post; however, these changes have been criticized as being too slow or merely cosmetic. The rule of

9875-506: The first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun; one of the sites discovered in Bahrain indicates that Sennacherib , king of Assyria (707–681 BC), attacked the northeastern Persian Gulf and captured Bahrain. The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by

10000-497: The first to embrace Islam during the time of the Prophet Muhammad , who ruled eastern Arabia through one of his representatives, Al-Ala'a Al-Hadhrami . Eastern Arabia embraced Islam in 628 (the seventh year of Hijrah ; i.e. 7 AH ). During the time of Umar I, a companion of Muhammad, Abu Hurairah was the governor of eastern Arabia. Umar I also appointed Uthman ibn Abi al-As , another companion of Muhammad, as governor of

10125-469: The gods to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen 's translation of the Eridu Genesis calls it " Mount Dilmun " and a “faraway, half-mythical place”. Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. Enki says to Ninhursag: For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench

10250-492: The high levels of tectonic activity that characterize the area. Reflecting the country's dominant desert conditions, plant life mostly consists of herbs, plants, and shrubs that require little water. The date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera ) is widespread. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ; however, according to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia (Islamic law) and

10375-599: The inhabitants. In November 2017, hunting scenes showing images of most likely domesticated dogs (resembling the Canaan Dog ) and wearing leashes were discovered in Shuwaymis, a hilly region of northwestern Saudi Arabia. These rock engravings date back more than 8 000 years, making them the earliest depictions of dogs in the world. At the end of the 4th millennium BC, Arabia entered the Bronze Age ; metals were widely used, and

10500-642: The islands. From the 3rd century BC to arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, Eastern Arabia was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties: the Parthians and the Sasanians . By about 250 BC, the Seleucids lost their territories to the Parthians, an Iranian tribe from Central Asia . The Parthian Empire brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control

10625-491: The king of Babylon. The name "Dilmun" fell from use after the collapse of Neo-Babylon in 538 BC. It is not certain what happened to the civilization itself; discoveries of ruins under the Persian Gulf may be of Dilmun. There is both literary and archaeological evidence of extensive trade between Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization (which most scholars identify with Meluhha ). Impressions of clay seals from

10750-520: The kingdom has become the world's third-largest oil producer and leading oil exporter, controlling the world's second-largest oil reserves and the sixth-largest gas reserves . Saudi Arabia is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy and is the only Arab country among the G20 major economies. The Saudi economy is the largest in the Middle East and the world's nineteenth largest by nominal GDP and seventeenth largest by PPP . Ranking very high in

10875-450: The largest oil producer in the world. Khalid's reign saw economic and social development progress at an extremely rapid rate, transforming the infrastructure and educational system of the country; in foreign policy, close ties with the US were developed. In 1979, two events occurred which greatly concerned the government and had a long-term influence on Saudi foreign and domestic policy. The first

11000-697: The late Bronze Age , a historically recorded people and land ( Midian and the Midianites) in the north-western portion of Saudi Arabia are well-documented in the Bible. Centred in Tabouk , it stretched from Wadi Arabah in the north to the area of al-Wejh in the south. The capital of Midian was Qurayyah, it consists of a large, fortified citadel encompassing 35 hectares and below it lies a walled settlement of 15 hectares. The city hosted as many as 12,000 inhabitants. The Bible recounts Israel 's two wars with Midian, somewhere in

11125-529: The legendary Arabian horse , Arabian camel , sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, chickens, etc. The Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem with more than 1,200 species of fish around 10% of which are endemic . This also includes 42 species of deep water fish . The rich diversity is partly owed to the 2 000  km ( 1 240  mi) of coral reef extending along the coastline; these fringing reefs are largely formed of stony acropora and porites corals. The reefs form platforms and sometimes lagoons along

11250-455: The major Dilmunite settlements of Umm an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and Tarout on the coast. It is likely that Tarout Island was the main port and the capital of Dilmun. Mesopotamian inscribed clay tablets suggest that, in the early period of Dilmun, a form of hierarchical organized political structure existed. In 1966, an earthwork in Tarout exposed an ancient burial field that yielded

