Saudi Arabia

Introduction about Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia , officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, comprising most of the Arabian peninsula. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea; on the east by the Persian Gulf, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates; on the south by Yemen and Oman; and on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia formerly shared a neutral zone with Iraq and another with Kuwait; both are now divided between the countries. Riyadh is the capital and largest city. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into 13 provinces. According to the 1992 census, Saudi Arabia had a population of 16,929,294. The 1997 estimate is 20,087,965, Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2,240,000 sq km (about 865,000 sq mi).

Brief History

In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. A son of ABD AL-AZIZ rules the country today, and the country's Basic Law stipulates that the throne shall remain in the hands of the aging sons and grandsons of the kingdom's founder.

Introduction about Dammam

In the early 1980s Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Region, was a separate city but so close to Al Khobar and Dhahran that the traveler could pass from one to the other in a few minutes. With the continuing expansion of all parts of the Kingdom, the three towns inevitably merged into one, creating a single municipality known as Dammam Area. Each of the three towns which compose the Dammam Area retain their own character and some local administrative functions but, in terms of its place in the Kingdom, the Dammam Area forms a single administrative entity. Dhahran is located 6 miles (10 km) west of Khobar. Dhahran, with Dammam and Al Khobar, forms the Dammam Area. Dhahran was the site of the headquarters of what was Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company). For obvious reasons, it is also the site of the King Fahd Petroleum and Minerals University. Dhahran is served by one of the Kingdom's three international airports, a construction of outstanding architectural beauty which combines traditional Islamic design with the most modern building technology

Introduction about King Fahd University

The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (PO Box 144, Dhahran 31261) was founded in 1963 (1382/83 AH) under the name of the College of Petroleum and Minerals with fewer than 100 students. In 1964 (1383/84 AH), the University decided to admit other Arab and Muslim students along with Saudi students. The College was officially inaugurated in 1965 (1384/85 AH) by the late King Faisal who, on that occasion, declared that "it is a great pleasure for us to take part in inaugurating this great institution, of which the least that can be said is that it represents one of the pillars of our scientific, economic and industrial development". By 1974 (1394 AH), student enrollment had increased to 1,500 and it was accorded university status in 1975 (1395 AH).

In December 1986 (1407 AH), the University became the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. In 2000/2001 the University had 680 teachers and 5,739 students. The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals can now claim to be a university with internationally acknowledged and respected standards of academic and technical excellence in the fields of petroleum and mineral technology (www.kfupm.edu.sa)