Rulers of
Saudi Arabia. In the 18th century Mu
hammad ibn Sa'
ud (d. 1765), chief of an Arabian village that had never fallen under control of the
Ottoman Empire, rose to power together with the
Wahhabi religious movement. He and his son 'Abd al-'Az
iz I (r. 1765 – 1803) conquered much of Arabia; Sa'
ud I (r. 1803 – 14) conquered the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in the early years of his rule. The Ottoman sultan induced the viceroy of Egypt to crush the Sa'
ud
is and Wahh
ab
is, which was accomplished by 1818. A second Sa'
ud
i state was formed in 1824 by Mu
hammad ibn Sa'
ud's grandson Turk
i (r. 1823 – 34), who made
Riyadh his capital. When Turk
i's son Fay
sal (r. 1834 – 38; 1843 – 65) died, succession disputes led to civil war. Power did not return to Sa'
ud
i hands until 1902, when
Ibn Sa'ud recaptured Riyadh. He established the kingdom of Saudi Arabia by royal decree in 1932. A number of his sons later ruled the country, including Abdullah (b.
c. 1923), who assumed the throne in 2005.
For more information on Sa'ud dynasty, visit Britannica.com.