About the Flag Day

Throughout the centuries, the Saudi flag has witnessed

the nation's glory and is a symbol of unity and solidarity,
and it is never flown at half-mast. The flag has become a
part of the Kingdom's national cohesion, with significant
connotations drawn from the Kingdom's deep historical
roots and cultural heritage, alluding to growth, prosperity,
generosity, solidarity, and national bond. On March 11th,
1937 (27 Dhul-Hijjah 1355 AH), the late King Abdulaziz
adopted the Saudi flag as it is seen today. Based on this,
the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman -
May Allah protect him- has issued a Royal Order
designating March 11th as National Flag Day, during
which we remember and honor our national identity
symbol and celebrate the solid values it represents, the
values upon which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is
founded.
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia is a country in Western Asia. 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 second-largest in the Arab world, and the largest
in Western Asia and the Middle East.

It is bordered by the Red Sea to the west; Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to
the north; the Persian Gulf, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the
east; Oman to the southeast; and Yemen to the south. Bahrain is an
island country off its east coast.

The Gulf of Aqaba in the northwest separates Saudi Arabia

from Egypt and Israel. Saudi 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 country is home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest
cities in Islam.

Pre-Islamic Arabia, the territory that constitutes modern-day

Saudi Arabia, was the site of several ancient cultures and
civilizations; the prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows some of the
earliest traces of human activity in the world.[16] The world's
second-largest religion,[17] Islam, emerged in what is now Saudi
Arabia. In the early 7th century, the Islamic
prophet Muhammad united the population of the Arabian
Peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity.

[18] Following his death in 632, his followers rapidly expanded

the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering huge
and unprecedented swathes of territory (from the Iberian
Peninsula in the west to parts of Central and South Asia in the
east) in a matter of 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 area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of mainly four distinct
historical regions: Hejaz, Najd, and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and South
Arabia ('Asir). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King
Abdulaziz (known as Ibn Saud in the West). He united the four regions 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. Saudi Arabia has
since been an absolute monarchy, where political decisions are made on the basis
of consultation among the King, the Council of Ministers, and the country’s
traditional elites that oversee a highly authoritarian regime.[20][21][22] The
ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been
described as a "predominant feature of Saudi culture",[21][23] although some
moves to curtail the religious establishment and push a heightened emphasis on
national identity and history over religious one have been made by the
government in recent years.[24][25] In its Basic Law, Saudi Arabia continues to
define itself as a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its official
religion, Arabic as its official language, and Riyadh as its capital.

Petroleum was discovered in 1938 and followed up by several other finds in

the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the world's second-largest
oil producer (behind the US) and the world's largest oil exporter, controlling the
world's second-largest oil reserves and the fourth-largest gas reserves. The
kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy and is the only
Arab country to be part of the G20 major economies. The state has attracted
criticism for a variety of reasons, including its role in the Yemeni Civil
War, alleged sponsorship of Islamic terrorism and its poor human rights record,
including the excessive and often extrajudicial use of capital punishment.
Saudi Arabia is considered both a regional and middle power.[33][34] The Saudi
economy is the largest in the Middle East; the world's eighteenth-largest economy
by nominal GDP and the seventeenth-largest by PPP. As a country with a very
high Human Development Index,[35] it offers a tuition-free university education,
no personal income tax,[36] and a free universal health care system. Saudi Arabia
is home to the world's third-largest immigrant population. It also has one of the
world's youngest populations, with approximately 50 per cent of its population of
34.2 million being under 25 years old.[37] In addition to being a member of
the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia is an active and founding member of
the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, Arab Air
Carriers Organization and OPEC.