Saudi Arabia is dominated by desert, with 95% of the land being sandy or rocky desert. The climate is harsh, with extreme temperatures. Oil is the most important resource for Saudi Arabia, making up 90% of its economy and 24% of global oil reserves. Saudi society is deeply influenced by Islam, with traditions like daily prayers and Ramadan affecting everyone. Women have few rights and cannot drive or vote. The king wields absolute political power as the country is a monarchy.

1. Saudi Arabia The Characteristics of Saudi Arabia By Lara David 8D

2. Physical Location --Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian peninsula -It is north of Yemen and it borders on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea -Land= 2,149,690 sq km -Water= 0 sq km -The most area is unpopulated desert

3. Desert Most of Saudi Arabia is covered by desert. Most of the desert is sandy unlike the desert in Qatar, which is rocky. There are huge sand dunes and many activities such as dune bashing are organized. Nomads live in Saudi’s deserts but most of them are not populated by people. 95% of the country is desert. Rub' Al Khali (The Empty Quarter) is the largest sand desert in the world.

4. Climate Saudi Arabia has a harsh climate Seeing as most of the country is a dry desert, there are extreme temperatures differences In the summer, the climate reaches up to 50 degrees and in winter it is mild Humidity can reach up to 100% near the coastline Often, in the early summer, a strong sand-laden winds called Shamal blow through the country with up to 30 km/h

5. Oil Oil is the most important resource and export of Saudi Arabia. The whole economy and society profit from this resource and many things such as infrastructure and desalinization plants are funded by the income of the exportation of oil. Saudi Arabia has 260 million barrels of oil reserves This equals around 24% of the world’s total oil reserves!

6. Economy The economy of Saudi Arabia mainly builds on the oil export. 90% of the country‘s incomes comes from the oil industry. Before oil was discovered, the country survived from farming and exporting Desalinization camps are crucial and are funded by the country‘s income This graph shows the monthly export of oil from Saudi Arabia.

7. Example- Economy An example of Saudi Arabian economy is the large impact that oil has on it. Without the oil export and is related industries, Saudi Arabia would not be at the standard they are now. The whole country depends on the oil for an income, infrastructure and a developing economy. The economy is also affected by the masses of expatriates that have come to Saudi because of the oil boom and export. For example the oil company Aramco brings yearly many thousands of labor workers to help with the project. This affects

8. Social- Islam Islam is the major religion in Saudi Arabia and the whole life of the civilization are dependant on the religious procedures such as praying, Ramadan, and the celebration days such as Eid Al Fitr. The society changes timings and dates to fit the religious traditions and this affects everyone in the country. Praying occurs five times a day and you will often hear the call for prayer from the mosques. The holy city of Mecca is in the West. It is the center or Islam.

9. Social- Women In Saudi Arabia, women have little\no rights. They are not allowed to drive, go in public without a husband or veil and they can not vote. Many people are trying to change this and they are demonstrating against the government In the future, huge differences will have to occur in this issue seeing as many countries are already protesting against Saudi because of miss-treatment of the human rights

10. Example- Islam A very strong example of how Islam affects the society is the holy month of Ramadan. During this month, Muslims refrain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. This traditions affects life and living in Saudi Arabia during this month. Many people come later to work and they leave earlier seeing as they are tired and have no energy. This affects the economy because a lot less work is being done and researches show us that during Ramadan, less export occurs which is harmful for the economy. The driving on the streets is affected and drinking or eating in public is forbidden.

11. Government and Politics The country is governed by the royal family and the king and leader is called Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz The type of government is called a monarchy The king of Saudi Arabia may ask important tribal leaders for their advice when making difficult decisions The citizens can only vote the ministers seeing as the leading role will always stay in the hands of the king Women are not allowed to vote The Qur'an is considered the constitution for Saudi Arabian law

12. Example- Political An example from the governmental and political point of view of Saudi Arabia would be the power that the king has. He is not only the ruler of the whole country, he has also become one of the richest people in the world because of the oil export in Saudi Arabia. In most country‘s the king can not make the law alone but in Saudi he can make and change every decision that he does not agree with or like! This has had several affects on the country seeing as they have no influence on the law or government. Many people are not happy with this.

13. Analysis- Economy The reason why I chose the impact of oil on the economy for my example was because the whole country depends on it. Without it, the country would not have the wealth and power it has today! The economy is booming which allows the government to build desalinization camps, which are expensive, and support agriculture. This way the whole country benefits from the large oil reserves. Still, sometimes the money goes into the wrong hands which is not fair on the society. For example, the people that are highly ranked, often receive money even though they did not contribute anything.

14. Analysis- Islam\Social The reason why I chose Ramadan as my example was because it is a time where the whole country is affected even if they are not Muslim. This can mean negative and positive changes. The negative effect is the fact that the country‘s economy suffers because of less work timings. Also, the driving is more hectic seeing as all the people can think about food. But on the other hand, the whole country is in a cultural highlight and are enjoying their holy month. This is definitely the time of the year that impacts the society in the strongest way: both culturally and economically.

15. Analysis- Government The reason why I chose the power that the king has as my example is because he is the person in Saudi Arabia that has control of everything. This has a major impact on the country because this man can change, add or eliminate any project or issue in the whole country. This means he can make any changes to anything he wants. For example when there is an oil project, the king may make any changes and often he gets a share of the money when he contributed nothing. This can lead to problems because any do not agree with the fact that the king gets credit for many projects that he did not lead.

16. Bibliography Pictures http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=5769&rendTypeId=4 http://www.aiitc.org/meka.jpg http://www.mideastweb.org/saudia.jpg http://www.google.com Information https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_arabia