"Put your trust in God and sign!" --
Water sources : ancient and modern --
The land the oilmen entered --
Najd : heartland of Saudi Arabia --
The Hijaz and the holy cities --
ʻAsir and the southwest --
Nomadic tribes and diverse townspeople --
King ʻAbd al-ʻAziz Historical Center --
Architecture of ʻAsir and Tihamah --
ch. 2. Arabia before Islam --
The Neolithic revolution --
The 2nd millennium BC : camel domestication, nomads and settlers --
Kingdoms and caravan cities --
Al-ʻUla and Madain Salih --
Al-Jawf and Wadi al-Sirhan --
Central and northern Najd --
The "age of ignorance" --
Religion during the Jahiliyah --
ch. 3. The revelation and the Ummah --
Contributions to world civilization --
The life of the Prophet Muhammad --
Persecution and the Hijrah --
The first Muslim community in Madinah --
The first attempt to revisit Makkah --
The death of the Prophet --
The question of succession --
The unification of Arabia and expansion --
The translation and transmission of science --
The five pillars of Islam --
The Hijri calendar and the two festivals --
The rightly guided caliphs --
How Islamic science reached Europe --
ch. 4. Arabia since the revelation --
Arbia in ʻAbbasid times --
Arabia in Fatimid times --
Arabia in Ayyubid times --
Arabia in Mamluk times --
The coming of the Portuguese --
Arabia in Ottoman times --
The development of Islamic law --
Zheng He and the Ming voyages --
Arabian coffee takes over the world --
Western knowledge of Islamic lands.
ch. 5. The emergence of the Saudi state, 1700-1932 --
The reform movement and the Muwahhidun --
The first Saudi state, 1744-1818 --
The siege and fall of al-Dirʻiyah --
The second Saudi state, 1824-91 --
Riyadh recovered, January 1902 --
The unification of the kingdom, 1902-27 --
The Battle of al-Dilam, 1902 --
Consolidation, 1906-12 --
The Ikhwan : harnessing the nomadic tribes --
Expansion into al-Hasa, 1913 --
The Khurmah dispute, 1919 --
ʻAsir, Hayil and the northern border, 1919-22 --
Annexation of the Hijaz and international recognition, 1924-27 --
Crisis and final triumph --
Tribal settlers and nomads --
Early European visitors to the Hijaz --
Rulers of the House of Saʻud --
Early travelers to Riyadh --
The Maria Theresa Thaler --
Captain William Shakespear --
The pilgrimage under the new Saudi Order.
ch. 6. Tradition and modernization, 1932-present --
International relations --
International relations --
King Faysal's last years --
International relations --
Foreign relations in the 1980s and ʼ90s --
Provincial administration --
Challenges of the future --
Expanding the Holy places --
ch. 7. Wildlife and conservation --
ch. 8. Tapping the treasure --
The worldʼs biggest business --
The oil industry in the Middle East --
The concession agreement --
Technological revolution --
The search for oil and gas --
ʻAbd Allah al-Sulayman --
A pioneer outside the oil fields --
History of the concession area --
Environmental accountability --
Oil and gas operations --
An expanding enterprise --
"Let the genie out of the bottle" --
Saudi Arabia and world energy --
The people of Saudi Aramco --
Oil consumption/production/reserves.
Geographic regions and ancient river systems --
Tribes of Arabia on the eve of unification (early 20th century) --
Sea trade routes (3rd and early 2nd millennia BC) --
First Arab tribes (early 1st millennium BC) --
Countries of the Arab League --
Pre-Islamic trade routes (100 Common Era) --
Nabataean Kingdom (100 BC-100 Common Era) --
Archeological sites of the Gerrha Period (300 BC-300 Common Era) --
Tribes at the time of the Prophet (570-632) --
Expansion of Islam (634-751) --
Major pilgrimage routes of Arabia in pre-modern times --
Indian Ocean-Pacific trade routes (c. 1000) --
Trade network (c. 1250) --
Extent of the first Saudi state (1808) --
Ibrahim Pasha's invasion route (1816-18) --
Unification of Saudi Arabia (1902-34) --
Saudi Arabia's provinces --
Saudi Arabian wildlife habitats --
Surface geology of the Arabian Peninsula --
The concession area (1933-86) --
Prospective areas (1986-present) --
Joint-venture gas exploration --
Saudi Aramco operations --
Saudi Aramco subsidiaries, affiliates, joint ventures and principal export routes --