11375-559: The newly conquered lands. Arabs originating from modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Hejaz in particular, founded the Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1517), and the Fatimid (909–1171) caliphates. From the 10th century to the early 20th century, Mecca and Medina were under the control of a local Arab ruler known as the Sharif of Mecca , but at most times the sharif owed allegiance to

11500-506: The oil fields began in 1941 under the US-controlled Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company) . Oil provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and substantial political leverage internationally. Cultural life rapidly developed, primarily in the Hejaz, which was the centre for newspapers and radio. However, the large influx of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia in the oil industry increased the pre-existing propensity for xenophobia . At

11625-562: The other evidence of Dilmun being an influential trading center. What the commerce consisted of is less known; timber and precious woods, ivory , lapis lazuli , gold , luxury goods such as carnelian and glazed stone beads, pearls from the Persian Gulf, and shell and bone inlays were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange for silver , tin , woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots from Oman and bitumen , which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia, may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl, major products of

11750-527: The outskirts of Manama , near the district of Mahooz . At the end of the 3rd Hijri century, Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi led the Qarmatian Revolution , a rebellion by a messianic Ismaili sect originating in Kufa in present-day Iraq. Al-Jannabi took over the city of Hajr , Bahrain's capital at that time, and Al-Aḥsā, which he made the capital of his republic. Once in control of the state, he sought to create

11875-524: The period was characterized by its 2 m high burials which were simultaneously followed by the existence of numerous temples that included many free-standing sculptures originally painted with red colours. In May 2021, archaeologists announced that a 350 000 -year-old Acheulean site named An Nasim in the Hail region could be the oldest human habitation site in northern Saudi Arabia. 354 artefacts, including hand axes and stone tools, provided information about

12000-404: The political process is limited to a relatively small segment of the population and takes the form of the royal family consulting with the ulema, tribal sheikhs, and members of important commercial families on major decisions. This process is not reported by the Saudi media. By custom, all males of full age have a right to petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as

12125-455: The port of Aden , Yemen. 15 of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks were Saudi nationals. Many Saudis who did not support the Islamist terrorists were nevertheless deeply unhappy with the government's policies. Islamism was not the only source of hostility to the government. Although extremely wealthy by the 21st century, Saudi Arabia's economy was near stagnant. High taxes and

12250-433: The purchase of American and British military equipment. The vast wealth generated by oil revenues was beginning to have an even greater impact on Saudi society. It led to rapid technological (but not cultural) modernization, urbanization, mass public education, and the creation of new media. This and the presence of increasingly large numbers of foreign workers greatly affected traditional Saudi norms and values. Although there

12375-457: The region until the late 9th century. The dioceses of Beth Qatraye did not form an ecclesiastical province , except for a short period during the mid-to-late 7th century. They were instead subject to the Metropolitanate of Fars . Hafit { Tuwwam } abounds in palm trees; it lies in the direction of Hajar { Al-Aḥsā }, and the mosque is in the markets ... Dibba and Julfar , both in

12500-530: The religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab , founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. This alliance provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. The Emirate of Diriyah established in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia, sacking Karbala in 1802, and capturing Mecca in 1803. In 1818, it

12625-690: The ruler of one of the major Islamic empires based in Baghdad , Cairo or Istanbul . Most of the remainder of what became Saudi Arabia reverted to traditional tribal rule. For much of the 10th century, the Isma'ili -Shi'ite Qarmatians were the most powerful force in the Persian Gulf. In 930, the Qarmatians pillaged Mecca, outraging the Muslim world, particularly with their theft of the Black Stone . In 1077–1078, an Arab sheikh named Abdullah bin Ali Al Uyuni defeated

12750-433: The same time, the government became increasingly wasteful and extravagant. By the 1950s this had led to large governmental deficits and excessive foreign borrowing. In 1953, Saud of Saudi Arabia succeeded as the king of Saudi Arabia. In 1964 he was deposed in favour of his half brother Faisal of Saudi Arabia , after an intense rivalry, fuelled by doubts in the royal family over Saud's competence. In 1972, Saudi Arabia gained

