ONE LAND · 14 ATLASES
History of Saudi Arabia in maps
Saudi Arabia as it appears in 14 interactive history atlases, from 1095 to 2015: Arabia — Mecca, Medina & the Hijaz, Arabia, Saudi Arabia. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Saudi Arabia before it was Saudi Arabia? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Arabia (mod. Saudi Arabia) · Ancient Rome
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Arabia — Mecca, Medina & the Hijaz · Crusades
Arabia held Mecca and Medina, whose protection underwrote any Muslim ruler’s legitimacy — and it was the one line the Franks crossed at their peril. In the winter of 1182–83 Reynald of Châtillon launched ships from Oultrejordain onto the Red Sea; his raiders burned pilgrim and merchant vessels along the Hijaz coast and were reported within a day’s march of Medina before an Egyptian squadron hunted them down. Saladin never forgave the sacrilege: the captured raiders were executed, and the sultan swore to kill Reynald with his own hand — an oath he kept in the tent after Hattin. The raid did more than any border skirmish to turn the jihad against the kingdom from a war over land into a war of annihilation.
| The Islamic powers — Seljuk, Zengid, Ayyubid, Mamluk — the opening position |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Arabia (mod. Saudi Arabia) · Mongol Empire
| The Islamic powers — the opening position |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Industrial Revolution
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Non-aligned or stateless — the opening position |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Arabia · WWI
Saudi Arabia · Stalin’s Soviet Union
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · WW2
Saudi Arabia · Cold War
| US-aligned states — the opening position |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Decolonization of Africa
| Independent before 1945 — the opening position |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Refused: women excluded; ERA never ratified — the opening position | |
| No reform yet / outside this story |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Saudi Arabia · Refugee crises
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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