Alternative History
Kingdom of Arabia
سلطنة العرب
Mamlakat al-Arabiyyah

OTE: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE
Flag of the Arab League Emblem of Saudi Arabia
Motto
"الله أكبر"
"Allahu Akbar"
("God is the Greatest")
Anthem
"النشيد الوطني للمملكة العربية السعودية"
"al-Nashid al-Wataniu lil-Mamlakat al-Arabiyya"
("State Anthem of the Kingdom of Arabia")
ArabiaWOIOCGworld3
ArabiaWOIOCGworld3cropped
CapitalRiyadh
Largest city Sana'a
Official languages Arabic
Type Arabian
Government Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
 -  King Haitham
 -  Prime Minister Khalid al-Fulani
 -  Upper House Royal Senate
 -  Lower House People's Assembly
Population
 -   census 55.2 million 
Currency Rial

The Kingdom of Arabia (Arabic: سلطنة العرب, Mamlakat al-Arabiyyah) also known as Arabia, is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it is one of the countries situated in the Gulf region.

It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the largest in the Middle East, and the 12th-largest in the world. It is bordered by the Red Sea to the west; the Levant and Iraq to the north and the Persian Gulf to the south. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northwest separates Arabia from Egypt and the Syria. Arabia is the only country with a coastline along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland, steppe, and mountains. The capital and largest city is Riyadh; other major cities include Jeddah and the two holiest cities in Islam, Mecca and Medina. With a population of almost 55.2 million, Arabia is the fourth most populous country in the Arab world.

Pre-Islamic Arabia was the site of several ancient cultures and civilizations; the prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of the earliest traces of human activity outside Africa. Islam, the world's second-largest religion, emerged in what is now Arabia in the early seventh century. Islamic prophet Muhammad united the population of the Arabian Peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity. Following his death in 632, his followers expanded Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering territories in North Africa, Central, South Asia and Iberia within decades. Arab dynasties originating from modern-day Saudi Arabia founded the Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750), Abbasid (750–1517), and Fatimid (909–1171) caliphates, as well as numerous other dynasties in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz (also known as Ibn Saud), who united the regions of Hejaz, Najd, parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and South Arabia ('Asir) into a single state through a series of conquests, beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. During the Arab Cold War, Saudi Arabia functioned as the British Empire's Arab ally, up until the the successful Coup Against the House of Saud, and establishment of the House of Al Bu Said from Oman as the ruling house of Arabia.

Arabia is considered both a regional and middle power. Since petroleum was discovered in the country in 1938, the kingdom has become the world's third-largest oil producer and leading oil exporter, controlling the world's second-largest oil reserves and the sixth-largest gas reserves. Arabia is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy and is the only Arab country among the G20 major economies. The Arabian economy is the largest in the Middle East and the world's nineteenth largest by nominal GDP and seventeenth largest by PPP. Ranking very high in the Human Development Index, Arabia offers tuition-free university education, no personal income tax, and free universal health care. With its dependency on foreign labour, Arabia has the world's third-largest immigrant population. Arabians are among the world's youngest people, with approximately half being under 25 years old. Arabia is an active and founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, and OPEC, as well as a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

History[]

Pre-Islamic Arabia[]

Umayyad and Abbasid Periods[]

Ottoman Era[]

Unification[]

Formation of Modern-Day State[]

In the Arab Cold War, as India started to become a superpower in the broader Cold War, the Abd ul Aziz Family was seen as a puppet of the British Empire by India, and even India's political adversary China took on this view. Therefore, the Indian government funded and supported the Coup Against the Abdul-Aziz Family, wishing to restore the ancient ties between India and Arabia, but to establish a foothold in the Middle East.

The coup was successful, and Arabia's new prime minister, Walid ibn Jalal, signed a defense agreement with the Indian government. The Sultan of Oman was crowned the new King of Arabia, and the Indians also supported the Arabian invasion of Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar and the OTE UAE. India's new alliance with Arabia played a crucial key role in quieting the Pakistan Independence Movement for another few decades, since Arabia was the home of Islam, and the Indian vassalage over Arabia made way for more access to the hajj to Mecca.