12875-551: The scale he envisaged, Tylos was very much part of the Hellenised world: the language of the upper classes was Greek (although Aramaic was in everyday use), while Zeus was worshipped in the form of the Arabian sun-god Shams . Tylos even became the site of Greek athletic contests. The name Tylos is thought to be a Hellenisation of the Semitic "Tilmun" (from Dilmun). The term "Tylos"

13000-421: The sea. Maritime -focused life in the small Gulf Arab states has resulted in a sea-oriented society where livelihoods have traditionally been earned in marine industries . The Arabs of Eastern Arabia speak a dialect known as Gulf Arabic . Approximately 2 million Saudis (out of a population of 34 million) speak Gulf Arabic. Khaleeji entertainment is popular throughout the Arab world . Although performed in

13125-496: The seas north and south of the island, or the salt and fresh water present above and below the ground. In addition to wells, there are places in the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the salt water, noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory offered by al-Hasa was that the two seas were the Great Green Ocean and a peaceful lake on the mainland; still another provided by al-Jawahari

13250-629: The similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon. Herodotus 's account (written c. 430 BC) refers to Phoenicians inhabiting the shores of the Persian Gulf: According to the Persians , who are best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly dwelt in the far east and then to the shores of the Erythraean Sea , having migrated to

13375-673: The south and north, Lihyan acquired large influence suitable to its strategic position on the caravan road. The Lihyanites ruled over a large domain from Yathrib in the south and parts of the Levant in the north. In antiquity, Gulf of Aqaba used to be called Gulf of Lihyan, a testimony to the extensive influence that Lihyan acquired. The Lihyanites fell into the hands of the Nabataeans around 65 BC upon their seizure of Hegra then marching to Tayma , and to their capital Dedan in 9 BC. The Nabataeans ruled large portions of north Arabia until their domain

13500-423: The southeastern part of the country is the world's largest contiguous sand desert. Though there are lakes in the country, Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world by area with no permanent rivers. Wadis , non-permanent rivers, however, are very numerous throughout the kingdom . The fertile areas are to be found in the alluvial deposits in wadis, basins, and oases. There are approximately 1,300 islands in

13625-425: The succeeding millennium. The settlement of the region picks up again in the period of Dilmun in the early 3rd millennium. Known records from Uruk refer to a place called Dilmun, associated on several occasions with copper, and in later periods it was a source of imported woods in southern Mesopotamia. Scholars have suggested that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, notably linked with

13750-464: The summer and a sharp temperature drop at night. Average summer temperatures are around 45 °C (113 °F) but can be as high as 54 °C (129 °F). In the winter the temperature rarely drops below 0 °C (32 °F) with the exception of mostly the northern regions of the country where annual snowfall, in particular in the mountainous regions of Tabuk Province , is not uncommon. The lowest recorded temperature, −12.0 °C (10.4 °F),

13875-547: The thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives. Ninlil , the Sumerian goddess of air and southerly winds, had her home in Dilmun. However, in the early epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta , the main events, which center on Enmerkar 's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu , are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled". Gerrha

14000-643: The title Sultan of Nejd in 1921. With the help of the Ikhwan, the Kingdom of Hejaz was conquered in 1924–25, and on 10 January 1926, Ibn Saud declared himself king of Hejaz. For the next five years, he administered the two parts of his dual kingdom as separate units. After the conquest of the Hejaz, the Ikhwan leadership's objective switched to expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British protectorates of Transjordan, Iraq and Kuwait, and began raiding those territories. This met with Ibn Saud's opposition, as he recognized

14125-597: The tool-making traditions of the earliest living man who inhabited southwest Asia. Paleolithic artefacts are similar to material remains uncovered at the Acheulean sites in the Nefud Desert . The earliest sedentary culture in Saudi Arabia dates back to the Ubaid period at Dosariyah . Climatic change and the onset of aridity may have brought about the end of this phase of settlement, as little archaeological evidence exists from

