 Abdul Aziz bin Abdul  |
The Unification BeginsOn 15-16 January 1902, with only 62 supporters Abdul Aziz Al-Saud succeeded in capturing Riyadh. Only 23 men followed him into the city; the rest under his half-brother Mohammed were guarding the camels. Over the next 30 years he united the many Bedouin tribes on the Arabian Peninsula into one unified nation while retrieving al Hasa and the Hejaz, both part of his patrimony, from Turkish rule.A New NationThe modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932. Abdul Aziz was the first King of Saudi Arabia and ruled until his death in 1953. Several of his sons have succeeded him: King Saud, King Faisal, King Khalid, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and the current ruler The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.Oil is discovered in Saudi ArabiaControl of the vast oil reserves that lay beneath the Kingdom was not Abdul Aziz's motive behind his desire to unite the country. Commercial quantities of oil were not discovered in Saudi Arabia until 1938 and the country did not have the resources to develop the oil fields. After World War II partnerships were formed with other countries and the exportation of oil began, yielding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we know today. |
Saudi Arabian Trivia
The number of legitimate sons that Ibn Saud fathered has been quoted variously between forty-three and forty-five but the number of his daughters has never been revealed and perhaps never counted. Legitimate wives totaled at least twenty-two with some probably uncounted because of very prompt divorce. His last living son, Hamud, was born in 1947, after a spate of births during 1941-43.