In ????, the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Arabia was adopted, where Islam remained the religion for the royalty, but regular citizens could enjoy Freedom of Religion. Walid ibn Jalal became the face for Arab nationalism rather than Islamism, and this paved the way for Arab Christians to make their influence in modern-day Arabia. The Al-Nahda, or the Arabic Literary Movement had half of its authors being Arab Christians.

Prime Minister Walid ibn Jalal envisioned an Arabian state that would once-again, become what he considered the "Capital Empire of the Near East", having extensive relations with the Horn of Africa and North Africa.

The Middle East's own "Cold War" would commence as a proxy of the broader Cold War between China and India. Arabia, along with Somalia both became allies of India, and competed with Persia (a Chinese ally) and the Levant (a Russian ally) for the dominance over the Middle East.

Demographics[]

Religion (PoD-effected)[]

Grand mosque mecca soudi arabia photo 2

Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, non-Muslims are not allowed

Currently, Islam makes up for 80% of Arabia's total population. In this timeline, Arabia is a democratic state, therefore, Islam, while the state religion for the royal family, is not a requirement for regular citizens. The main sect of Islam followed by most Arabians is the Sunni sections, however in Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen, there are large followers of Shia Islam.

Arabia is considered the birthplace of Islam, and home to Mecca and Medina, two of the holiest sites in Islam as Mecca is where Muslims from all sects. make up hajj, or the sacred journey and Medina is where Muhammad fled after the persecution by Pagan Arabs. There are moves by hardliner Islamist groups to make Islam the official state religion, but the Parliament has repeatedly shut down these requests.

ArabChurch

The St. Abgar Cathedral in Madeh in'Saleh, the seat of the Arab Oriental Orthodox Church

The next 15% are Christians, and 5% are Others, including but not limited to Zoroastrianism, Druze and the Baháʼí Faith.

Of the Christians, the three largest sects. are the Arab Eastern Orthodox, Arab Oriental Orthodox and Melkite Catholics. Although Christians are dispersed in communities throughout cities in Arabia, the city of Madeh in'Saleh is the only majority Christian city in the country. The next-highest concentration of Christians are in the State of Yemen. Unlike OTE Saudi Arabia, Arabian Christians are well-represented in politics, economy and military.

Ethnicity[]

Currently, Arabs make up 83% of the total population, and foreigners make up the rest, 10%. Of the broader pan-Arab population, 75% are Native Arabians and the 15% are Afro-Arabs and 10% are "Outside Arabs", meaning Arabs from other countries such as Egypt, Levant, and etc. The South Arabians, native to Yemen and Oman, make up part of the Native Arabian population, with many speak Native South Arabian languages, a language group linguistically outside of the Arabic linguistic classification. The other 17% are mostly but not limited to: South Asians, East Africans, North Africans, Other Africans and Southeast Asians (mostly from Indonesia, Kupanam and Malaysia).

The cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are unique, in that they are cities inhabited mostly by migrants who make up the majority in these cities. These are located in the State of Shamal Saba (OTE: United Arab Emirates), and this State is stereotypically known as the "Dawlat Ajnabiyyun" (دولة اجنبية, lit. "Foreigner State"). The city of Sana'a in the State of Yemen, has large populations of East Africans and South Asians as well, and the historical ties between Arabia, East Africa and South Asia are ancient.

Economy[]

As of October 2018, Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East and the 18th largest in the world. It has the world's second-largest proven petroleum reserves, is the third-largest producer and the largest exporter of petroleum. The country also has the sixth-largest proven natural gas reserves. Arabia is considered an "energy superpower".

The market economy is petroleum-based; roughly 63% of budget revenues and 67% of export earnings come from the oil industry. The oil industry constitutes about 45% of Arabia's nominal gross domestic product, compared with 40% from the private sector. It is strongly dependent on foreign workers with about 80% of those employed in the private sector being non-Arabians. Challenges to the economy include the drought whether caused by the desert reigions.