14250-455: The unification on 23 September 1932, and the two kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd were unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That date is now a national holiday called Saudi National Day . The new kingdom was reliant on limited agriculture and pilgrimage revenues. In 1938, vast reserves of oil were discovered in the Al-Ahsa region along the coast of the Persian Gulf, and full-scale development of

14375-542: The west; Jordan , Iraq , and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf , Bahrain , Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman to the southeast; and Yemen to the south. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northwest separates Saudi Arabia from Egypt and Israel . Saudi Arabia is the only country with a coastline along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert , lowland, steppe, and mountains . The capital and largest city

14500-490: Was a dramatic change in the social and economic life of the country, political power continued to be monopolized by the royal family leading to discontent among many Saudis who began to look for wider participation in government. In the 1980s, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait spent $ 25 billion in support of Saddam Hussein in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988); however, Saudi Arabia condemned the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and asked

14625-508: Was also famous for exporting engraved walking canes popular in Babylon . It is not known whether Bahrain was part of the Seleucid Empire , although the archaeological site at Qalat Al Bahrain has been proposed as a Seleucid base in the Persian Gulf. Alexander had planned to settle the eastern shores of the Persian Gulf with Greek colonists, and although it is not clear that this happened on

14750-475: Was an ancient city of Eastern Arabia, on the west side of the Persian Gulf . More accurately, the ancient city of Gerrha has been determined to have existed near or under the present fort of Uqair , 80 kilometres (50 mi) northeast of Al-Aḥsā in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia . This site was first proposed by R E Cheesman in 1924. Gerrha and Uqair are archaeological sites on the eastern coast of

14875-580: Was annexed by the Roman Empire , which renamed it Arabia Petraea , and remained under the rule of the Romans until 630. Shortly before the advent of Islam, apart from urban trading settlements (such as Mecca and Medina), much of what was to become Saudi Arabia was populated by nomadic pastoral tribal societies. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 CE . In the early 7th century, Muhammad united

15000-520: Was commonly used for the archipelago; Ptolemy 's Geographia when the inhabitants are referred to as "Thilouanoi" ("inhabitants of Tylos"). Some place names in Bahrain go back to the Tylos era; for instance, the residential suburb of Arad, located in Muharraq , is believed to originate from "Arados", the ancient Greek name for the island of Muharraq . The Greek historians Herodotus and Strabo both believed

15125-640: Was destroyed by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha . The much smaller Emirate of Nejd was established in 1824. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud contested control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia with another Arabian ruling family, the Al Rashid , who ruled the Emirate of Jabal Shammar . By 1891, the Al Rashid were victorious and the Al Saud were driven into exile in Kuwait. At

15250-555: Was measured in Turaif . Of the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia is likely to experience snowfalls most frequently. In the spring and autumn the heat is temperate, temperatures average around 29 °C (84 °F). Annual rainfall is very low. The southern regions differ in that they are influenced by the Indian Ocean monsoons , usually occurring between October and March. An average of 300 mm (12 in) of rainfall occurs during this period, which

15375-493: Was referred to by the ancient Greeks as "Tylos" ( Ancient Greek : Τύλος ) and was known for its pearls. From the 6th to 3rd century BC Bahrain was part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire . The Greek admiral Nearchus is believed to have been the first of Alexander's commanders to visit the island, and he found a verdant land that was part of a wide trading network. He recorded: “In the island of Tylos, situated in

15500-665: Was the Iranian Islamic Revolution . It was feared that the country's Shi'ite minority in the Eastern Province (which is also the location of the oil fields) might rebel under the influence of their Iranian co-religionists. There were several anti-government uprisings in the region such as the 1979 Qatif Uprising . The second event was the Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca by Islamist extremists. The militants involved were in part angered by what they considered to be

15625-460: Was the prevailing political and cultural force in the country until the 2000s. The Saudi government has attracted criticism for various policies such as its intervention in the Yemeni Civil War , alleged sponsorship of terrorism , and widespread human rights abuses. Saudi Arabia is considered both a regional and middle power. Since petroleum was discovered in the country in 1938 ,

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