An exiled prince's raid on Riyadh began the making of Saudi Arabia
Abdulaziz Al Saud was 15 when rivals seized his family's city of Riyadh and sent them into exile, sheltering with desert Bedouin and later in Kuwait. In 1902 he retook the town with a small band of relatives. Three decades of conquest followed, ending with a new kingdom named after his family.
Known in the West as Ibn Saud, he was born in Riyadh on 15 January 1876, the third son of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, among the final emirs of the second Saudi state. His family had been a force in central Arabia for about 130 years; inspired by Wahhabism, an earlier Saudi state based at Diriyah had spread across much of the peninsula until an Ottoman army destroyed it in the early nineteenth century. In 1891 the rival Al Rashid dynasty captured Riyadh, and the family fled.
On 14 November 1901 he set out with a half-brother and several cousins on a raiding campaign into Nejd against tribes loyal to the Rashidis. His father urged him to drop the plan to take Riyadh, but he pressed on and succeeded. Supporters flocked to him, and within two years he had won back almost half of Nejd. Even an Ottoman-backed defeat on 15 June 1904 did not stop him.
By 1912 he held Nejd and Arabia's eastern coast, and founded the Ikhwan, a religious militia, while encouraging nomads to settle as farmers. In 1925 his forces took Mecca from Sharif Hussein, ending some seven centuries of Hashemite rule there. In 1927 Britain signed the Treaty of Jeddah recognising his rule over Hejaz and Nejd. That year the Ikhwan broke with him after he banned further raids.
On 23 September 1932 he merged his lands into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and became its first king. Following Wahhabi doctrine he had several shrines demolished, including tombs in the Al-Baqi cemetery. Oil was discovered in his kingdom in 1938, the year he moved his court from the Masmak Fort to the Murabba Palace. He reigned until his death on 9 November 1953.
Source: Ibn Saud