From 2003 to 2013, "several key services" were privatized—municipal water supply, electricity, telecommunications—and parts of education and health care, traffic control and car accident reporting were also privatized. According to Arab News columnist Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, "in almost every one of these areas, consumers have raised serious concerns about the performance of these privatized entities." In November 2005, Arabia was approved as a member of the World Trade Organization. Negotiations to join had focused on the degree to which Saudi Arabia is willing to increase market access to foreign goods and in 2000, the government established the Arabian General Investment Authority to encourage foreign direct investment in the kingdom. Arabia maintains a list of sectors in which foreign investment is prohibited, but the government plans to open some closed sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, and power transmission/distribution over time. The government has also made an attempt at "Arabizing" the economy, replacing foreign workers with Arabian nationals with limited success.

In addition to petroleum and gas, Saudi has a significant gold mining sector in the Mahd adh Dhahab region and significant other mineral industries, an agricultural sector (especially in the southwest) based on vegetables, fruits, dates etc. and livestock, and large number of temporary jobs created by the roughly two million annual hajj pilgrims. Saudi Arabia has had five-year "Development Plans" since 1970. Among its plans were to launch "economic cities" (e.g. King Abdullah Economic City) in an effort to diversify the economy and provide jobs. The cities will be spread around Saudi Arabia to promote diversification for each region and their economy, and the cities are projected to contribute $150 billion to the GDP.

Arabia has many active ports, which has strengthened it trade with not only India, but also China, Indonesia, Russia and Europe in addition to oil transport. To this end, ports such as Jeddah Islamic Port or King Abdullah Economic City are being rapidly expanded, and investments are being made in logistics. The country is historically and currently part of the Maritime Silk Road.

Statistics on poverty in the kingdom are not available through the UN resources because the Saudi government does not issue any. The Saudi state discourages calling attention to or complaining about poverty. In December 2011, the Saudi interior ministry arrested three reporters and held them for almost two weeks for questioning after they uploaded a video on the topic to YouTube. Authors of the video claim that 22% of Saudis may be considered poor. Observers researching the issue prefer to stay anonymous because of the risk of being arrested.

The unexpected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, along with Saudi Arabia's poor human rights records, laid unforeseen challenges before the development plans of the kingdom, where some of the programmes under 'Vision 2030' were also expected to be affected. In May 2020, the Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia admitted that the country's economy was facing a severe economical crisis for the first time in decades, because of the pandemic as well as declining global oil markets. Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that the country will take "painful" measures and keep all options open to deal with the impact.

In July 2024 Arabia's Renewable Energy Localisation Company (RELC) has formed three joint ventures with Chinese companies to advance the kingdom's clean energy infrastructure. As part of Saudi Arabia's 2030 targets, the Public Investment Fund is actively promoting the localization of renewable energy components. RELC, a division of the sovereign fund, facilitates partnerships between global manufacturers and Arabian private sector firms to strengthen local supply chains. The joint ventures include partnerships with Envision Energy for wind turbine components, Jinko Solar for photovoltaic cells, and Lumetech for solar photovoltaic ingots and wafers. These initiatives aim to localize up to 75% of the components used in Arabia's renewable projects by 2030, positioning the country as a major global exporter of renewable technologies.

Arabian Minister of Economy and Planning, Faisal Al Ibrahim, emphasized Saudi Arabia's progress in global climate goals at the 2024 High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development in New York, citing over 80 initiatives and investments exceeding $180 billion for the country's green economy, as reported by Arabia Gazette. He highlighted the alignment of these efforts with Vision 2030 objectives, focusing on local sustainability, sector integration, and societal advancement.

Yemen is considered the agricultural breadbasket of Arabia.

Principal agricultural commodities produced include grain, vegetables, fruits, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton, dairy products, fish, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), and poultry. Most of the people of southern Arabia are employed in agriculture. Sorghum is the most common crop. Cotton and many fruit trees are also grown, with mangoes being the most valuable. A big problem in Yemen is the cultivation of Khat (or qat), a psychoactive plant that releases a stimulant when chewed, and accounts for up to 40 percent of the water drawn from the Sana'a Basin each year, and that figure is rising. Some agricultural practices are drying the Sana'a Basin and displaced vital crops, which has resulted in increasing food prices. Rising food prices, in turn, pushed an additional six percent of the country into poverty in 2008 alone, and led to food riots starting in 2008 in poorer cities. Efforts are being made by the government and Dawoodi Bohra community at northern governorates to replace qat with coffee plantations