Saudi Arabia Capital

Map showing the location of Saudi Arabia

Up through the 1940s, Riyadh was a city that was small and isolated. This started to change as the city grew into a large metropolitan area towards the end of the 1940s. King Saud sought to make the capital a more modern city. Examples from American cities were used to design new neighborhoods, making use of the grid pattern for its urban design.

The grid pattern started to be used in Riyadh in 1953. Between 1974 and 1992, Riyadh experienced a consistent growth rate of 8.2 percent per annum. In 1987, the city of Riyadh had 1,389,000 people. In 2016, there were 6,506,700 people living in Riyadh. This reflects the continues rapid growth of this city.

Like many places, Riyadh serves as a primate city of its nation. Riyadh is the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is the main administrative center for Saudi Arabia, as well as the financial and commercial center of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh's political, financial, commercial, and economic power is unmached by any other city within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh's location was a consequence of its geography. In a nation where water is precious, Riyadh was founded because of its proximity to what few water resources there were. Its location in the center of Saudi Arabia could be considered a fitting location for being a capital city. There have been those throughout history that would argue that the capital of a nation should be located in a central location, accessible to the majority of the population. If this measure is used in terms of where a capital city should be, then Riyadh's geographic location can be seen as a decent location for the capital of Saudi Arabia.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Riyadh
Languages	Arabic (official)
Ethnic Groups	Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%
Religion	Muslim (official; citizens are 85-90% Sunni and 10-15% Shia), other (includes Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh) (2012 est.)
Government	Absolute monarchy
Independance	23 September 1932 (unification of the kingdom)
Area	2,149,690.00 km²
Land Area	2,149,690.00 km²
Population	28,160,273.00 Historically a population that was mostly nomadic or semi-nomadic, the Saudi population has become more settled since petroleum was discovered in the 1930s; most of the economic activities - and with it the country's population - is concentrated in a wide area across the middle of the peninsula, from Ad Dammam in the east, through Riyadh in the interior, to Mecca-Medina in the west near the Red Sea
Location	Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen
No. Bordering Countries	7
Bordering Countries	Iraq 811 km, Jordan 731 km, Kuwait 221 km, Oman 658 km, Qatar 87 km, UAE 457 km, Yemen 1,307 km
GDP(PPP)	$1,730,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$54,100.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are China, Japan, and the United States.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are petroleum and petroleum products.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are China, the United States, and Germany.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, and chemicals.
Climate	Tropical; hot, humid; rainy season (May to November) has strong southeast winds; dry season (December to April) dominated by hot, dry, harmattan wind
Terrain	Mostly sandy desert
Learn More	Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Capital

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