العربية السعودية (al-'Arabīyah as-Su'ūdīyah)¹--part: Tabūk, al-Madīnah,² al-Bāhah,³ Makkah, Jizān and 'Asir Provinces

How is the land laid out?

Beyond narrow, arid, coastal plains, mountains dominate these provinces; they do not reach 4,000 meters. East of them is the beginning of the semi-arid or arid plateau, cut by seasonally wet gullies (wadis), flowing down from the heights. Off the southwest, the area includes some Red Sea islands like Farasān.

Who lives there?

The majority, probably more than nine in ten,⁴ speak dialects of Arabian Spoken Arabic and are Sunni Moslems.

The rest--mostly immigrants since the 20th century--speak a miscellany of languages; some of these are Sunni Moslems, a few are Shi'ites and some are Christians.

Map

Who was there before?

The past

Around the Area

north
east
south
west
northwest

Footnotes

1. Saudi Arabia in English.
2. Medina in English.
3. Also transliterated from Arabic as Baha.
4. The distribution of the newer immigrants through the nation is not known to me, and probably varies over time. It is likely that most are in the vicinity of ad-Damman, ar-Riyad and perhaps Jiddah. Only the latter is in this area.