Regions of Saudi Arabia

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Updates: 

Samuel Villavicencio sent me preliminary data from the 2004 census, which now appear in the main table below. At first, the total was wrong; I have now fixed it.

"Martha" sent me corrected figures for the population of Saudi Arabia by region, from the Ministry of Economy and Planning  website. The figures I had previously listed for 1999 were the number of males, not the number of people. They came from the "Statistical yearbook: 35th issue", Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Planning, Central Department of Statistics, 1999. I have replaced them with the 2000 Demographic Survey.

FIPS PUB 10-4 is the U.S. Federal standard for administrative divisions of countries. Change 1 to FIPS PUB 10-4 was dated 1998-12-01. One of the changes was a result of the 1993 union of Al Qurayyat and Al Jawf regions. The FIPS code for Al Jawf was altered from SA03 to SA20.

Country overview: 

In 1900, Arabia occupied the interior and south coast of the Arabian peninsula. It consisted of the regions of Jebel Shammar (El Shammar), Hadramaut, and Nejd. The eastern and western shores of the peninsula belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The western shore included the vilayets (districts) of Hejaz, Asir, and Yemen; the eastern shore was El Hasa. The borders of these regions were ill-defined, running through deserts. King Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa`ud, King of Nejd, conquered El Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Hejaz, and Asir successively between 1913 and 1926. He proclaimed the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd in 1927, and renamed it to Sa`udi Arabia effective 1932-09-23. Two lozenge-shaped neutral zones were created on the northern border in 1922, one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait, but both have been partitioned and annexed since then.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Mamlaka al-`Arabiya as-Sa`udiya (formal)
2. Danish: Saudi-Arabien
3. Dutch: Saoedi-Arabië, Koninkrijk Saoedi-Arabië (formal)
4. English: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (formal)
5. Finnish: Saudi-Arabia
6. French: Arabie f saoudite
7. German: Saudi-Arabien n
8. Icelandic: Sádi-Arabía
9. Italian: Arabia f Saudita
10. Norwegian: Saudi-Arabia, Kongeriket Saudi-Arabia (formal)
11. Portuguese: Arábia Saudita, Reino m da Arábia f Saudita (formal)
12. Spanish: Arabia Saudita, Arabia Saudí, Reino m de Arabia f Saudita (formal)
13. Swedish: Saudiarabien

Origin of name: 

named by ibn Sa`ud (~1880-1953) for himself or his family. Arabia means land of the Arabs; Arab comes from a Semitic word for desert.

Primary subdivisions: 

Saudi Arabia is divided into thirteen manaţiq (sing. minţaqah: regions or emirates).

Postal codes: 

Saudi Arabia has five-digit postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Governorates of Saudi Arabia page.

There is a division into four provinces, on a historical basis. Their boundaries do not necessarily coincide with region boundaries. The regions are subdivided into governorates.

Territorial extent: 

1. Ash Sharqīyah contains all of Saudi Arabia's islands in the Persian Gulf: Al `Arabiyah, Abu `Ali, Al Batinah, Tarut, Harqus, Karan, Kurayn, Al Jurayd, and others.
2. Jīzan includes the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea.
3. Makkah includes Qishran, Sirrayn, Abu Latt, and other Red Sea islands.
4. Tabūk includes the islands of Tiran, Sanafir, Al Hasani, Shaybara, Mashabih, and others along the Red Sea coast.

Origins of names: 

1. Al Madīnah: Arabic for city; full name is al-Madinat an-Nabi: the city of the prophet
2. Ar Riyāḍ: Arabic for the gardens
3. `Asīr: = inaccessible
4. Hejaz: = boundary (between `Asīr and Nejd)
5. Nejd: = plateau

Change history: 

1. 1914: El Hasa conquered by Nejd.
2. 1921: Jebel Shammar conquered by Nejd and merged with Nejd region.
3. 1922: By the Al Uqair Convention, two lozenge-shaped neutral zones were created: Iraq-Saudi Arabia (~7,000 sq. km.) and Kuwait-Saudi Arabia (5,790 sq. km.).
4. 1924: Hejaz conquered by Nejd.
5. 1926: Asir conquered by Nejd.
6. 1927: Name of Nejd and its possessions changed to the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd.
7. 1932-09-23: Name of country changed to Sa`udi Arabia. Provinces were now as follows:

1. 1969-12: Saudi Arabia-Kuwait neutral zone divided between its two neighbors.
2. ~1980: Northern province formed from parts of Western and Central.
3. 1991-02: Iraq-Saudi Arabia neutral zone (ISO=NT/FIPS=NT) divided between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
4. 1993-11: Al Qurayyāt (ISO=SA-13/FIPS=SA09, capital Qurayat) merged with Al Jawf.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Al Bahah: Baha (variant)
2. Al Ḥudūd ash Shamāliyah: Frontière Nord (French); Northern, Northern Border, Northern Frontier (variant)
3. Al Jawf: Al Joaf, Al-Jouf, Jowf (variant)
4. Al Madīnah: Al Madinah al Munawwarah, Madinah Monwarah, Medina (variant); Médine (French)
5. Al Qasim: Al Qasseem, Gasim, Qaseem (variant)
6. Ar Riyāḍ: Riad (German); Riyadh (variant)
7. Ash Sharqiyah: Eastern (variant)
8. `Asir: Aseer, Assyear (variant)
9. El Hasa: Al Hasa, El Hassa, Hasa (variant)
10. Hejaz: Al Hijaz (variant); Hedjaz (Swedish, variant); Hedjas (German); Hedsjas (Norwegian); Héyaz (Spanish); Higiaz (Italian, Portuguese)
11. Jīzan: Jazan, Qīzān (variant)
12. Makkah: La Meca (Spanish); La Mecca (Italian); La Mecque (French); Makka, Makkah al-Mukarramah, Mecca (variant); Meca (Portuguese); Mecka (Swedish); Mekka (German, Norwegian)
13. Nejd: Najd, Nedjed (variant); Nedjd (German); Negged (Italian); Néyed (Spanish)
14. Tabuk: Tabouk (variant)