1 CHAPTER 1 GEOGRAPHY OVERVIEW The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies about 75 percent of the Arabian Peninsula. The country’s territory is comparable to one-quarter the size of the continental United States. The Saudi government reports that the country occupies 865,000 square miles. Geographically, Saudi Arabia is located in southwestern Asia. Geopolitically, it occu- pies a central place in the world area currently known as the “Middle East.” Saudi Ara- bia borders eight countries and two seas. Its western coastal border is the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea—one of the most important world trade sea passes. To the east, the country borders the shallow Persian Gulf. Both seas are very important trade arter- ies. Despite its extensive coastlines, Saudi Arabia does not have strategic control over either of these bodies of water. The Red Sea access is controlled by Egypt in the north via the Suez Canal, and by Yemen and Eritrea on its southern side whereas Iran’s com- mand of the Strait of Hormuz gives it authority over the entry point to the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman. To the north of Saudi Arabia are the Syrian Desert, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait. The country’s eastern borders are with Bahrain (offshore), Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Its southern neighbors are Oman and Yemen. The Arabian Peninsula is the world’s largest. Saudi Arabia’s unique geology is behind the country’s enormous oil reserves. The peninsula consists of a single tectonic plate, the Arabian plate, which is slowly moving eastward. Millions of years ago, it was a part of the African continent. The same geological forces that separated the peninsula from Africa continue to rotate it, and scientists believe that in another 10 million years the Persian Gulf will close off as a result of this rotation. When the Arabian plate shifted to the east, it moved above what was a large ancient sea, pushing the seabed deep under the earth’s surface. The large sedimentary deposits of marine plant and animal life, which accumulated at this buried sea’s floor and came under enormous geological pres- sure, created the vast oil reserves in the whole Gulf region. Thanks to its favorable geographical location, Saudi Arabia has about 26 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Its Ghawar field, which is about 186 miles long, is the world’s largest oil field. Early European geographers divided the Arabian Peninsula into two parts. Arabia Felix, or Fertile Arabia, consists of the relatively moist highlands of Yemen in the south and the mountains of Asir and the Hijaz. The rest of the peninsula was called Arabia Deserta, or Desert Arabia, covering the barren lands that dominate the peninsula’s geography. However, despite a persistent stereotype of Saudi Arabia being nothing but
Document Details My Account Print multiple pages
Print
You have printed 0 times in the last 24 hours.
Your print count will reset on at .
You may print 0 more time(s) before then.
You may print a maximum of 0 pages at a time.
Help
